Inside the 1855 Bordeaux Classification

In 1855, Emperor Napoleon III asked Bordeaux’s wine brokers to rank the region’s finest wines for the Exposition Universelle in Paris. The brokers based their classification almost entirely on price - the châteaux whose wines had consistently fetched the highest prices over the preceding decades were placed at the top. The result was a five-tier ranking of 61 red wines from the Médoc (plus one from Graves) and a separate ranking of sweet white wines from Sauternes and Barsac.

The classification was intended as a snapshot of the market at that moment. It has been changed exactly once in the 170 years since.

The 61 red-wine châteaux were divided into five tiers, called growths (crus). The French term is Premier Cru Classé for the first tier, down to Cinquième Cru Classé for the fifth. In practice, most people say First Growth through Fifth Growth.

First Growths (Premiers Crus)

• Château Lafite Rothschild
• Château Latour
• Château Margaux
• Château Haut-Brion
• Château Mouton Rothschild

Haut-Brion is the outlier - it sits in Pessac-Léognan (Graves), not the Médoc. Its inclusion reflected its price and reputation, which even in the 1850s was unassailable. Mouton Rothschild was originally ranked as a Second Growth and promoted to First in 1973 - the only change ever made to the classification.

Second Growths (Deuxièmes Crus)

14 châteaux, including Cos d’Estournel, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Léoville-Las Cases, Léoville-Barton, Montrose, and Pichon-Longueville Baron. Several of these - particularly Léoville-Las Cases and Cos d’Estournel - are now widely considered to produce wine of First Growth quality, sometimes called “Super Seconds”. Their prices often match or exceed weaker First Growths in off-vintages.

Third to Fifth Growths

The remaining 42 châteaux span a wide range of quality and price. Notable Third Growths include Palmer and Calon-Ségur. Among Fourth Growths, Talbot and Beychevelle are well known. The Fifth Growths include Lynch-Bages and Pontet-Canet, both of which now command prices well above their ranking. The relationship between classification tier and actual quality has drifted substantially since 1855 - some Fifth Growths outperform some Seconds, and some Seconds trade like Firsts.

The 1855 classification also ranked the sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac into Premier Cru Supérieur (one estate only), Premiers Crus, and Deuxièmes Crus.

Château d’Yquem stands alone as Premier Cru Supérieur - the only wine in the entire 1855 classification given its own tier. It has maintained that status unchallenged. Below it, 11 Premiers Crus include Climens, Coutet, Suduiraut, and Rieussec. The 15 Deuxièmes Crus include Doisy-Daëne and Filhot.

Sauternes classification has become less commercially significant than the red-wine ranking. Demand for sweet Bordeaux has fallen sharply since the late 20th century, and many classified Sauternes châteaux now produce dry white wines alongside their sweet bottlings to remain viable.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild spent decades campaigning for Mouton Rothschild’s promotion from Second to First Growth. The estate’s wine had traded at First Growth prices for most of the 20th century, and the gap between its market position and its official rank was awkward.

In 1973, the French Minister of Agriculture Jacques Chirac signed the decree elevating Mouton to Premier Cru. Philippe’s famous line was: “Premier je suis, second je fus, Mouton ne change” - First I am, Second I was, Mouton does not change. No other promotion or demotion has been made before or since, and there is no mechanism or political appetite to revisit the ranking.

The 1855 classification is the single biggest driver of Bordeaux pricing. A First Growth label commands a price premium that has nothing to do with whether the wine in a particular vintage is actually better than a well-made Second or Third Growth. Collectors, investors, and auction houses treat the classification as a quality signal and a liquidity indicator - First Growths are the most traded fine wines in the world.

For buyers, the implication is that value often sits in the lower tiers. A Fifth Growth like Lynch-Bages or Pontet-Canet from a great vintage can drink as well as a First Growth at a fraction of the price. The classification tells you about prestige and resale liquidity, but not necessarily about what is in the glass.

St-Emilion, on Bordeaux’s Right Bank, has its own classification system that is entirely separate from the 1855 ranking. Unlike the 1855 classification, the St-Emilion classification is revised roughly every ten years, with estates able to be promoted or demoted based on a panel assessment of wine quality, terroir, and reputation.

The tiers

The system has three levels. At the top sit the Premier Grand Cru Classé A estates - historically two, Château Ausone and Château Cheval Blanc, with Angélus and Pavie promoted to join them in 2012. Below that are the Premier Grand Cru Classé B estates (around 14), and then the Grand Cru Classé estates (roughly 60 - 80 depending on the revision).

The 2022 controversy

The most recent revision, finalised in 2022, prompted several prestigious estates to withdraw rather than submit to the assessment process. Château Ausone and Château Cheval Blanc - the two historic A-tier estates - both declined to participate, as did Angélus. Their view was that the classification process had become more bureaucratic than qualitative, and that their reputations did not depend on it.

The 2022 classification was subsequently annulled by a French court in 2023, leaving the legal status of the ranking in limbo. As of 2025, the previous 2012 classification is effectively the last undisputed version. Whether a new revision will proceed on the original ten-year cycle remains uncertain.

Despite the institutional turbulence, the commercial reality is clear: Ausone and Cheval Blanc trade at or above First Growth prices regardless of their formal classification status, and buyers treat them accordingly.

cellrd lets you search by classification tier across the UK in-bond market. Ask for all First Growths in a vintage, compare Second Growth prices across merchants, or look for value in the Fifth Growths - every result shows live in-bond pricing from 12+ merchants.

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