The latest cru bourgeois classification has been annulled by a court in Bordeaux, it emerged yesterday.
The 2003 law that established the hierarchy of the cru bourgeois wines in the Medoc was annulled by the administrative court of appeals in Bordeaux.
The repeal effectively returns the Médoc classification to its original 1932 status, and allows nearly 200 chateaux eliminated in the 2003 revision to call their wines cru bourgeois.
The ruling also rescinds the cru bourgeois superieur and cru bourgeois exceptionnel rankings, affecting 87 and nine chateaux respectively.
All Chateaux, including the 'exceptionnel' Chasse-Spleen, Poujeaux and Phélan Ségur, revert, along with the 444 chateaux of the 1932 classification, to a simple 'cru bourgeois' status.
The 2003 reclassification was the result of efforts to raise consumer confidence in the cru bourgeois label by eliminating poor quality wines through a more rigorous selection process. But the process – which saw the number of cru bourgeois reduced by nearly half – was marred by conflicts of interest.
In 2004, a group of 78 châteaux sought, and won, a partial repeal of the 2003 law, but appellants further demanded a total retraction.
Yesterday's decision, predicted by decanter.com earlier this month, was expected by producers and outside observers. One magistrate agreed with the appellants that it was not possible to bestow a new status on 78 chateaux without a re-evaluation of the entire list.
Those in favour of the 2003 reclassification – however problematic – are disappointed in the decision. Thierry Gardinier, of Château Phelan-Segur and president of the Alliance of Crus Bourgeois said the new ruling had sent 10 years of hard work down the drain.
Even those on the side of the appeal, led by Denis Hecquet, president of the Médoc winegrowers' union, said the affair had further tarnished the 'lustre' of the cru bourgeois name.
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I'm sorry for the growers, but I bought Chasse-Spleen before and I will continue to buy it, and if the effect of the annulment is to keep prices at a reasonable level, well lucky me.
Terence Lyons
It is was evident from the beginning.
As soon as you put inside the conditions for membership in the new Alliance a tasting, it should have been obvious for everyone that this tasting should be performed by outside Tasters.
It was not the case, and then, all the conditions were there to kill the project.
It would have been very smart too to look how wise is the Commission in Saint-Emilion, how it performs.
Finally, Alliance work was an amateur work : we have the proof today.
They have now an occasion to start again, on a completly new basis : just hope Thierry Gardinier will have the nerves to conduct a new project. Nothing is more sure…
François Mauss, Grand Jury Européen, Bonnevoie, Luxembourg
Reverting to the old classification is alright for the likes of us Decanter readers, who, as with Burgundy, go by the name of the producer, or in this case, the chateau. The sad thing is that there are many attempts in Bordeaux to make us think a bottle is something special (eg names similar to famous chateau for one). Most people who would consider paying a premium for a bottle labelled "cru bourgeois" would expect a certain superior level of quality. That they may be disappointed should be of great concern to the region as a whole, especially in a time of reduced market share.
The recent similar challenge to the new Kaefferkopf Grand Cru in Alsace is another example of economic considerations winning out over quality when it is the latter which the French should be stressing above all. The finest wines may only be available on strict allocation but the rest will only find a market, even in China, if long-term quality challenges short-term profit.
David Crossley
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I'm sorry for the growers, but I bought Chasse-Spleen before and I will continue to buy it, and if the effect of the annulment is to keep prices at a reasonable level, well lucky me.
