The Wine Collector

Practical wine collecting advice from Steve Bachmann, Vinfolio's CEO

Mar

2009

Wine classification systems in the Internet era

Categories: Learning about wine

"Saint-Emilion classification system ditched" was the headline in a Decanter.com story today. Good riddance! Does anyone really need such a system for buying guidance in a world where wine bloggers, consumers, and even professional critics are posting tasting notes and wine reviews 24 hours a day with their opinions? My answer is "no."

However, since I do like Bordeaux, and many people don't realize that there are multiple classification systems which apply within Bordeaux, this post is a good opportunity to raise awareness of what they are. I'm not going to write a long essay because everything you'd ever want to know about Bordeaux can be found on www.bordeaux.com, including the gory details of each of six classification systems. Enjoy!

1 comments:

You may think that these classification systems have little relevance in an electronic age. There is one role that may not 'meet the eye': that of putting pressure on producers to toe the mark when style or quality questions arise. For instance, in Bordeaux it's the chateau that's classified, not the land; and if too much inappropriate land expansion occurs and this threatens the quality or style of the wine that the consumer has come to expect, it's good that the appellation system can put pressure on the owners not to go too far off what the consumer has a right to expect.

Posted by John H Trombley at Wednesday April 1, 2009

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