Wine Wednesday Recap: Cracking the French Classification Maze & Sourcing From the Vaults of Le Pin 🇫🇷🍷
A 100-point Saint-Émilion powerhouse from the owner of Le Pin and an approachable guide to France’s big three classification systems.
This past week, we did things a little differently on Wine Wednesday. While Rodolfo was away, winemaker Annabelle Borra stepped in to co-host. Annabelle just returned from a massive week in Madrid where her second-ever vintage of Vinos de Bellite (www.vinosdebellite.com) was recognized by Tim Atkin as one of the best wines in Spain—standing shoulder-to-shoulder with legendary names like Raúl Pérez. She tuned in while sampling a “shiner” (an unlabelled bottle) of her 1900-planted old-vine Garnacha, while I enjoyed an everyday entry-level German Riesling.
If you missed the live broadcast, here is your structural breakdown of the French classification maze and the rare allocation that went live for members yesterday.
The Drop: Le If 2018 (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru)
Last week, we featured Petrolo Galatrona, a 100% Tuscan Merlot frequently called “The Le Pin of Tuscany” by critics. In a brilliant twist of cosmic alignment, Rodolfo went into the background and sourced an allocation from the actual owner of Le Pin: Le If 2018.
The Sibling to an Untouchable: While Le Pin is named after a lone pine tree next to its vineyard, Le If translates directly to “U Tree”. It represents a tiny, hyper-boutique plot focused on raw biodiversity and distinct clay-limestone soils.
Extreme Scarcity: Only about 800 cases of this right-bank icon were made for the entire global market.
The Profile: The 2018 growing season in Saint-Émilion started off incredibly wet and stressful before an absolute turnaround of pure summer sunshine. Expect intensely ripe dark fruit, licorice, ganache, tobacco, and silky, cashmere-like tannins built to easily cellar for another 10 to 20 years.
Members were permitted to secure up to six single-bottle lots of this library release starting yesterday at 1:00 PM Eastern.
Cracking the Code: The Big Three Systems of France
If someone ever tries to make you feel intimidated by European wine classifications, remind them that the most important classification in the world (Bordeaux 1855) was thrown together in just two weeks for a trade show crowd.
To make the wine world digestible, Annabelle and I broke down the 3 foundational approaches to classifying quality in France:
1. Bordeaux: The Chateau (The Estate)
How it works: Established in 1855 for Napoleon III’s World Expo. Brokers ranked Left Bank estates based strictly on market price, volume, and reputation.
The Rule: The classification stays anchored to the producer rather than the dirt. This means a chateau can buy new vineyard land, and that newly acquired land automatically inherits the grand cru rank. It is highly stable and rarely changes.
2. Burgundy: The Vineyard (The Terroir)
How it works: Driven by medieval monks who meticulously tracked which exact rows of grapes produced the best wine over hundreds of years.
The Rule: It follows a strict quality pyramid: Regional ➡️ Village ➡️ Premier Cru ➡️ Grand Cru (which makes up less than 2% of total production). The land itself holds the rank, meaning a single vineyard plot can be fractured among dozens of different winemakers.
3. Champagne: The Village
How it works: Originally set up as a pricing framework because grape growers historically sold their harvests to the big commercial production houses.
The Rule: Status (Grand Cru vs. Premier Cru) is dictated by the historical value ranking of the entire village commune, rather than a single estate or a tiny plot of soil.
Looking Ahead: The Collector Tier 🚨
We know the community has been inundating our inboxes with questions regarding when the new membership options will officially go live. We are currently aligning the final backend details and will be ready to announce the official global launch date on next week’s broadcast.
Catch the full live replay, hear Annabelle discuss her experience working harvest in Saint-Émilion during the 2018 vintage, and listen to us talk about old-world rules here: https://dvin.app/WWClassifications
Cheers,
Jana
Co-founder, dVIN Labs 🍷