Today, after more than 8 years of proceedings, the Conseil d'Etat has taken the decision to refer the parties back to the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal.
For the record, on April 12, 2019, the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal, had ruled inadmissible for lateness the appeals of the three claimants against the Bordeaux administrative court's ruling dated December 17, 2015.
The administrative court had ruled on the legality of the 2012 classification, holding that none of the criticisms levelled at the classification by the applicants were well-founded. The three châteaux had not been retained by the INAO classification commission, whose work was based on the results of two impartial third-party bodies.
Without calling into question the 2012 classification and without addressing the merits of the dispute, the Conseil d'Etat, while annulling the decisions of the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal, referred the dispute back to the latter.