There are (or were, to be precise) six classifications of Bordeaux wines, which were drawn up at different times. They relate to specific appellation areas, and readers will find each of them presented in the relevant chapters.
To help readers understand each of them better, we will deal with them in chronological order, so that the uninitiated wine lover can place them in their context.
Whenever they were established, the classifications are largely based on the notion of terroir. Taken in its broadest sense, this notion takes into account not only the quality of the soils but also the history, the means and techniques employed, human skill, the quality of the vineyard, the climate…
Together, these factors mean that certain growths have acquired, or are acquiring, such a reputation that they are regarded as the best of their appellation or regional production area at a given moment.
Over time, these repeated comparisons logically lead to a sort of hierarchy, to a “classification” that perpetuates itself and ends up taking root in people’s minds. Nowadays, it is most often embodied in an official act.
Whatever its nature, since wine is a subject of passion from producers to consumers, any classification seems to retain for some a degree of subjectivity and so ends up open to challenge. Today they are the subject of almost systematic legal proceedings. We may also wonder whether it will be possible to draw up classifications in the Bordeaux region in future. An appeal alleging unfairness is fairly easy to bring, but is far from being relevant and well founded often enough. Setting aside the legal arguments, which the courts decide with final authority, it is astonishing to see owners take part in classifications whose rules they know and approve of, and then, in the end, denounce them in the light of the result. It would be just as astonishing if the rules of a classification were specified after entry into that classification, or modified while it was under way.
In reality, only a dynamic view of the vineyard makes it possible to understand the importance of these rulings. As the human factor remains the most fragile, one of the previous editors of the Féret thought it important to stress that: “A given growth, neglected by a careless or impoverished owner, may pass into the hands of an active, dynamic, wealthy and above all competent man, and as a result produce a better wine. But the opposite may just as well happen”. Owners come and go, but the growths remain if the quality is there… That is why we remain convinced that classifications must be considered in light of the elements used to establish them, and on their own intrinsic terms.
Moreover, consumers must not confuse tastings carried out on a one-off basis, whether collective or not, with classifications. For, even though they are subject to the passage of time, classifications apply other criteria that owe nothing to the palates of gurus and other self-appointed masters of what to drink. Only tastings that prove themselves over time can become significant in this field and, through use, come to command attention.
THE 1855 CLASSIFICATION
The genesis of this classification is as important as the classification itself. It covered, for the period, all the growths of the Gironde, and it can certainly be said that it will remain the only classification of Bordeaux wines as a whole. As such, it is of undeniable heritage interest.
The notion of “cru” (growth), which appeared in the 17th century, was one of the first steps towards an unofficial rating. The Bordeaux wine market operates on a simple system with three players: brokers, merchants and owners. The brokers ensure the equalisation of prices and quantities between the estate and the trade. When called upon, they serve not only as intermediaries but must have a perfect knowledge of the growths in order to pass it on to the merchants. From the beginning of the 18th century, this practice led these privileged operators to draw up a rating of the different wines. It rests not only on knowledge of taste but also, and above all, on knowledge of the vineyards. The notions of “grand vin” and “second wine”, which took shape from the early 18th century in the greatest estates (Haut-Brion, Margaux, Latour, Lafite…), are among the criteria of these qualitative judgements, which remain based on the originality of the terroirs.
The documents revealing the brokers’ unofficial practice thus appear as early as 1730. One of the most important sources is the brokerage books of the Tastet-Lawton office (from 1742). Thomas Jefferson’s travel journal (1787) and Guillaume Lawton’s notes (1815) highlight the progress made over time in the art of judging great wines. Even at that time, the importance of terroirs was strongly asserted. Thomas Jefferson noted the significant difference in quality between two properties “separated only by a ditch”. The first books to make use of this professional knowledge were published at the beginning of the 19th century. In the various editions (from 1816 to 1832) of A. Jullien’s Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, the Bordeaux vineyard is presented in two parts, red wines and white wines, with the growths listed in five classes, accompanied by the prices charged for each of them. Le Producteur, a journal of the special interests of vineyard property in the Gironde département, presented the whole of the Bordeaux vineyard from 1838. In many tables, the brokers’ rating is used.
Other references exist, including that of W. Franck (1824) Traité sur le vin du Médoc et les autres vins rouges et blancs du département de la Gironde, and that of Ch. Cocks (1850) in the first edition of Bordeaux et ses Vins…
These documents are of interest in more ways than one. They clearly show that, at this period, the market had a marked preference for the wines of the Médoc and of the Sauternes area. The prices of the latter were twice those of the Graves and three times those of Saint-Émilion. They also reflect the good stability of the still unofficial classification.
Thus in 1855, the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce (on which a few merchants sat), wishing to present the wines of the Gironde at the Paris Exposition Universelle, wanted this presentation to be made in the best possible conditions. In reply to the request of the Imperial Commission of the Exposition Universelle, the president of the Chamber of Commerce (L. Duffour-Dubergier) stated:
“It is only from this standpoint of the general interest that the presence of French wines at the Exhibition seems to us useful. If, on the contrary, it were a matter of favouring particular interests, we would not hesitate to declare that it would in our view be better for none of our wines to appear at the Exhibition”.
So that the wines on show would not be judged by uninformed persons, the Chamber of Commerce recommended that the wines of the Gironde be shown out of competition and presented according to a precise classification. To this end, it asked the brokers’ association to provide it with “the complete list of the classified red wines of the Gironde, as well as that of the great white wines”.
On 18 April 1855, the brokers’ association submitted its classification, not without taking some precautions: “You know as well as we do, Gentlemen, how delicate a matter this classification is, and how it arouses sensitivities. We therefore never had the idea of drawing up an official statement of our great wines, but rather of submitting to your judgement a piece of work whose elements have been drawn from the best sources”.
The letter of 18 April 1855 from the association of commercial brokers at the Bordeaux Stock Exchange presents two tables entitled: “Classified red wines of the département of the Gironde” and “Classified white wines of the Gironde”.
Far from being the outcome of any tasting or one-off analysis of the market, these two tables are on the contrary the synthesis of the practical and statistical knowledge of a profession that then had more than a hundred and fifty years of experience. Only the red wines of the Médoc, the sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac, and Château Haut-Brion in Pessac (Graves) are included.
In September 1855, the brokers clarified the spirit of the exercise: “the intention of the association, in drawing up the list of the classified wines of the département of the Gironde, was in no way to assign a degree of superiority to any of those included in each class; they are regarded as being of equal merit”. Yet their list is presented neither in alphabetical order nor by commune…
Stemming from a professional practice that was almost confidential, the two tables sent in April were to become the 1855 classification. This reference, so often mentioned in specialist reviews and books, has by its very nature an exceptional durability, and was soon to become the official reference for Bordeaux wines.
THE 1973 CLASSIFICATION
Some winegrowers, wishing to have the enhancement of the terroir of their growth recognised and realising that the 1855 classification could not be “revised”, asked the Chamber of Commerce to open a competition for the award of new titles in the Médoc. In 1973 the Minister of Agriculture approved the rules of a competition.
This was opened the same year to the Classified Growths of 1855 and took effect for the First Growth category only.
An order of 21 June 1973 from the Minister of Agriculture established the list of the First Classified Growths of 1973, which repeats those of 1855, adding Château Mouton-Rothschild.
THE GRAVES CLASSIFICATIONS 1953-1959
Is it necessary to point out that only one growth from this region appears among the first growths in the 1855 classification: Château Haut-Brion in Pessac. It was confirmed in its rank in 1973 when the classification of the Médoc First Growths was revised.
One of the first lists of Bordeaux wines was drawn up by the town’s Jurade in 1647. The Graves wine region is cited first. A century later, in a new publication drawn up for the intendant of Guyenne, all the wines classed as first or second growths came from the “good graves” of Bordeaux. At that time they were mainly red wines.
The 19th century was a very difficult period for the Graves vineyards, which were hard hit by powdery mildew (oidium), downy mildew and then phylloxera, diseases that began in the 1860s. But the Graves owners picked themselves up, and in 1904 Dr Martin founded the Graves de Bordeaux winegrowers’ association in a spirit of reconquest… In 1950, Odéa Labuzan Meste, president of this association, formally asked the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine to classify the Graves growths. A commission was appointed and the experts delivered their findings at the end of 1952.
In January 1953, the INAO promulgated the official classification of the Graves and published a list of 14 Graves growths. This list was ratified by the Ministry of Agriculture in August 1953, then slightly extended a few years later, in 1959. It has not been modified since (order of 7 August 1953, amended and supplemented by that of 16 February 1959).
All the Classified Growths of the Graves belong to the Pessac-Léognan AOC. It should be remembered that this region produces excellent red wines, but also excellent white wines. There are therefore two classifications relating to the growths of this region: one for the white wines and one for the red wines. They are presented in full in the chapter devoted to the Graves.
THE SAINT-ÉMILION CLASSIFICATIONS
1959 – 1969 – 1986 – 1996 – 2006 – 2012 – 2022
The wines of Saint-Émilion did not have an official classification until after the Second World War.
It was in 1958, after many representations, that the winegrowers of Saint-Émilion obtained the publication of an official classification enabling the best growths of the area likewise to benefit from a specific Grand Cru Classé designation.
Provided for by a decree of 7 October 1954, the classification of the Saint-Émilion growths bears no comparison with that of 1855, or with that of the Graves published a few years earlier. It was not based on the same criteria nor drawn up under the same conditions.
As the 1958 decree provided for a ten-yearly revision of the classification, this was carried out for the first time in 1969 and made official by a decree dated 17 November 1969.
Thus, whereas the first classification comprised 12 Premiers Grands Crus Classés and 63 Grands Crus Classés, the second renewed the 12 Premiers Grands Crus Classés but recognised 71 Grands Crus Classés.
A further revision should have been made in 1979; it was not carried out until 1985. In the meantime, the decree defining the Saint-Émilion appellations d’origine contrôlée had been amended. As soon as this new regulation was published, and in accordance with its provisions, a classification commission of nine members was appointed by the INAO. Its work was brought to fruition by the publication, on 23 May 1986, of a ministerial order approving the classification of the wines with the appellation d’origine contrôlée Saint-Émilion grand cru. It recognised 68 classified growths: 13 Premiers Grands Crus Classés and 55 Grands Crus Classés.
In May 2004, on a proposal from the Saint-Émilion winegrowers’ association, the INAO national committee appointed a new commission to draw up the 2006 classification. It was made up of figures from the Gironde wine industry with varied, multidisciplinary profiles: wine merchants and brokers, oenologists, specialists in the soils of the Saint-Émilion area, wine-law jurists, and a geographer specialising in wine history.
This commission held 39 sessions between October 2004 and August 2006. To draw up its proposals, the commission based itself, over a period covering the vintages produced between 1993 and 2002, on a study of the usual criteria. These included in particular: the land base of the growths, the management of the estate from the viticultural and oenological points of view, the reputation of the growth, the selling prices achieved, the marketing of the growth, and the results of the anonymous tastings carried out by the members of the Commission (the samples having been taken at the estates by INAO officers).
The list of growths selected by the commission comprised 15 Premiers Grands Crus Classés (2 Premiers Grands Crus Classés A and 13 Premiers Grands Crus Classés B) and 46 Grands Crus Classés. The interministerial order approving this classification (12 December 2006) was published in the Journal Officiel of 4 January 2007. This 2006 classification was of interest in more ways than one. First, it asserted the intention to single out an elite over the period considered. It extended the scope of the classification to new communes of the appellation area. Finally, it demonstrated the very dynamism of the growths and of the AOC, of which it represented one of the most accomplished forms.
Nevertheless, it was challenged before the administrative court which, by an order of 29 March 2007, suspended the approval order. It was annulled on 1st July 2008.
Through appeal after objection, the climate deteriorated, and it was finally the legislator that took it upon itself to calm the debate, through the law of 12 May 2009, Article 65 of which validated, up to and including the 2011 harvest, the possibility for the growths classified in 1996 and for the newly promoted growths of the 2006 classification to use the designation “Grand Cru Classé” or “Premier Grand Cru Classé”.
The fact remains that these legal proceedings (closed by a decision of the Conseil d’État on 23 December 2011) led to a profound reassessment for the appellation and the public authorities.
The public authorities and the INAO bodies then began a fundamental reflection on how a future classification should be carried out. This led to the publication in the Journal Officiel on 16 June 2011 of the regulation concerning the classification of the Saint-Émilion wines for the 2012 harvest.
All the growths wishing to have their application considered under the new 2012 classification had to submit a file to the INAO before 30 September 2011.
The file submitted had to be accompanied by:
- an inventory of the estate’s current land base and of any changes made to it over the previous ten years, together with a description of the terroirs concerned;
- an undertaking not to alter, for the next ten years, the land base of the vineyard from which the wines presented under the name of the Classified Growth originate, except on a reasoned request that has received the agreement of the national committee for appellations d’origine for wines, alcoholic beverages and spirits of the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité;
- any document substantiating the reputation of the estate, the distribution channels for the wines, the selling prices and ratings recorded, the press file, promotional activities, activities linked to wine tourism, the enhancement of the site and the accessibility of the facilities to the public;
- the volumes produced or marketed under the appellation d’origine Saint-Émilion grand cru for each brand attached to the estate;
- technical factors, including a description of the cellars, the cultivation methods and the environmental measures of the estate;
- a cheque for the amount of the application fee, made out to the INAO’s accounting officer.
The eligibility conditions were as follows:
- to show, over the previous ten years for the GCC and the previous fifteen years for the Premiers GCC, regular use of the name of the growth for which classification is claimed, except on a reasoned request that has received the agreement of the national committee for appellations d’origine for wines, alcoholic beverages and spirits of the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité;
- to have produced during this period, under the name of the growth claimed, an average of at least 50% of wines from the land base set out in the application file;
- to have cellars used exclusively for the vinification and maturation of wines from the aforementioned land base for the purposes of the classification;
- to bottle the wines at the estate.
The eligibility conditions were verified by the departments of the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité.
On the basis of the files received, the 2012 classification retained 82 properties: 18 Premiers Grands Crus Classés and 64 Grands Crus Classés. The classification commission had wished to award, or to maintain for the historic growths, the distinction of Premier Grand Cru Classé A to four properties. However, three properties that were passed over lodged an appeal for annulment of the classification with the administrative court, which ruled against them in December 2015. The châteaux appealed, but the 2012 classification was upheld by the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal in March 2022.
Even though the latest classification had not yet been definitively confirmed, the call for applications for the 2022 classification was launched by the INAO. No longer recognising themselves in the criteria of the classification, Ausone and Cheval-Blanc, two Premiers Grands Crus Classés A since the very first classification, were the first to announce that they would not take part; Angélus then withdrew in its turn, weary of the various legal attacks to which the classification had been subjected since 2006. Finally, La Gaffelière, disappointed at the questioning of its terroir, likewise announced that it was throwing in the towel.
On 8 September 2022, the INAO unveiled the new classification: out of 114 files submitted, 14 Premiers Grands Crus Classés and 71 Grands Crus Classés were selected.
THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE CRUS BOURGEOIS OF THE MÉDOC 1932 – 2003 – 2020
THE 2009 – 2017 SELECTION
As regards the Médoc, the growths not included in the 1855 classification have been classified at various times.
Up to six different categories were distinguished among them, which could seem complex; the tendency was therefore to classify them in three categories, starting with the classification carried out in 1932.
Approved by the Chamber of Agriculture at its meeting of 27 July 1931, the regulation for the classification of the Crus Bourgeois of the Médoc set out certain conditions, based on the notion of the growth. Among other things, it stipulated that, whether by acquisition, tenant farming or sharecropping, only land of equal or higher classification could be added to a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur or a Cru Bourgeois, and that where the owner had added land of a lower class to his estate, he must give the wine harvested on that land a name other than that of his growth and make it the subject of a separate harvest declaration… except, however, where the land acquired, leased or taken on under a sharecropping arrangement was gravel land enclosed within or adjoining the Cru Bourgeois Supérieur or Bourgeois, after notification addressed by the person concerned to the association of these growths and approval given by the Association of Sworn Brokers, represented by its delegates.
The 1932 classification distinguished between the Haut-Médoc region and the (Bas-) Médoc, and ranked the growths as: Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs Exceptionnels, Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs and Crus Bourgeois. Until then in the Bordeaux region, to our knowledge, only the right to the designations “Cru Bourgeois”, “Cru Bourgeois Supérieur” and “Cru Bourgeois Supérieur Exceptionnel” in the Médoc was linked by reference to certain conditions of soil, grape varieties, cultivation and so on. The 1932 classification was presented to the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce at its meeting of 12 May 1932. It was signed with the names of the brokers making up the Commission: Messrs Damade, Lawton, Moreau, Fillon and de Rivoyre. It comprised 444 growths: 6 Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs Exceptionnels, 99 Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs and 339 Crus Bourgeois. It was not until 1972 that a new text
addressed the subject of the Crus Bourgeois.
Article 5 of the order of 27 June 1972, providing for the competition to update and establish a hierarchy of merit among the Bordeaux wines produced by the growths located within the defined geographical area of the Médoc AOC, concerning the Classified Growths, the Crus Bourgeois and the other growths, specified that for the Crus Bourgeois the titles for which the competition was to be open were to be:
- Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels, which became Crus Exceptionnels (order of 18 August 1974);
- Crus Grands Bourgeois;
- Crus Bourgeois.
But it took many more years for the Crus Bourgeois of the Médoc to obtain a classification of their own.
Thus, by an order of 30 November 2000 (published in the Journal Officiel of 31 January 2001), the regulation organising the classification of the Crus Bourgeois for the appellations d’origine contrôlées produced in the defined geographical area of the Médoc AOC retained the following designations for the forthcoming competition:
- Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel;
- Cru Bourgeois Supérieur;
- Cru Bourgeois.
These designations were to be reserved solely for the growths included in the said classification. This classification was carried out and was the subject of a ministerial order dated 17 June 2003. Somewhat in the spirit of that of Saint-Émilion, it was to be revised every ten years, and retained 247 growths: 9 Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels; 87 Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs; 151 Crus Bourgeois. The criteria taken into account were: the terroir, the general state of the estate, the bottling conditions, the consistency of the product’s quality, the reputation of the growth, the organoleptic qualities of the wine, and the notion of the growth itself, since only Crus Bourgeois whose traceability at cellar level is certain could remain.
This classification took effect from the 2003 vintage. But it was very quickly challenged. Some growths that did not appear on the list in the order of 17 June 2003 brought various proceedings before the courts concerned. They won their case in 2004. On 27 February 2007, the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal having extended to all the growths concerned the annulment of the classification pronounced in favour of the claimants in 2004, the die was cast, and only the shadow of a painful memory remained.
The fact is that all these properties found themselves in an absurd situation, since from the 2007 vintage onwards none of them could claim any “title” at all. Several years of perseverance were thus wiped out at a stroke. We could only hope for the drawing up of a new classification that would allow this traditional designation to be reborn in the Bordeaux region. It would have been a pity if part of the history and heritage of this vineyard had been left as fodder for other regions of the world that do not share the regulatory concern of our old Europe, but which have nevertheless obtained the assent of the European Union. Between 2007 and 2009, thanks to an unequalled mobilisation of the Médoc winegrowers grouped within the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the traditional designation “Cru Bourgeois”, dating back several centuries, was reborn thanks to the rigorous quality approach put in place by this association. This collective approach made it possible to save the designation while offering a recognised guarantee of quality.
By a decree of 20 October 2009 and an order issued each November, the ministry concerned approved the specifications and the verification plan relating to the selection of the Crus Bourgeois for the appellations d’origine contrôlées produced within the area of the Médoc appellation d’origine contrôlée for a given vintage.
The “Cru Bourgeois” quality approach was annual and open to any growth of the Médoc. It took place two years after the harvest and consisted of a verification of means, carried out through an audit of each candidate estate and an annual verification of results in the form of a blind tasting. The “Cru Bourgeois” approach validated the real quality of a wine for a given volume and guaranteed it to the final consumer.
Based on a set of specifications, this approach was supplemented by a verification plan. Compliance by each estate with the criteria of the specifications and of the verification plan was checked by an independent body.
The official selection of these Crus Bourgeois du Médoc was published every year in September from 2010 until 2017, and can be consulted on the website of the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc: www.crus-bourgeois.com.
But as early as 2013, a sub-committee created at the association’s general assembly was given the task of working on the future of the Cru Bourgeois designation. After the principle of a five-yearly classification was validated in 2015 and its specifications in 2016, 2017 was the last vintage to be presented in an annual selection before the return of an “old-style” hierarchy.
The new five-yearly classification of the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc of 2020 covered the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 vintages and reintroduced the designations we know well: Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel. In all, 250 châteaux were selected: 14 Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels, 56 Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs and 180 Crus Bourgeois.
For the record, and for historical purposes, we are publishing the 1932 and 2003 classifications together in the chapter devoted to the Médoc. For all wine lovers they will have the interest of serving as a historical landmark.
THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE CRUS ARTISANS OF THE MÉDOC 2006 – 2018
The publication of this classification is the culmination of a long process, undertaken by the Syndicat des Crus Artisans du Médoc. It marks the successful revival of a very old designation given to those who combined the two activities of craftsmanship and winegrowing.
The crus artisans have existed for more than a century and a half. Our 1868 edition made extensive mention of them. In 1989, a few châteaux banded together to revive and promote this family of growths, and restored to honour the term “artisan”, which was recognised by the European Union in 1994, the date of their first victory.
By an order of 3 May 2002, the regulation organising the classification entrusted its organisation to a committee bringing together representatives of the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture and the Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux, as well as those of the regional committee for wines and spirits of the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine for the South-West region.
The practical implementation of the classification was entrusted to a jury made up of 11 professionals mandated by their associations: two brokers and two wine and spirits merchants of the Bordeaux Place, two oenologists, two persons qualified in viticulture and three representatives of the Crus Artisans association. This jury began its work at the end of 2003.
The samples were taken from the 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 vintages. This sampling was carried out in compliance with the rules by a sworn officer of the INAO. Following anonymous tastings, and in the absence of the representatives of the Crus Artisans association, who could not be both judge and party, the files were examined and supplemented by visits to the candidate estates. The decisions were sent individually to each owner in 2004.
In February 2005, the jury presented its work to the organising committee for validation. In November 2005, after a first examination and a request for further information, the INAO national committee gave a favourable opinion; the ministerial order followed on 2 January 2006 and was published in the Journal Officiel on 11 January.
This new classification thus recognised 44 growths entitled to use the designation “Cru Artisan” on their labels. At the time of the classification they represented 340 hectares of vines in production, in the appellations Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis en Médoc, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe.
This classification was valid for ten years from the 2005 vintage. It was supplemented by an order of 8 August 2012 incorporating 6 new entrants. Since 2017 they have adopted new specifications and ratified a five-yearly classification. The most recent, in 2018, recognises 36 properties, including 8 newcomers.
