Riesling Selection de Grains Nobles Vendanges Tardives
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 15 to 50+ years from the vintage release, with the potential to age gracefully for nearly a century.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roquefort or other artisanal blue cheeses, classic foie gras, apricot or pear tarts
✨ Technical Specifications
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.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1639 in the picturesque medieval village of Riquewihr, Famille Hugel is one of the most venerable and celebrated wine producers in Alsace, France. Managed continuously by more than a dozen generations of the Hugel family, the estate combines historic family vineyards with carefully sourced fruit to champion the diverse terroirs of the region. Hugel was instrumental in establishing the official regulations for Alsace's revered late-harvest categories, Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles. Renowned globally for their purity, elegance, and ageability, the winery crafts benchmark dry and sweet expressions of noble Alsace varieties, particularly Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris, vinified traditionally in century-old oak foudres.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Riesling
🍷 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
7-10%