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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.

This time, it arrived in the form of a morning e-mail from the St.-Emilion press officer. As expected, a handful of properties were added to the list of Grand Cru estates, and a few – most notably Chateau Cadet Bon, which had been demoted in 1986 and promoted again in 1996 – were dropped. But the more important move, the one that ultimately means Euros in the bank, is the promotion from Grand Cru Classe to Premier Grand Cru Classe. As many as four properties were considered possibilities. Two were actually chosen by the St.-Emilion panel.

As of last week, Chateau Troplong Mondot and Chateau Pavie Macquin join 13 other producers on St.-Emilion’s top rung. (Actually, even the top is further divided into Premier Grand Cru Classe A, which is only Cheval Blanc and Ausone, and Premier Grand Cru Classe B, which is everyone else. But all 15 will participate equally in Premier Grand Cru Classe events, such as the formal dinner held in conjunction with the VinExpo wine fair every second June.)

I agree with both promotions. Impeccably run by Christine Valette, who renovated the entire property after taking control in 1981 and brought on Michel Rolland – and, later, Stephane Derenoncourt – to supervise the winemaking, Troplong-Mondot has been producing top-quality wines for years. I’m especially a fan of the gorgeous 2002, which wasn’t a headline vintage in St.-Emilion but rewarded careful, restrained winemaking. And by all accounts, the 2005 is remarkable.

Unlike Chateau Pavie and Chateau Pavie-Decesse, Nicolas Thienpont’s Pavie-Macquin is not owned by the controversial (and wildly successful) supermarket magnate Gerard Perse, but its wines exhibit the same full-throttle style. This is a wine I like to buy in vintages that aren’t especially ripe, such as 1999 and 2004, though I’ve also very much enjoyed the 1995.

Fifteen is a large number of wineries for a top classification. Unfortunately, St.-Emilion is a close-knit village, and nobody wants to offend a neighbor. So promoting properties to the Premier Grand Cru Classe level is far easier than dropping them.

To me, Chateau La Gaffeliere (not to be confused with the hard-charging Canon-La Gaffeliere) and Chateau Trottevieille have been under-performing for years. It’s all personal taste, of course, but a demotion to Grand Cru might have been the jolt that inspired them to a renewed push for quality. That’s what revisiting a classification is for, after all.

It didn’t happen this time for Chateau Trottevieille in St.-Emilion. Perhaps 2016?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Bruce Schoenfeld, Vintelligence Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.