Saint-Emilion classification ditched

The 2006 Saint Emilion classification will be scrapped, the French Court of Appeal has ruled.

A judgement claimed the system was unlawful in July 2008 and an appeal by the eight promoted properties, the Saint Emilion Wine Board and the INAO was thrown out yesterday.

Chateau La Marzelle was declassified in 2006 and its owner Philippe Genevey, told local newspaper Sud-Ouest, ‘We are satisfied with the ruling as we believe we were victims of injustice’

‘Now we have to work together to find a new classification acceptable to all of us.’

Jean-Francois Quenin, president of the Saint-Emilion Wine Board added, ‘We don’t know what we are going to do. We need a classification, it is what keeps the region moving forward. I want us all to work together to find a solution.’

The system will remain for the 2009 vintage and a new classification will need to be introduced. However, it is possible a further appeal could go to France’s High Court.

The Saint-Emilion classification was created in 1954 and is revised every 10 years.

Written by Rebecca Gibb

Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).