St Emilion classification annulled

Just as we speculated in the last Brief the new classification of Saint Emilion has been declared invalid by a court in Bordeaux. Like the precedent (the Cru Bourgeois classification whose cancellation we reported last month) the court has judged that the panel who defined the classification was partial: it included representatives for (or advisors to) the estates that were at the same time subject to the decision. Seven chateaux that had been excluded had taken this issue to court. In the French system it is actually quite common that producers judge their own and their neighbours’ wine, e.g. in the agreement tastings for appellations. So even in this case we should perhaps ask – who’s next? Wine Business International, journee-vinicole.com, and decanter.com

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