Each Appellation final involves between 8 and 10 wines, which are selected on the basis of their notoriety by analyzing consolidated ratings such as those on the WineSearcher site. The wines selected generally have a minimum score of 90/100.
Note that the Saint-Emilion appellation includes many high quality châteaux and it is unfortunately not possible to test them all!
A multi-Appellation qualifying round can be organized with wines that are unusually “roughed up” by consolidated rating systems.
In 1998, Château Beychevelle (rated 87/100 on WineSearcher) and La Couspaude (rated 88/100) won this qualifying round. They then reached third place in their respective Appellation finals: Saint-Julien and Saint-Emilion!
The supply is made by early purchase, or during wine fairs and is finally supplemented by purchases from merchant sites (iDealwine, Millésimes, … to name a few). The wines are kept in a cellar of 4,000 bottles whose temperature varies between 12 ° c and 20 ° c (cellar buried 2 meters deep, and on north side), and the humidity level between 60 and 85% (sandy soil).
