botrytize

Why this word is great

BOTRYTIZE — [Verb] To infect, or be infected, with noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), a controlled fungal growth that concentrates sugars and flavors in grapes for winemaking. From translingual Botrytis (from Ancient Greek βότρυς (bótrus, "bunch of grapes")) + -ize (verb-forming suffix). Unlike "ferment" (which broadly describes microbial transformation) or "mold" (which suggests spoilage), "botrytize" is a precise, paradoxical cultivation of ruin. It is the shriveled grape glowing gold under its ashen fuzz, the vintner’s knife-edge gamble between rot and ruin, the Sauternes sipped centuries later with its honeyed ghosts of decay—proof that even ruin can be a kind of perfection.