Pavie and Angelus were the big winners of the long-awaited (and at
times highly
controversial) re-classification of the St Emilion Grand Cru. Since being
upgraded to Premier Grand Cru Classe A – sitting alongside Cheval Blanc and Ausone
– both have benefited from increased demand on the exchange, with a flurry of
trades over the last 48 hours. (For the full details of what moved up, and
down, see the comprehensive reports from Decanter, The Wine Cellar Insider and
RVF.)
Although the process included tastings, visits and detailed
submissions (along with the payment of at least €6,000) the movement of estates
up the rankings was almost exactly aligned with their secondary market
pricing.
Below we have listed the average price per case for the last five physical
vintages (2005-2009) for each estate in both Premier Grand Cru Classe A and B.
The two wines that moved up from Classe B to Classe A – Pavie and Angelus – were significantly more expensive than any other existing Premier
Grand Cru Classe B wine. Indeed, they were the only wines that had a secondary
market price of the more than £1,000 per case (€100 per bottle).
Similarly, all the wines that moved from Grand Cru Classe to
Premier Grand Cru Classe B, are priced in excess of £450 per case (€45 per
bottle) – which tends to be the lower range for wines in that
strata of the classification. (As such, Beausejour Becot looks fortunate
to have kept its status.)
La Mondotte, previously considered just a St Emilion Grand Cru
(of which there are several hundred) skipped the Grand Cru Classe stage
entirely and went straight in as Premier Grand Cru Classe B. La Mondotte and Valandraud
(also newly promoted) immediately become
the most expensive Classe B wines by some margin.
There were some outliers, however. Clos St Martin remains a Grand
Cru Classe despite an average price of close to £500 per case. (Although this high
average is largely due to the top-scoring 2005, at £1,050 – most other vintages
struggle to break the £400 barrier.) Similarly, Quintus (formerly Tertre
Daugay), which launched its 2011 at an eye watering price of £1,000 per case, must make do with Grand Cru Classe status. Nevertheless, it appears the re-classification
board could have saved itself a great deal of bother by just following the
market.
*Average price for a 12x75cl case in GBP across the 2005-2009 vintages.
