Home > Wine Guides > Bordeaux Wine Guide > St Emilion Classification

St Emilion Classification

The 1855 classifications of the Médoc and Sauternes did not even take into account the ancient domaines of Graves, just to the south of Bordeaux, so it is perhaps not surprising that the numerous estates around Libourne, some way to the east on the right bank of the Dordogne, were similarly excluded. Nearly a century had passed before the Syndicat Viticole considered the creation of a St Emilion classification to be a worthwhile undertaking, and indeed the fruit of their subsequent labours was published exactly one hundred years after the more famous classification of the châteaux of the left bank.

The Syndicat Viticole began to lay out plans for the classification as early as 1930, but it did not really take shape until the INAO agreed to oversee its creation, beginning with a governing decree published on October 7th, 1954. The system laid out was for two broad categories, the upper tier being Premier Grand Cru Classé (which is further subdivided into the higher ranking A and lesser B categories) and the lower being Grand Cru Classé. The classification they devised would depend on submitted requests for inclusion, rather than the system in 1855 where properties were ranked by local merchants, and the ranking would be based on a tasting of ten vintages from the estate in question rather than pure market value, which was the key factor one hundred years previously. Crucially, it would be open to reassessment every ten years or so, setting it apart from the seemingly immutable 1855 classifications.

The initial classification was published on the 16th June 1955 and subsequently amended by decree the following August and October, the final list having 12 properties ranked as Premier Grand Cru Classé and 63 as Grand Cru Classé. The system was then revised in 1969, and again in 1986 and 1996, by which time the number of properties in the top tier was very similar at 13, but the second group had contracted somewhat, down to just 55. The most recent revision in 2006, however, saw the numbers at the top swell to 15, and lower down the numbers decreased even further to 46.

Controversy in 2006

There were eleven properties demoted from the Grand Cru Classé rung in the 2006 revision, and these are documented below. For the sake of completeness it is worth noting that two other properties also disappeared, although not through demotion; these were Château Curé-Bon, which was purchased by the Chanel team and subsequently absorbed into Château Canon in 2000, and Château La Clusière, which in a similar fashion was absorbed into a greater name, in this case Château Pavie. Those that were demoted, however, were as follows:

• Château Bellevue
• Château Cadet-Bon
• Château Faurie-de-Souchard
• Château Guadet St-Julien
• Château La Marzelle
• Château Petit-Faurie-de-Soutard
• Château Tertre-Daugay
• Château La Tour-du-Pin-Figeac (Giraud-Bélivier)
• Château La Tour-du-Pin-Figeac (Moueix)
• Château Villemaurine
• Château Yon-Figeac

It was these demotions that were responsible for what was perhaps the greatest and certainly the most surprising controversy ever to beleaguer any Bordeaux classification, even though the 2006 revision came only three years after a hotly disputed reclassification of the Cru Bourgeois châteaux of Bordeaux. A number of proprietors listed above, who all faced demotion from the Grand Cru Classé ranking, in particular the owners of Château Cadet-Bon, Château Guadet St-Julien, Château La Tour du Pin Figeac and Château La Marzelle, decided to take the Syndicat Viticole to court over the new listing. It seemed as though they had a strong case, as an inspection of the credentials of the members of the INAO panel allegedly suggested lack of impartiality, and an administrative tribunal in Bordeaux was quick to suspend the classification pending review, leaving all the châteaux of the appellation, including greats such as Ausone and Cheval-Blanc, effectively without any formal ranking at all. At the time I gave a rundown of events in my account of the collapse of the classification.

The stuttering resolution to this situation began in November 2007, when the Conseil d'Etat, the highest administrative court in France, ended the suspension having stated that this prior action had no legal justification. Although the conclusions of the court did not dismiss the issues raised by the four complainants, it did state that they were not of a nature that warranted the permanent annulment of the classification. So it seemed as though the 2006 classification would stand, that was until it was again deemed void by a court in Bordeaux in July 2008. Then in a bizarre development the following week the court, under pressure from the INAO, effectively reinstated the 1996 classification, to be applicable to the 2006-2009 vintages. This was of course great news for the four properties that brought the action (and of course those other demoted estates watching from the sidelines), represented in court by lawyer Philippe Thévenin, but it was a grave disappointment for those that had benefited from the new system, namely those estates that had been promoted, and with this new development now saw themselves pushed back to their 1996 standings.

This latter point was the next to be addressed in this complex clean-up, a process that was looking more and more like prolonged damage limitation than anything like a wine classification. A finance law amendment submitted by senators Gérard César and Philippe Dominati in December 2008 would have allowed the estates that missed out on the 2006 promotions to regain their new positions. So Pavie-Macquin and Troplong-Mondot would return to Premier Grand Cru Classé level, while Bellefond-Belcier, Destieux, Fleur-Cardinale, Grand Corbin and Grand Corbin-Despagne would regain the Grand Cru Classé accolade. In January 2009 the case, which was based on an argued loss of revenue, was thrown out. The 1996 classification was standing firm, and in March 2009 the French Court of Appeal hammered the final nail in the coffin of the 2006 ranking with a terminal judgement, ending any hope that it could be revived. Well, maybe....

The only workable solution was to find a ranking that would keep everybody content; reinstate the promoted châteaux to their new rankings, but conveniently overlook the fact that a number of properties should/would/could have been demoted. In truth it makes a farce of the classification, but no more so that the legal disputes that have been slowly strangling the system for the last three years. It was what the December 2008 law would have achieved, but clearly the government council that dismissed it failed to realise that. In May 2009, however, a new law concerning the classification was passed, with a convenient footnote reinstating the previously promoted châteaux within the 1996 classification. Result? The promoted are promoted and are thus happy, the demoted haven't been demoted after all and are thus happy, and everybody can get on with making wine.

Until the next time, of course. The current state of play - the 1996 classification with 2006 promotions superimposed - will be reviewed in 2012.

St Emilion 1996 Classification with 2006 Promotions

The following is valid until 2011. The 2006 promotions are marked by *, those that escaped demotion through maintaining the 1996 listing by †. Note during this process two châteaux have been renamed, namely Belair, now part of the Moueix portfolio and rechristened Bélair-Monange, and also the La Tour-du-Pin-Figeac portion that belonged to the Giraud-Bélivier family and which, as mentioned above, was to have been demoted in 2006. This property is now under the same administration as neighbour Cheval-Blanc, and no doubt to reduce confusion with Figeac, another near neighbour, has been renamed La Tour-du-Pin.

Beyond the Classifications

Beyond the Premier Grand Cru Classé and the Grand Cru Classé properties of the St Emilion classification, there are many unclassified properties which may bear the grand sounding accolade of Grand Cru on the label. As a final point of interest in this rundown of the St Emilion ranking, I should make clear that this is not part of the classification, which accounts for only the two tiers discussed above. The distinction between a château that describes itself as Grand Cru, and one that does not, is a differentiation enshrined in appellation law, and it is discussed in my guide to St Emilion. It does not necessarily denote a wine of great quality or from exalted terroir, and as such the term is rather a misnomer. Nevertheless, there are good wines to be found at this level if one knows where to look; estates such as Teyssier and Faugères do at least deserve a mention.