CRUS BOURGEOIS: 150 YEARS OF HISTORY AND A NEW CLASSIFICATION
This new 2025 classification of the crus bourgeois is the culmination of a history stretching back more than 150 years.
Highly innovative, the 1868 edition of the Féret put within the reach of wine lovers for the first time the classification of Médoc wines as professionals had long used it. At the top, of course, are the classified growths, followed by the crus bourgeois supérieurs, the crus bourgeois and finally the crus artisans and crus paysans.
In 1932, a classification was drawn up by the five most respected brokers in Bordeaux and became the reference. It distinguished 339 crus bourgeois and 99 crus bourgeois supérieurs and created a new category: the crus bourgeois exceptionnels. This last category, reduced to just six members, was made necessary by the movement in prices and in the reputation of these six properties, which were then, by their selling price and their reputation, the equivalent of classified growths.
The 2003 classification was based, broadly speaking, on the same foundations as that of 1932. The jury still included the most renowned brokers, but it was considerably enlarged. It included the most prestigious professors of oenology, such as Denis Dubourdieu, as well as the most esteemed négociants. This classification distinguished nine crus bourgeois exceptionnels. These, like the six of the 1932 classification, were mostly equivalents of classified growths. But this classification was annulled in 2007 because it departed from the rules of law in that it made no provision for an appeals procedure.
After a period of 13 years during which the use of “cru bourgeois” remained authorised but without any hierarchy, a new hierarchical classification came into being in 2020. It still comprises the three categories: bourgeois, supérieurs and exceptionnels, but it was drawn up according to principles radically different from the earlier classifications. These were mainly based on the price lists recorded by professionals; the new classification was carried out under the aegis of the INAO and according to its usual principles. To guarantee its independence, the jury is made up of people from the other wine regions of France and, in addition, the selling prices of the wines no longer come into account at all. Instead, a complex set of specifications has been established. It includes two scores: a tasting score awarded by a jury of professionals and a score for the characteristics of the property based on ten criteria. The combination of the two scores determines the property’s rank.
The classified-growth equivalents we mentioned earlier are content with the recognition of the market, which in fact places them at the top of the hierarchy. They consider that the current classification, on the one hand, would bring them nothing more and, on the other, that the procedure has strayed too far from the original spirit of the crus bourgeois. They therefore applied neither for the 2020 classification nor for that of 2025. The question then arose of whether the exceptionnel level of the hierarchy should be maintained. The answer was yes. The current exceptionnels should therefore not be confused with those of 1932 or 2003. The exceptionnel category in its current sense is nevertheless very interesting in that it puts the spotlight on very deserving properties producing wines of great quality.
The new classification of the crus bourgeois was unveiled on 10 February at Wine Paris. It lists 120 crus bourgeois instead of 180 in 2020, 36 crus bourgeois supérieurs instead of 56, and the same number of crus bourgeois exceptionnels, 14. Let us take a look at the queen category: the crus bourgeois exceptionnels. It includes long-recognised names such as Le Crocq, Malescasse and Malleret, but also vineyards previously neglected and taken in hand in fine fashion, such as Laffite Carcasset. The light shone on these crus is well deserved.
