Sauternes and other French styles

Another style of botrytized sweet wine from France involves the category of Selection de Grains Nobles (SGN). This legal definition was introduced in 1984 in Alsace, but similar wines are produced also in the Loire valley from grapes of different varieties and sugar contents (Table 6.2). 

The other appellations of SGN wines are Coteaux du Layon, and Coteaux de l Aubance in the Loire valley, Anjou. Coteaux du Layon produces sweet wine only, and the single variety here is Chenin blanc, a neutral, acidic grape cultivar. It is extremely prone to noble rot. The required initial sugar content of the must is 294 g/1 for SGN wines (INAO, 2007). Two individual AOCs within this region are Bonnezeaux and Chaume. Most of these SGN wines are very sweet, in comparison with the other French styles. 

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