St. Emilion classification thrown out. Again. Definitively.

The Administrative Court has irrevocably invalidated the 2006 classification of St. Emilion great growths after a long legal battle undertaken by 9 ousted châteaux.

The legal rationale behind this decision was that the Syndicat Viticole had "not respected the principle of equality among candidates".

Among other criticisms, the court most criticized the fact that all the classified growths requesting reclassification were tasted first in order to form a sort of frame of reference for the other wines.
The court deemed this manifestly unfair, ruling that "the commission divided competing estates into distinct categories according to whether or not they had previously been classified, whereas there was no legal reason to grant this advantage".

This annulment comes one year after the cru bourgeois classification in the Médoc was thrown out.

St. Emilion has a hard-to-understand naming system at the best of times, and this will surely not help... Very few consumers realize the difference between a "grand cru" and a "grand cru classé" and, to make things even more complicated, both sport the same appellation (not to mention the fact that about every other château in St. Emilion is a "grand cru"...).

Let us hope that the court decision will not be a Phyrrhic victory for the 9 châteaux, nor too much of a setback for those châteaux that were promoted in the cancelled classification (one naturally thinks of Troplong Mondot).

Best regards,
Alex R.

Alex, they should give up the attempt to update the classification. Classifications may have served a useful purpose in the past where there was far less information on wine available to consumers but nowadays the world is full of wine critics to suit different tastes whose views are widely known. Where the historical classification is clear as in the Médoc, it can still serve as a useful reference point to highlight over and under-performers but the Saint-Emilion classification is one of the worst for the reasons you give.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that there is no official classification in Pomerol. Its wines don't seem to suffer commercially from that.

Tim,

The issue is rather complicated.

I therefore agree and disagree with your post!

True, Pomerol does quite well without a classsification, but that is a very small, special, atypical appellation...

And I would rather trust a classification, with all its pitfalls, than a trendy guru or two!

The main virtue of the Saint-Emilion classifcation is its regular updating. However, this has proved to be a double-edged thing.

A new classification of the Graves is waiting in the wings, but these things take years, and create a great deal of passion.

So, I see the good and the evil in classifications.
And I clearly see the evil in poorly conducted re-classifications!

Best regards,
Alex R.

[David M. Bueker]

Is the prior classification still legally valid, or has everything been thrown out?

And I would rather trust a classification, with all its pitfalls, than a trendy guru or two!

I think that classifications are less sensitive to commercial/political pressure where a multi-ownership terroir is ranked as in Burgundy rather than where a brand (château)is ranked as in Bordeaux. Of course Burgundy is not immune from pressures, e.g. the bottom part of Clos Vougeot being classed as grand cru.

The experience in St. Emilion together a similar failure with Médoc crus bourgeois seems to me to demonstrate that fair updates by panels have become impossible. The only objective method for Bordeaux châteaux would be to base rankings on average selling prices over a recent period of years. This method was used for the 1855 Médoc classification and reflected the performance of the brands at that time.

David,

The 2006 classification is definitively dead. The news is so fresh that the status of wines from the previous classification is still uncertain.
They are entitled to the "grand cru" classification, but the "classé" denomination is out the window.

Tim,

I don't think money (i.e. market price) is the only, or most reliable yardstick to measure wine.

Best regards,
Alex

Tim,

I don't think money (i.e. market price) is the only, or most reliable yardstick to measure wine.

I agree; especially since a certain critic has gained such a big commercial influence.

However, if one must have a classification, price history is factual, almost impossible to dispute and says something important, even if that does not correspond our own personal aesthetic judgments.