Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) is French for "selection of noble berries" and refers to
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
s made from
grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
s affected by
noble rot
Noble rot (; ; ; ) is the beneficial form of a grey fungus, ''Botrytis cinerea'', affecting wine grapes. Infestation by ''Botrytis'' requires warm and humid conditions, typically around 20 degrees Celsius and above 80% humidity. If the weather ...
. SGN wines are sweet
dessert wines
Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert.
There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a mea ...
with rich, concentrated flavours.
Alsace wine
Alsace wine or Alsatian wine (; ; ; ) is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily white wine. Because of its History of Alsace, Germanic influence, it is the only ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' region in France to produce ...
s were the first to be described as ''Sélection de Grains Nobles'', with the legal definition introduced in 1984,Hugel.com: Vendange Tardive and SGN read on February 11, 2008 but the term is also seen in some other wine regions France, such as
Loire
The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.
It rises in the so ...
.
Use in Alsace
For Alsace wines, SGN is the highest official category for
late harvest wine
Late harvest wine is wine made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. ''Late harvest'' is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been ...
s, while the step below is called '' Vendange tardive''.
In 2001, the minimum must weight requirements for SGN in Alsace were increased to 18.2% for
Gewürztraminer
Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and which performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz ( ; although this is never the case in German, because mean ...
and
Pinot gris
Pinot gris, pinot grigio (, ), or ''Grauburgunder'' is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the pinot noir variety, it normally has a pinkish-gray hue, accounting for its name, but th ...
, and 16.4% for
Riesling
Riesling ( , ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...
and
Muscat
Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
, expressed as potential alcohol. Only these four "noble varieties" may carry the SGN designation, or the ''Vendange tardive'' designation.
The required level
ripeness of the grapes
In United States law, ripeness refers to the readiness of a case for litigation; "a claim is not ripe for adjudication if it rests upon contingent future events that may not occur as anticipated, or indeed may not occur at all." For example, if ...
are as follows, expressed as sugar content of the must and
potential alcohol Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.
These requirements make SGN roughly equivalent to a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Beerenauslese
''Beerenauslese'' () is a German language wine term for a late harvest wine with noble rot. Beerenauslese is a category in the '' Prädikatswein'' category of the Austrian and German wine classifications, and is a category above Auslese. Beere ...
, but the Alsace style tend to favour slightly higher alcohol levels, which means that the
residual sugar
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...
often is a little lower than in German wines, especially for Riesling and Muscat.
On rare occasions, the designation Quintessence de Grains Nobles (QGN) is seen for wines that significantly exceed the minimum requirements for SGN wines. Unlike the German designation Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA), QGN is no official designation, but it could be thought of as the Alsatian equivalent of a high-grade TBA. The term was invented in 1983 by Domaine Weinbach to describe an exceptional cuvee of that year's vintage, and while still used primarily by Weinbach, it has been adopted by a few other producers, including Marcel Deiss.
Use in Loire
In the case of Loire valley wines, the designation SGN usually denotes wines that are extra sweet, and produced by one of the region's so-called "sugar hunters". Often, the same producer will have another wine from the same appellation with less
residual sugar
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...
without the SGN designation. The SGN designation can be used in the appellations Coteaux du Layon and Coteaux de l'Aubance and in both cases this requires the grape
must
Must is freshly crushed Juice, fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must ...
Sweetness of wine
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...