St.-Emilion Enters the 21st Century
Monday, June 18th, 2007The Best of Bruce Schoenfeld
From our Archives
Once every decade, meaning two-and-a-half times less frequent than a U.S. presidential election or a soccer World Cup, the governing body of Bordeaux’s St.-Emilion appellation reviews its classification of top properties. This is more often than the classification of Bordeaux’s Left Bank properties gets altered, which is once in its 201-year history, but it’s still not exactly a frequent occurrence. It happened last (September).
Before the Internet, it could take days for news to arrive about the various promotions and relegations. When Chateau Angelus and Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot gained Premier Grand Cru Classe status in 1996, I scoured newspapers for a week before finally calling France for an update.