This Monday opens before the Criminal Court of Bordeaux the trial of Hubert de Boüard, owner of Château l’Angelus, and Philippe Castéja, owner of Château Trottevieille for illegal taking of interests in connection with the classification of the great wines of Saint -Emilion. Médiapart revealed in the fall of 2018 the suspicions that weighed on the two merchants, suspected of having participated in the development of a new regulation relating to the 2012 classification of Saint-Emilion grands crus and participated in the classification process. – even, while they had “direct or indirect interests” in this classification.
This ten-year classification created in 1955, a real commercial and financial stake for wine-growing properties, is revised every ten years by the INAO depending on the Ministry of Agriculture.
Four wine companies are civil parties in this trial which is being held on Monday and Tuesday.