The 2018 Vintage Brings A New Crus Bourgeois du Médoc Quality System

West of the Gironde River (the Left Bank) in the northern Bordeaux Appellation d'origine Contrôlée (AOC) protected region is the Médoc sub region, within which lies eight red wine designations—Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac, Moulis, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe. This is the location of today's AOC Crus Bourgeois du Médoc.

The mid-12th century union between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Count Henri Plantagenet (England’s King Henry II) brought Bordeaux under English rule. During that time, the Médoc region had been inhabited by middle-class merchants and artisans (le bourgois), many of whom managed to finagle rights and privileges which included decreed tax exemptions on wines for export.

Under French rule in 1855, and instigated to satisfy Napolean III, who sought to develop an international reputation for French wines of distinction, the bourgois established the classification system of 1855. Five levels of Bordeaux wines of distinction were created, from First Growth to Fifth Growth. In 1932, merchants and the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce grouped 444 Médoc properties to create the AOC Crus Bourgeois. The latest count of Crus Bourgois properties is around 280, which accounts for about 40% of the today's Médoc wine production.

Many in and out of the wine business have contended that the 1855 classification was then, and remains today more about status than about price/quality. A look at Bordeaux wine prices certainly liiustrates an often yawning gap between the classified growths and other Médoc wines. The question is whether or not that price gap is equaled by a quality gap. 

Bourgois du Médoc producers have historically labored under an ever changing appellation system. Since 2010, officials published an annual Crus Bourgois du Médoc selection each September.

In 2012, a new system was promoted to the Alliance des Crus Bourgois du Médoc membership that would scrap the September list and create a quality designation system to be reviewed every few years. With about 80% of Bourgois du Médoc producers’ in agreement, on December 29, 2017, the French government approved specifications and verification procedures for the new Crus Bourgeois du Médoc classification system.

According to Olivier Cuvelier, President, Alliance des Crus Bourgois du Médoc, the new system is a return to the original Crus Bourgeois du Médoc hierarchical system of three levels: Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel. These designations will appear on wine labels beginning with the 2018 vintage. Wineries must apply and those which are designated under any of the three levels will be subject to review every five years. 

The quality of wine in any of the three levels is determined first by its capacity to improve over time; then by a commitment to an environmentally friendly approach to winemaking. The “Supérieur” and “Exceptionnel” levels are subject to ten additional stringent assessments, which include procedures in the vineyard, at harvest, the winery, the production process and quality assurance. The remaining assessments are concerned with presentation, promotion, professional representation and distribution.

The system guarantees: “...the quality tasted and approved by the professional jury corresponds to the quality of the wine placed on the market for a pre-authorized volume; the origin and uniqueness of each ‘Cru Bourgeois’ bottle when it is placed on the market, and protection against counterfeit bottles…through several levels of security.”

Each bottle comes with a sticker that sports a unique code which offers protection against fraud. The code also leads consumers to the Crus Bourgois website for information about the classification.

As it was in 1855, price remains a major driver of Médoc wines. Cru Bourgeois prices lag behind many classified “Growth” wines. Still, when today’s new system was promoted in 2012, the then “Alliance” director, Frédérique Dutheillet de Lamothe told members, “Having Cru Bourgeois on your label adds value; according to wine merchants, prices can be increased from 10 to 20%.”

A year later, as Bordeaux wine futures stretched the budgets even of the extreme wealthy, the headline of a drinksbusiness article screamed, “CRU BOURGEOIS FILLS GAP LEFT BY BORDEAUX PRICE HIKES.”

A wine-searcher scan today brings up quite a number of Crus Bourgois wines from vintages that precede the new system priced between $20 and $40/bottle, with top wines going between $50-$200/bottle. We will have to see what effect on prices the newly designated 2018 vintage will have on all levels of Crus Bourgois du Médoc wines.

Source: Forbes.com

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