Bordeaux Wine Guide: Médoc 1855 Classification

[Matthias R WHT]

It is old news to anyone who has done a little reading around the
wines of Bordeaux that the 1855 classification, which looked not only
at the red wines of the Médoc (discussed here) but also the wines of
Sauternes, was drawn up for the Exposition Universelle de Paris of
1855. This grand exhibition, the brainchild of Emperor Napoleon III,
was intended to showcase the best of all that was France, and thus to
rival the great exhibitions held in England, such as that at Crystal
Palace in 1851. The exhibition was an elaborate vehicle for boosting
trade, and wine was just a small part of it. Agriculture as a whole,
however, was a strong component, from displays of the latest
agricultural machinery to the new and emerging breeds of sheep, cattle
and other livestock. There was also an industrial component, as well
as a section devoted to the Beaux Arts of France.

Napoleon, having decided that the great wines of Bordeaux should be
featured in the exhibition, asked the brokers of the region to draw up
a list of properties ranked into five groups according to quality. But
quality is perhaps rather nebulous, and the pragmatic businessmen
decided to rank the wines according to price, which no doubt seemed to
those charged with the task to be an appropriate surrogate. Although
intended as a listing for the show, and nothing more than that, the
classification stuck fast and now appears to be with us for the rest
of eternity. The reasons for this are unclear; after all, this was not
a novel idea. Commentators on the wines had long demonstrated a
penchant for rating the numerous chateaux of the Médoc; Wilhelm Franck
in 1845, before him André Jullien, Lawton of Tastet and Lawton in
1815, André Simon in 1800 and even Thomas Jefferson, the American
ambassador to France who was well known for his appreciation of the
vinous products of Bordeaux, made an attempt at drawing up a scheme.

Whatever the reason, the 1855 classification came to dominate, and
even today it has not been usurped despite the efforts of several
critics who have published their own opinion of how the classification
such be refreshed. Whilst these efforts may make for interesting and
perhaps rumbustious debate, they really are of academic interest only,
in the same way that today the original listing provides a focal point
for debate and, in truth, nothing more. Today's perhaps more
sophisticated consumer knows that there are better ways for critics to
communicate the quality of any particular chateaux, and it can be done
on a vintage-by-vintage, wine-by-wine basis. This system of regular
critical review has really made classifications such as this one quite
obsolete, and I think for those who are unable to taste the wine for
themselves before purchase, it is a preferable system. There are
pitfalls, of course; prominent critics have well defined palates that
appreciate certain styles more than others, and it is essential that
any one consumer understands this fact, and allows for this in their
wine buying. But that is another debate.

Below is the 1855 classification as it stands today; there is no
regular review of the classification, so it should be exactly as it
was originally written, but in fact it is a little different to the
list produced in 1855 as a result of the division of some estates and
the loss of others. There remain sixty-one chateaux listed, all in the
Médoc except for Haut-Brion, the sole Graves estate, the inclusion of
which gives us an indication of the standing of this illustrious
property in the mid-19th Century.


Premiers Crus
Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
Chateau Latour
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild
Chateau Margaux
Chateau Haut-Brion


Deuxièmes Crus
Chateau Pichon-Baron
Chateau Pichon-Lalande
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou
Chateau Gruaud-Larose
Chateau Léoville-Las Cases
Chateau Léoville-Barton
Chateau Léoville-Poyferré
Chateau Cos d'Estournel
Chateau Montrose
Chateau Brane-Cantenac
Chateau Durfort-Vivens
Chateau Lascombes
Chateau Rauzan-Ségla
Chateau Rauzan-Gassies


Troisièmes Crus
Chateau Lagrange
Chateau Langoa-Barton
Chateau Boyd-Cantenac
Chateau Cantenac-Brown
Chateau Desmirail
Chateau Ferrière
Chateau Giscours
Chateau d'Issan
Chateau Kirwan
Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry
Chateau Marquis d'Alesme Becker
Chateau Palmer
Chateau Calon-Ségur
Chateau La Lagune


Quatrièmes Crus
Chateau Duhart-Milon
Chateau Marquis-de-Terme
Chateau Pouget
Chateau Prieuré-Lichine
Chateau Beychevelle
Chateau Branaire-Ducru
Chateau St Pierre
Chateau Talbot
Chateau Lafon Rochet
Chateau La Tour Carnet


Cinquièmes Crus
Chateau d'Armailhac
Chateau Batailley
Chateau Clerc-Milon
Chateau Croizet-Bages
Chateau Grand-Puy-Ducasse
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Chateau Haut-Bages-Libéral
Chateau Haut-Batailley
Chateau Lynch-Bages
Chateau Lynch-Moussas
Chateau Pédesclaux
Chateau Pontet-Canet
Chateau Dauzac
Chateau du Tertre
Chateau Cos-Labory
Chateau Belgrave
Chateau Camensac
Chateau Cantemerle
UnclassifiedChateau Gloria (comprising plots of land purchased from
Cru Classé properties)


Immutable....yet Changeable

Although I have noted that the 1855 classification is seemingly
immutable, there are a few properties that stand out as exceptions to
this unofficial rule. Cantemerle is perhaps the first such estate, and
as such is deserving of a special mention in any discussion of the
system. In this case, inspection of the original document suggests
that this Haut-Médoc property was an afterthought, scribbled in at the
bottom at the last minute by the syndicate of brokers that drew up the
list. At the time the wine of Cantemerle was sold direct to merchants
in Holland, and thus it lacked the track record of prices on the
Bordeaux market that was required to be included. The proprietor at
the time was Caroline de Villeneuve-Durfort, who had recently been
successful in a legal case against near neighbour Pierre Chadeuil,
forcing him to remove the word Cantemerle from his wine labels.
Following on from this success, in 1854 she sold her wine in Bordeaux
rather than on foreign soil, but this was clearly not long enough to
register in the minds of the 1855 brokers. Undaunted, Caroline de
Villeneuve-Durfort jolted their collective memory with the
presentation of a dossier amassed during her legal case, documenting
Cantemerle's selling price (the basis for the 1855 classification)
which placed it comfortably alongside the other Cinquième Crus. And so
Cantemerle made it onto the list as a last minute amendment; early
publications, as well as a map displayed at the 1855 Exposition
Universelle itself, still did not include it, although with time this
was rectified.

Perhaps the next most notable exception to the rule - that the 1855
classification is immutable - is Mouton-Rothschild. Philippe de
Rothschild, proprietor of this grand estate during much of the 20th
Century, regarded Mouton's ranking as a deuxième cru as a "monstrous
injustice". For years the labels stated simply Premier ne puis, second
ne daigne, Mouton suis, or 'First I cannot be, second I do not deign
to be, I am Mouton". It was clear from the great vintages of Mouton
produced in the 1860s and 1870s that the 1855 classification was
already outdated, and that change was overdue. But no such review of
this classification has ever been intended, and it was only thanks to
the tireless campaigning of Philippe that Jacques Chirac, then
Minister of Agriculture, passed a decree conferring the status of
Premier Grand Cru Classé upon Mouton-Rothschild in 1973. At last this
apparent wrong had been righted, and from then on Mouton's labels bore
a new inscription, Premier je suis, second je fus. Mouton ne change,
or First I am, second I was. Mouton does not change.

Finally, no round up of the 1855 classification is complete without
mentioning changes through loss, as not all those chateaux classified
in 1855 have survived through to modern day. Chateau Dubignon is the
estate in question, once the smallest cru of all. Subsequently
absorbed into the Malescot St-Exupéry estate, then cleaved off once
more when Malescot was sold in 1901, Dubignon was finally acquired by
a consortium of buyers, including Paul Zuger, Pierre Ginestet and Jean
Cordier, who finally put the estate to rest. Thus the name of Dubignon
(and also the associated Dubignon-Talbot, which would no doubt be of
importance to Cordier, who owned Chateau Talbot) disappeared forever.
On the whole, however, despite this loss the number of chateaux in the
classification has increased rather than decreased over the years,
thanks to the division of many ranked estates. A browse through the
list will reveal many such properties, Léoville, Pichon and Batailley
for instance, where the Napoleonic laws of inheritance forced the
respective families into the division of their estates. Today such
legal traumas are avoided as on the whole the chateaux and vineyards
are no longer assets belonging to individuals or families, but to
limited companies, so the question of inheritance is no longer
relevant. For this reason it is unlikely that there will be any future
changes in the 1855 classification; the list above really is here to
stay forever.



- Wine Doctor.