Domaine des Petits Quarts

The estate was created in 1887 in Faye-d'Anjou, in the heart of the Coteaux du Layon. Twenty-six hectares split between Bonnezeaux and Coteaux du Layon, planted to chenin.

Jean-Pascal Godineau took charge in 1987, when his father died, and decided to devote the house above all to sweet wines.

It is worth knowing what that decision entails. Noble rot never spreads evenly through a vineyard, so the same vines must be picked over several times by hand, selecting only the affected berries: skilled labour over weeks. And because the fungus has evaporated the water from the berry, the juice obtained is little.

It does not happen every year, either. If the damp lasts too long the same fungus runs away and turns into grey rot: it splits the skin and ruins the fruit. The difference between the best wine of a decade and none at all fits into how long a few afternoons take to clear.

The house's top cuvée is called, literally, Grain par Grain: berry by berry. In 2004 the 1996 vintage of that wine was voted the best sweet wine in the world among 309 samples.