There’s more than one kind of “Grand Cru” in Bordeaux, and they’re not all created equally. Here, Charlie Geoghegan breaks it down.

Pick up a bottle of Bordeaux and find the phrase “Grand Cru” staring back at you, and you might reasonably think you’re in for something special. The cream of the crop. You could well be right about that – but you could also be wrong. 

These two little words mark a rare way in which Bordeaux is actually more complicated than its stroppy cousin Burgundy. A Grand Cru there is assuredly the best of the best: Montrachet, Richebourg, Chambertin, that kind of thing. It’s hard to go wrong, and even the less-well-regarded Grands Crus are, well, Grands Crus. They’re almost literally the one percent. 

Things aren’t so clear-cut in Bordeaux, where the term is slightly slippier. Grand Cru means something different in Bordeaux than it does in Burgundy, you see. But it also means something different from one part of Bordeaux to another. 

That Grand Cru Claret in your hand? Look carefully, because it might be a profound vintage from a top-tier estate, or it might be a bog-standard bottle of something better left on the shelf. Then again, some of Bordeaux’s greatest labels won’t bear any mention whatsoever of the phrase. How do you make sense of that, then? 

What is a Grand Cru in Bordeaux? 

Most of the time, when people talk about Grands Crus in Bordeaux, they mean the top five percent or so of producers. The sort of estates that sell their wines En Primeur. The top 250 or so château in a region with over 5,000. 

There is a distinction to make, however, and it relates to classifications. The phrase “Grands Crus Classés”, often translated as “Classified Growths”, is used to refer specifically to those châteaux that feature in Bordeaux’s key classifications. 

Classifying wines is something of a local pastime here, and over the centuries there have been a plethora of different attempts to organise the region’s wines neatly into one little box or another. Some have stood the test of time, others have fallen by the wayside and others still never really caught on. The late Dewey Markham Jr’s excellent 1855: A History of the Bordeaux Classification documents many of these attempts – and is well worth tracking down. 

Today, there are three classifications that are pertinent to the Grand Cru discussion: the 1855 classification of the Médoc and Sauternes; the St Emilion classification, introduced in 1955 and subject to regular revisions; and the Graves classification, which has been in effect in its current form since 1959.  

You may be familiar with the Cru Bourgeois classification, and you may have heard of the Crus Artisans. Both are worth digging into, though they sit outside and beyond the big three – and the featured producers are not considered Classified Growths. 

Bordeaux classifications in a nutshell 

You don’t need to know these classifications inside-out to appreciate Bordeaux, but a little refresher might help.

The 1855 classification

This one covers the red wines of the Médoc (plus one outlier from Graves) and the sweet whites of Sauternes. The Médoc list is broken into five tiers, from First Growths to Fifth Growths, and covers 61 châteaux. Sauternes is simpler, with three tiers: Château d’Yquem alone occupies the top level as Premier Cru Supérieur (“Superior First Growth”, but generally considered on par with the Médoc’s First Growths), followed by First Growths and Second Growths. There are 27 Classified Growths in Sauternes. With the notable exception of Château Mouton Rothschild’s promotion to First Growth in 1973, the classification has remained largely the same since 1855. These wines will typically say something like Grand Cru Classé en 1855 on the label.

The St Emilion classification

Something of a moveable feast, this one has regular revisions, theoretically once every 10 years. Its current incarnation is from 2022 and contains three levels. In descending order, the terms you’ll see on the label are: Premier Grand Cru Classé A; Premier Grand Cu Classe B; and Grand Cru Classé. There are 85 estates included. (More on this in a moment.) 

The Graves classification

This classification operates a little differently in that the estates are classified for either their red wine, their white wine or both. (Take this with a pinch of salt, though: Château Haut-Brion is classified only for its red wine, though its white wine routinely commands an even higher price.) It in theory covers the entire sub-region of Graves, but all 16 estates are located specifically within Pessac-Léognan. These will probably say Cru Classé de Graves on the label.

The classifications combined

A cereal-packet calculation puts the roster of Classified Growths at 188 estates throughout the Médoc, Sauternes, Graves and St Emilion (Château Haut-Brion features in both the 1855 and Graves classifications so is counted twice above).  

These estates are among the most prestigious in the world, though it’s important to note that this group, for various reasons, also excludes some of the region’s greatest names. So when considering the Grands Crus of Bordeaux, it’s necessary to widen the definition a little bit. 

Not all Grands Crus are classified 

Confusingly, some of Bordeaux’s undisputed greats don’t belong to any classification at all.  

This is most evident in Pomerol. This small pocket of farmland north-west of St Emilion isn’t much to look at, but don’t be fooled: this is the dark-blue bit on Bordeaux’s Monopoly board, and almost every square metre of vineyard land here belongs to an estate of note. You can’t throw a lump of blue clay without hitting something prestigious: Petrus, Le Pin, Château L’Evangile, Château La Conseillante, the list goes on. Not a classification in sight, but nobody would deny these estates their place among Bordeaux’s best.

See also the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux. This is the body that organises the annual En Primeur tasting week, a string of events in France and the sort of lengthy world tours that’d give Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen a run for their money.  

Its 130-plus members include châteaux from each of the three major classifications (though not all Classified Growths are members). But it doesn’t stop there. Pomerol, as you might expect, is well represented. The union also includes non-classified châteaux from the Médoc and Graves, like Château Angludet and Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion. These are among the most impressive producers in Bordeaux today. They, and others like them, make a strong argument that the classifications aren’t infallible. 

And then there’s St Emilion. In the leadup to the most recent iteration of the St Emilion classification, some high-ranking estates decided not to apply for reclassification. Notably this included three of the four châteaux at the top tier: Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Angélus. Château La Gaffelière, previously sitting at the next level down, also left the classification. They may no longer be part of an official ranking, but these properties are no less prestigious than they were beforehand.  

While we’re on the subject of St Emilion, actually… 

When is a Grand Cru not a Grand Cru? 

We need to talk about St Emilion. Or rather, the phrase “St Emilion Grand Cru”. These words, in isolation, refer to an appellation rather than a classification.  

When you see St Emilion Grand Cru on a label, it simply means that the wine has been made within a defined geographic area according to certain criteria. It’s not inherently telling you that it is part of a classification; that it’s a high-quality wine; or that it’s a higher-quality wine than one that doesn’t have this label.

The St Emilion Grand Cru appellation has around 5,400 hectares of vines. That’s bigger than the entire Haut-Médoc and almost 10 times the surface area of Burgundy’s Grands Crus combined. The nature of those estates varies widely, understandably enough – as does their level of ambition, their resources and, ultimately, the quality of their wine. As a category, St Emilion Grand Cru includes everything from Château Ausone to own-brand supermarket wine; you really do need something a little more to go on. 

It’s worth noting that there’s a separate appellation called just “St Emilion”. It covers the same geographic area as St Emilion Grand Cru, though it has slightly different requirements relating to things like maximum permitted yield and minimum permitted alcohol-by-volume. Essentially, the St Emilion rules allow you to make a little bit more wine from grapes that don’t have to be quite so ripe. Having said that, St Emilion is not intrinsically lower in quality than St Emilion Grand Cru. 

To be a Classified Growth in St Emilion, you need to make your wine using the St Emilion Grand Cru appellation. But crucially, not all wineries in the St Emilion Grand Cru appellation are Classified Growths. 

Making sense of Bordeaux’s Grands Crus 

So you’re in a shop and you’ve picked up that bottle. Not every Bordeaux that says Grand Cru is going to set the world on fire, though equally there are plenty of bottles that don’t say Grand Cru that are really special. How do you sort the wheat from the chaff?  

Most Classified Growths will proudly tell you of their status right there on the label, for a start. Those that opt not to make a song-and-dance of it are probably famous enough without it: Châteaux like Palmer and Léoville Las Cases come to mind.  

Then there’s Pomerol. Not every single estate there makes great wine, though as a rule of thumb it’s difficult to find bad Pomerol. Keep an eye out, too, for those non-classified estates that punch above their weight. And when it comes to St Emilion, remember that “Grand Cru” alone isn’t a guarantee of quality.  

In all cases: it pays to explore your own tastes and understand what you like. You may get just as much pleasure, if not more, from a Fifth Growth than a First Growth. And if you’re not a fan of Merlot, it doesn’t matter how highly ranked a particular St Emilion is – it’s probably not going to be your cup of tea. 

In Bordeaux, Grand Cru can be a useful term, though it’s not the be-all-and-end-all. And ultimately, we’re talking about a small minority of wines from a big, diverse region. The Grands Crus play a very important role, though they don’t exist in a vacuum. Enjoy your Grands Crus as part of a well-balanced Bordeaux diet. 

Explore our range of Bordeaux Grand Crus to lay down.