Riesling Selection de Grains Nobles Vendanges Tardives
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 15 to 50+ years from the vintage release, with the potential to age gracefully for nearly a century.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Roquefort or other artisanal blue cheeses, classic foie gras, apricot or pear tarts
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Famille Hugel's Selection de Grains Nobles (SGN) represents the absolute pinnacle of Alsatian sweet winemaking, a category that the Hugel family, particularly Jean 'Johnny' Hugel, personally championed and codified into law in 1984. Crafted only in exceptional vintages, this rare nectar is made from 100% Riesling grapes left on the vine to develop noble rot (Botrytis cinerea). Harvesters undergo painstaking multiple passes (tries) through the clay-limestone slopes of Riquewihr to select only the most perfectly shriveled, botrytized berries. Fermented slowly and aged in historic, century-old oak casks in the family's subterranean cellars, the resulting wine is a masterclass in tension, balancing luscious, honeyed sweetness with the searing, vibrant acidity characteristic of noble Riesling.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Established in 1639 in the picturesque medieval town of Riquewihr, Famille Hugel is one of Alsace's most historic and influential wine dynasties, passed down through more than twelve generations. The estate is globally renowned for championing the region's noble grape varieties, particularly Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris, grown on the prestigious clay-limestone slopes of Riquewihr. Famille Hugel famously pioneered the strict guidelines for Alsace's late-harvest wines, Vendanges Tardives and S lection de Grains Nobles, which they craft alongside dry, mineral-driven masterpieces like their Schoelhammer and Grossi La e cuv es. Their winemaking philosophy emphasizes minimal intervention, utilizing historic, century-old oak casks in their ancient cellars to produce wines of exceptional longevity, purity, and terroir expression.