2012 Saint Emilion classification upheld

A Bordeaux tribunal has rejected a complaint filed against the 2012 Saint Emilion classification by three estates.

Château La Tour du Pin Figeac, Corbin-Michotte and Croque-Michotte all filed complaints earlier this month calling for the revocation of the controversial classification, which they said contained procedural errors and inconsistencies.

All three estates had either been demoted or failed to secure promotion.

However, after a process that has taken three years since the complainants took up the case soon after the classification was announced on 29 October 2012, the real surprise appears not to be the decision itself but rather the rapidity with which it was returned. The verdict was announced last weekend even though no ruling was expected until mid-January.

Lucile Carle, spokeswoman for Château Croque-Michotte, admitted to France 3 that she and her father “didn’t at all expect to have a response today [17 December]…We are surprised at the speed with which the judgment was returned. The deliberations usually last one or two months.”

A statement from the INAO proclaimed: “Nearly three years after the end of the work on the classification of the ‘grand cru’ wines of Saint Emilion, a judgment by a Bordeaux tribunal has validated the proposals put forward in 2012.

“By this decision, the tribunal confirms the validity of the monitoring process, its procedural reliability and the rigour with which they were applied.”

All three complainants have vowed to fight on, with a furious Jean-Noël Boidron of Corbin-Michotte, telling AFP he thought the ruling a “flagrant injustice”.