The appellation was recognised on 18 February 1950. Its vines lie on both banks of the Layon, mostly on schist, with patches of volcanic rock, sandstone and quartz. The right bank is steep, up to 40 percent, while the left bank rises gently. Sheltered by the hills of the Mauges and the Choletais, the valley gets only 550 to 600 millimetres of rain a year.

Every grape is picked by hand, in successive passes through the same plot, to gather berries shrivelled on the vine or concentrated by noble rot. Morning river mists help noble rot develop. The finished wine keeps at least 34 grams of sugar per litre. Six villages may add their name to the label: Beaulieu-sur-Layon, Faye-d'Anjou, Rablay-sur-Layon, Rochefort-sur-Loire, Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné and Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay. The words Sélection de Grains Nobles are kept for the richest wines, from nobly rotten grapes with at least 323 grams of sugar per litre of juice.

In a bend of the Layon at Rochefort-sur-Loire lies the south-facing slope of Chaume. Coteaux du Layon Premier Cru Chaume comes from delimited plots there, with stricter rules and longer ageing. Quarts de Chaume, in the same commune, is a separate appellation, recognised in 1954 and a grand cru since 2011. Some vintages keep for decades, and a local saying holds that a Coteaux du Layon never dies, only its cork does.

Pierre Ménard farms schist slopes above the Layon at Faye-d'Anjou. Richard Leroy, at Rablay-sur-Layon since 1996, once made sweet wines under this appellation before leaving it for Vin de France.

The wines above are the Coteaux du Layon wines in the cellar. See also Anjou for the dry Chenin of the same hills, Vouvray for sweet Chenin in Touraine, or the full range of Loire Valley wines.