St-Emilion classification back in business

A week after the St-Emilion classification was declared invalid, it’s back! The yo-yoing classification has been reinstated after France’s wine classifications body, the INAO, asked the government to allow the previous 1996 classification to stand. This means that wines that were Premier Grand Cru Classe or Grand Cru Classe in that classification can use these rankings for the 2006 to 2009 harvests.

This is good news for the 11 chateaux that were demoted in the 2006 classification, but leaves those that were promoted without their new ranking.

Alain Moueix, president of the Association of St-Emilion Grand Cru Classe wines, said he felt it was a pity that the cancelling of the 2006 classification protected some people but penalised others in an unfair way. ‘I would have preferred that the 2006 classification stay on and that the situation of the people that are unhappy is reviewed one by one. Everybody agrees on the fact that they deserved their classification and this situation is unfair,’ he told ThirtyFifty.

It is expected that there will be a new classification once the three-year extension until the 2009 harvest is reached. In the meantime, Alain said it is too early to say what happens next.