Bordeaux 2014 Cru Bourgeois
While I have long been impressed by the collegial nature and motivation exhibited by the many Cru Bourgeois proprietors who have a stake in the system, I have also frequently found the details of their annual classification more than a touch frustrating. The practice of rating an individual wine, rather than a château or its vineyard, seems superfluous to the needs of 21st-century drinkers.
Wine-by-wine ratings is the work of a wine critic, whereas if it is to be meaningful a Bordeaux classification should reflect the situation over a longer period of time, looking for consistency of effort and results over many years. The ranking of a château within the classification shouldn’t be simply about whether their 2014 vintage was deemed to be any good or not, it should reflect a much broader picture. This means looking not only at quality across multiple vintages, but also other features of the vineyard including environmental status, sustainable working and other positive aspects of the management of the estate. I have previously called for such changes to be made, particularly in my 2012 and 2011 Cru Bourgeois reports, as well as the pages of The World of Fine Wine.
A week or two a go I attended the latest annual tasting of the Sélection Officielle des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, which featured the wines of the 2014 vintage. After a string of less-than easy years, including the awful 2013 vintage of course, I attended hoping to find some good-value recommendations, but I was also keen to learn of any forthcoming changes in the system. And the good news is, there are definitely changes afoot. The Cru Bourgeois classification is evolving (and there are, thankfully, some decent wines coming on to the market as well).
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