Saint-Émilion : 2012, under the spotlights…

France Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion : 2012, under the spotlights…

A city, a History, recognized wines, an international fame after its registering on the UNESCO World Heritage list: Saint-Emilion. 2012: an eventful year, the announcement of the new classification and a first assessment explained by Franck Binard, Director of the Saint-Emilion Wines Council since a year.

As from his arrival Franck
Binard implemented an internal and external strategy. “We had to increase our communication on the internal level by reinforcing our policy and help to our members, and on the external plan by using all the modern means to establish our image and strengthen our repute to the general public, the connoisseurs and the professionals” he explains. Barely 40, arrived a year ago with a serious academic and professional background, he is well-aware of the ins and outs of the French viticultural industry. He strived for more than 60 Defence and Management Organisms, control organs, various interprofessional committees and wine growers.
A strong experience with a special feeling for the appellations of Saint-Emilion. “We have to maintain excellence and quality of our appellations, protect the name Saint-Emilion and strengthen the relations with our members. We have to remain concrete and work with transparency and efficiency, he continues.We also try to transmit ground knowledge about our appellations, our wines and their characteristics. We have decided to increase training seminars. So we have implemented, for the wine growers, exclusive programs built up with Professor Gilles de Revel's laboratory (ISVV*) to assess oneself, discover and enhance one's sensitivity to the wines' components.”

On the internal level, members of the Saint-Emilion Wines Council** can meet experts during three thematic half-days every month: legal questions, brand law, communication by means of new media. Concerning external actions, the estates' promotion did not weaken in 2012: the En Primeur week, the reception of professionals in the vineyard, open days whose formula will change in 2013, the Flower Feast, the Harvest Banns, Bordeaux Fête le Vin in Bordeaux and Quebec, and the Heritage Night with a concert of Joseph Calleja. But also on the digital plan with Facebook, Twitter and the creation of the website for the wines of Saint-Emilion. Epicureans, explorers or connoisseurs can all find numerous information about the appellations, the agenda, new fooding, recipes, bistronomy… Tra­dition, history and mo­der­ni­ty taken together, this website shows the emotional will in the way it is written and its content, updated every two months. Still on the external level, the Sommellerie: “Every year, we reinforce our plans of action dedicated to the hotel and catering schools and the future sommeliers, in France in abroad. For us, sommeliers are essential middlemen, vectors of quality information to consumers” Franck Binard concludes.



The last touch is given to what has kept media and professionals breathless the whole summer through with various conjectures: the new classification of the wines from Saint-Emilion, announcement at 6.01 p.m. exactly, on last September 6th. After the questioning of the previous one in 2006 and the legal and media waves it led to, 2012 will be the start of a new era. 82 estates have been ranked after a one-year work of the Classification Commit­tee, under the aegis of the INAO*** and the Ministries of Agriculture and Consumption, namely 64 Grands Crus Classés and 18 Premiers Grands Crus Classés. A list that is revisable every 10 years; it modernized its image and shows that the terroir is not the exclusive criterion anymore, but that the financial and economic environment as well as repute are taken into consideration.

Florence Varaine
* Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin de l'Université de Bordeaux
** Defence and Management Organism for the appellations Saint-Emilion, Saint-Emilion
Grand Cru, Lussac-Saint-Emilion and Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion
*** Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité

Conseil des Vins de Saint-Emilion
BP 15, Rue Guadet
33330 SAINT-EMILION - France
Tél: +33 (0) 5 57 55 50 50
www.vins-saint-emilion.com

LISTE DES CRUS CLASSES PROPOSEE PAR LA COMMISSION DE CLASSEMENT DES CRUS
DE L’APPELLATION D’ORIGINE CONTRÔLEE SAINT-EMILION GRAND CRU

PREMIERS GRANDS CRUS CLASSÉS
par ordre alphabétique :

Château Angélus (A)
Château Ausone (A)
Château Beauséjour (héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse)
Château Beau-Séjour-Bécot
Château Bélair-Monange
Château Canon
Château Canon la Gaffelière
Château Cheval Blanc (A)
Château Figeac
Clos Fourtet
Château la Gaffelière
Château Larcis Ducasse
La Mondotte
Château Pavie (A)
Château Pavie Macquin
Château Troplong Mondot
Château Trottevieille
Château Valandraud
GRANDS CRUS CLASSES :
par ordre alphabétique
Château l’Arrosée
Château Balestard la Tonnelle
Château Barde-Haut
Château Bellefont-Belcier
Château Bellevue
Château Berliquet

Château Cadet-Bon

Château Capdemourlin

Château le Chatelet

Château Chauvin
Château Clos de Sarpe
Château la Clotte
Château la Commanderie
Château Corbin
Château Côte de Baleau
Château la Couspaude
Château Dassault
Château Destieux
Château la Dominique
Château Faugères
Château Faurie de Souchard
Château de Ferrand
Château Fleur Cardinale
Château La Fleur Morange
Château Fombrauge
Château Fonplégade
Château Fonroque
Château Franc Mayne
Château Grand Corbin
Château Grand Corbin-Despagne
Château Grand Mayne
Château les Grandes Murailles
Château Grand-Pontet
Château Guadet

Château Haut-Sarpe

Clos des Jacobins

Couvent des Jacobins

Château Jean Faure
Château Laniote
Château Larmande
Château Laroque
Château Laroze
Clos la Madeleine
Château la Marzelle
Château Monbousquet
Château Moulin du Cadet
Clos de l’Oratoire
Château Pavie Decesse
Château Peby Faugères
Château Petit Faurie de Soutard
Château de Pressac
Château le Prieuré
Château Quinault l’Enclos
Château Ripeau
Château Rochebelle
Château Saint-Georges-Cote-Pavie
Clos Saint-Martin
Château Sansonnet
Château la Serre
Château Soutard
Château Tertre Daugay
Château la Tour Figeac
Château Villemaurine
Château Yon-Figeac