Bordeaux chateaux fight project to redefine Margaux appellation
November 9, 2005
By Panos Kakaviatos
A project to redefine boundaries of Bordeaux's Margaux appellation has had a major setback following hundreds of complaints.
According to a report this month in French journal La Revue du Vin de France, classed growths Prieuré Lichine and cru bourgeois Siran among other chateaux were set to have some of their vines declassified to Haut Medoc status.
But Prieuré Lichine director Patrick Bongard told decanter.com this week that Margaux's wine union rejected the plans and put forward its own proposals, after '300 complaints lodged by the chateaux.'
'We disagreed with the plans that would have declassified four of our hectares as Haut Medoc, but we agreed to one and a half of them being declassified,' Bongard said.
The Margaux appellation's 1,408ha of vines have been re-examined in a movement set off some 20 years ago when Chateau d'Arsac lodged a request to be classified as a Margaux AOC.
Gonzague Lurton, owner of Chateau Durfort-Vivens in Cantenac and president of the Margaux appellation, said that the final 'reclassification' of Margaux chateaux is going to take another year or two.
'Some chateaux will ultimately gain some hectares and others will lose,' Lurton told decanter.com. 'It is a complicated process involving the INAO, the union and the appellation.'
Today, 40 of Chateau d'Arsac's 112 hectares are officially recognized as Margaux wine while the rest are Haut Medoc.
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