After years of legal wrangling, Bordeaux wines from 243 chateaux have been given permission to put the Cru Bourgeois classification on their labels.

For many years, the Cru Bourgeois classification had been used as an unofficial list of 444 Medoc chateaux designated by the region's wine brokers, Wine Spectator reports.

Moves to make it an official classification were subject to legal challenge, but after seven years of litigation permission has been granted to use the name on bottles of the 2008 vintage.

Alliance des Cru Bourgeois du Medoc hopes that the name will help to inspire consumer confidence in smaller vineyards from Bordeaux, the publication notes.

Wine critic Elin McCoy recently noted in the Arizona Daily Star that many small winemakers in Bordeaux are being overlooked.

She suggested that buyers may be put off the region by the price of 2009 vintage first growths such as Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour.