{"id":1518,"date":"2020-03-29T18:29:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T18:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2020-03-29T18:29:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T18:29:25","slug":"crus-bourgeois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1518","title":{"rendered":"Crus Bourgeois"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we were young(er) and just beginning to enjoy wine, we thought there were only two sorts of wine: Bordeaux and other.\u00a0 Now, we still love a good Bordeaux and the best of them are among the world\u2019s finest.\u00a0 We knew about the Classified Growths from the 1855 survey but they became more and more expensive, so we drank less of them. \u00a0And we also recognize that there is a lot of wonderful wine from other countries and regions in France.<\/p>\n

Then we discovered the Crus Bourgeois<\/em>.\u00a0 These are red wines from the M\u00e9doc region, which means that St. Emilion and Pomerol, as well as other Right Bank regions are not included.\u00a0 As far back as the 15th<\/sup> century, these wines were produced on properties of the middle classes, meaning the merchant class, from the cities (or bourgs<\/em>).\u00a0 The nobility had their grand vineyards and could charge premier prices; the bourgeois were happy just to make and sell good wine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the designation became so widely used that there was no reason at one time to believe that a cru bourgeois was any more than plonk.\u00a0 So several times in the 20th<\/sup> century the growers tried to bring some order to the confusion.\u00a0 In 2003, there was a classification with three levels: just plain Crus Bourgeois, then Sup\u00e9rieur and Exceptionnel.\u00a0 That top tier had only nine ch\u00e2teaux, many of them considered the equivalent (or better) of some Classified Growths.\u00a0 To say the least, the list was controversial and was dropped in 2007 in favor of just one level.<\/p>\n

In 2016, they tried again.\u00a0 They returned to the three levels and judged the wines over a five-year period, beginning in 2018.\u00a0 Fairly rigorous standards were published (https:\/\/www.crus-bourgeois.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Press-kit-2020-Crus-Bourgeois-du-M%C3%A9doc-Classification.pdf<\/a> ) and the list was announced this year.\u00a0 Sadly, none of the Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels from 2003 participated, so such favorites of ours as Chasse-Spleen, Haut-Marbuzet and Ormes de Pez aren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

The selection criteria are rather interesting and are indicative of the direction of the marketplace.\u00a0 Of course, the Cru Bourgeois wines have to meet criteria of taste and aroma.\u00a0 An anonymous blind tasting panel makes the initial cut at what is and is not a Cru Bourgeois.\u00a0 In order to qualify as a Cru Bourgeois Sup\u00e9rieur or Exceptionnel, there are additional considerations.\u00a0 They have to do with the sustainability of the agriculture in the vineyards and winery.\u00a0 They also deal with management\u2019s actions \u201cto optimize the character of the wine (vineyard, harvest, winery, bottling, quality assurance system)\u201d.<\/p>\n

A real eye-opener for those of us who might travel to Bordeaux for wine tasting, one of the criteria for the advanced designations is the \u201cquality of reception of visitors\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, to be a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, these wineries must offer an exceptional experience for those who come to sample the wine in their tasting rooms.\u00a0 Of course, we at Power Tasting are delighted with this development.\u00a0 The \u201cquality of reception\u201d is an expression of a winery\u2019s attitude towards their customers, not least the ones who care enough to come to visit.\u00a0 The fact that the way they treat wine tasters can affect a wine\u2019s recognition and sales, shows again that wine tasters can affect the market<\/a> for wine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we were young(er) and just beginning to enjoy wine, we thought there were only two sorts of wine: Bordeaux and other.\u00a0 Now, we still love a good Bordeaux and the best of them are among the world\u2019s finest.\u00a0 We knew about the Classified Growths from the 1855 survey but they became more and more … Continue reading Crus Bourgeois<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1520,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}