Cru Bourgeois: Problems & Solutions
Those familiar with events in Bordeaux over the last decade will know of the cru bourgeois saga. It was the first of the major classifications to collapse, followed only a few years later by the ill-fated 2006 St Emilion classification. In each case the fatal blow was the same; both were floored by legal challenges from those disadvantaged by the new listing. The eventual St Emilion solution (after some initial fudging of the 2006 listing to tide everybody over) was a robust, belt-and-braces reclassification in 2012. The belt was as follows; apply a rigorous and independent review, overseen by an impartial panel of wine experts from outside Bordeaux working on behalf of the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO), backed up by two quality assurance bodies. And the braces; promote rather than demote. Sorry to be so cynical. Nevertheless, there is one reason why, apart from the occasional squeaking from Château Corbin-Michotte, the 2012 revision of the St Emilion classification has been ratified without any significant dissent. When so many big names receive promotion, and so few are demoted, who’s going to complain?
The cru bourgeois problem was dealt with in a different fashion; the infrequently-reviewed classification was ditched, changing the meaning of the term cru bourgeois altogether. No longer is it a listing to be redrawn every ten, fifteen or twenty years; it is now an annual stamp of approval awarded on the basis of the latest vintage, and applied to that vintage only. As a concept it sounds ideally consumer-orientated, a seal of approval based purely on what is in the bottle, and nothing more. In shifting from the classification of a château to an individual wine, the Bordelais have become their own critics, which in principle seems rather honest. But it is a duplication of work; we already have critics, the aforementioned Martin and Robinson, who will slurp the wine and score on the basis of what’s in the bottle. We don’t need the Bordelais to try and do the same. A regional classification must surely be based on something more than just the juice?
