Yet Another Classification - Burgundy’s Appellation Controlee System

Though I find the continued usage of the Grand Cru system incredibly surprising (especially because there is little room for movement between levels), what baffles me more is the lack of any digital footprint speaking ill of the practice. I would expect blog posts calling for changes in Bordeaux’s classification practices, campaigns for any particular Chateaux to enter (or improve their standing in) the system, and the like. A thorough sweep of wine blogs, Medium posts, and even Twitter feeds revealed little to no public opposition or outcry to the continued enforcement of an outdated rating system. In fact, my (albeit biased) search queries revealed quite the opposite – questioning searches point the user to various travel blogs and “Get to Know Bordeaux” sites encouraging public understanding of the existing classification system with no highlights of its drawbacks.

Quite ironically, in this attempt to find outcry related to classification systems, I discovered yet another classification system for French vineyards. In the same year that the Grand Cru system was established, Plan Topographique of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or region was published, detailing characteristics of the terroir of every vineyard in the region. Though Burgundy’s appellation controlee system (finalized in 1936) would take into account historical pricing with negociants, these detailed topographical notes drove Burgundy’s vineyard classification system to be based much more heavily on appellation, rating each vineyard in each appellation from grand cru, to premier cru, to village wine, to generic Bourgogne.

While Bordeaux’s Grand Cru approach allows Chateaux to associate any wines produced by the vineyard with the applicable Grand Cru title, Burgundy’s system requires vineyards to produce wine based on the classification of each individual vineyard parcel. One main advantage to this, as highlighted in a summary by The Decanter, is that appellation-based ratings allow market prices to signal to the consumer the quality of each individual producer. One potential limitation, however, is that the breakdown of “grand cru to generic” for each individual appellation makes comparing quality of different appellations difficult, as a grand cru from one region may vary remarkably in quality from another.

Personally, I find the appellation-based system to be much more effective as it captures characteristics of the wine itself and provides more opportunities for the market to drive pricing. Though additional digging may prove me wrong, I’ll consider Burgundy’s approach superior - however I’ll likely continue defaulting to my American tendencies and trust Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate over either J.