The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the
1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor
Napoleon III requested a classification system for
France's best
Bordeaux wines that were to be on display for visitors from around the world. Brokers from the wine industry ranked the wines according to a
château's reputation and trading price, which at that time was directly related to quality.
The wines were ranked in importance from
first to fifth growths (crus). All of the
red wines that made it on the list came from the
Médoc region except for one:
Château Haut-Brion from
Graves. The
white wines, then of much less importance than red wine, were limited to the sweet varieties of
Sauternes and
Barsac and were ranked only from superior first growth to second growth.
Changes to the classification
Within each category, the various châteaux are ranked in order of quality and only twice since the 1855 classification has there been a change: first when in 1856
Cantemerle was added as a fifth growth (having either been originally omitted by oversight or added as an afterthought, depending on which of the conflicting accounts is correct) and, more significantly, in 1973, when
Château Mouton Rothschild was elevated from a second growth to a first growth
vineyard after decades of intense lobbying by the powerful
Philippe de Rothschild. A third, but less known "change", is the removal of
Château Dubignon, a third growth from
Margaux that was absorbed into the estate
Château Malescot St. Exupéry.[1]
A superficial change is that since 1855, when only five of the estates were styled with the word "château" in their name, most Bordeaux wine estates now use this nomenclature.[2]
Critique
As a classification of châteaux, the actual vineyards owned by some
wineries have expanded, shrunk and been divided without any reclassification, and considerable plots of valued terroir have changed ownership.[3] Indeed, it is a peculiarity of Bordeaux that as long as a vineyard parcel lies within the boundaries of the wine commune, it is eligible to be used by any chateau, independent of the quality of the parcel itself.[4]
Many
wine critics have argued that the 1855 Classification became outdated and does not provide an accurate guide to the quality of the wines being made on each estate. Several proposals have been made for changes to the classification, and a bid for a revision was unsuccessfully attempted in 1960.[5]Alexis Lichine, a member of the 1960 revision panel, launched a campaign to implement changes that lasted over thirty years, in the process publishing several editions of his own
unofficial classification and the Alexis Lichine's Guide to the Wines and Vineyards of France,[6] in which he devoted a chapter to the subject. In support of his argument, Lichine cited the case of
Chateau Lynch-Bages, the
Pauillac Fifth Growth that, through good management and by patiently collecting the best parcels as they come on the market, makes wine that in his view are worthy of a much higher classification.[4] Conversely, poor management can result in a significant decline in quality, as the example of Chateau Margaux shows—the wines it made in the 1960s and 1970s are widely regarded as far below what's expected of a First Growth.[7][8] Other critics have followed a similar suit, including
Robert Parker who published a top 100 Bordeaux estates in 1985 and L'histoire de la vigne & du vin (English: The History of Wine and the Vine) by Bernard and
Henri Enjalbert in 1989, as well as efforts made by
Clive Coates (
MW) and
David Peppercorn (MW).[1][9][10] Ultimately nothing has come of them; the likely negative impact on prices for any downgraded châteaux and the 1855 establishment's political muscle are considered among the reasons.[11]
In March 2009, the British wine exchange
Liv-ex released
The Liv-ex Bordeaux Classification, a modern re-calculation of the 1855 classification, with an aim to apply the original method to the contemporary economical context.[12][13]
Many of the leading estates from the
Médoc appellation that were not included in the 1855 classification are classified as Cru Bourgeois, a classification system that has been updated on a regular basis since 1932, banned in 2007,[14] but reinstated in 2010.[15][16]
The Médoc Classification of 1855
In French Les Grands Crus classés en 1855. The estates are listed with their commune (village), and their AOC in parentheses, if different from the commune. The 19th-century names appear as listed by the brokers on April 18, 1855, followed by the modern names, as the use of "second cru" for red wines and "deuxième cru" for white wines.[2]
a. ^ The only classified estate situated in Graves rather than Médoc.
b. ^ Listed as Second Growth in 1855, elevated to First Growth in 1973.
c. ^ Dissolved in 1960.
d. ^ Added in 1856.
Taber, George M. (2005). Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the historic 1976 Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner.
ISBN0-7432-9732-6
Footnotes
^
abPeppercorn, David (2003). Bordeaux. London: Mitchell Beazley. p. 83.
ISBN1-84000-927-6.