St-Emilion chateaux going to court over classification

Some of the St-Emilion chateaux demoted in the 2006 classification are going to court to try to have the decision overturned. At least seven of the 11 Bordeaux properties that were demoted from Grand Cru Classe are pressing for an annulment, claiming the judgments were unsound. They have been spurred on by a Bordeaux court’s recent decision to repeal the 2003 Cru Bourgeois classification. This basically returns the Medoc ratings to their original 1932 status.

St-Emilion’s classification system, which grades individual properties, was formally drawn up in 1955 and is the most frequently amended, reclassifying chateaux every 10 years. However, chateaux demoted in the latest revision have criticised the fact that they have been given no reasons as to why they were declassified and some feel that the jury broke the rules.

Chateau Villemaurine is one of the properties going to court to fight the decision. President and Managing Director Philippe Giraud told ThirtyFifty that, ‘The Commission in charge of the 2006 classification did not follow the rules. The judgment was made solely on tasting.’ He added that, ‘The vintages of the wines tasted are already out of stock and no longer on sale. Yet the wines which are on the market or will be at a later date are not included in the classification ratings.’

At family-owned Chateau Guadet-Saint-Julien, Guy Petrus Lignac is equally aggrieved, saying the Chateau has always been considered as Grand Cru Classe. He is proud of its ‘excellent terroir’ and, since taking over the winery from his parents in 2000, says he’s put in a lot of investment to keep it at the highest level.

He told ThirtyFifty that he can’t understand why the Committee would downgrade the winery. ‘It’s compulsory to have two blind tastings each vintage to get the label of Grand Cru Classe. We’ve never failed. It means,’ he said, ‘that every year the Committee said that the wine was good enough quality to get the label but then, come the 10-year classification, they say the wine wasn’t good enough during that period.’

Furthermore, he said, the only criterion considered for all the 11 demoted wineries was a ‘very subjective tasting’, while the rules are supposed to take criteria such as maintenance of the vines and vineyards, terroir or notoriety into consideration. ‘But the rules aren’t really clear,’ he said, ‘even the president of the St-Emilion syndicate said that the rules are too blurred and are subject to discussion.’

It is not surprising that the demoted chateaux want to fight the Commission’s revisions. Being able to use the label Grand Cru Classe isn’t just about status. With it comes a premium on the selling price of the wine and an eager market. Demotion, however, can even result in the property’s land devaluing.