1855 Classification

The 1855 Classification grew out of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. According to bordeaux.com, Napoleon III wanted to showcase the very best of France's vineyards and asked Bordeaux's wine brokers for a clear, structured ranking of their finest wines, stipulating two criteria: the reputation of each estate and the market prices fetched by its most recent vintages. The Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 describes how it worked in practice. Wine was sent from Bordeaux in a collection organized by the city's Chamber of Commerce, only six bottles of each wine were to go to Paris, and a wine map carrying a roster of the finest wines was commissioned to accompany the display. On April 5, 1855, the Chamber of Commerce asked the brokers' union for a list of the red classed growths specifying to which of the five classes each belonged, and the brokers produced it on April 18. The Conseil notes that a property's place rested on a long-term track record of sales prices rather than on one year's results, and that most properties on the list did not bother to send samples. Benjamin Lewin MW, writing in Decanter, puts the original list at 57 wines, all from the Médoc except Haut-Brion.

• Napoleon III asked Bordeaux's brokers for the ranking for the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition, per bordeaux.com
• The Chamber of Commerce's request went to the brokers' union on April 5, 1855, and the list was produced on April 18, 1855 (Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855)
• Properties earned their place through a long-term track record of market prices, not a single vintage, according to the Conseil
• Lewin (Decanter) counts 57 wines on the original list; the total is now 61 because some châteaux split in two and both parts kept the classification

The red wine classification has five levels, which bordeaux.com lists as Premier Cru, Second Cru, Troisième Cru, Quatrième Cru and Cinquième Cru. Long before 1855, the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 records, Haut-Brion, Margaux, Latour and Lafite had been grouped in their own commercial category known as the first growths, and Mouton Rothschild's 1973 promotion brought the First Growths to five. The Conseil's current listing places the classified châteaux in Pauillac, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe and the Haut-Médoc, plus Haut-Brion in Pessac. The rank belongs to the château rather than to its vineyards: Lewin notes in Decanter that châteaux can trade their land without affecting their classification, and he puts the total vineyard area of the grands crus classés at 2,650 hectares in 1855 and 3,450 hectares in his feature (last updated 2015).

• Premier Cru (First Growth): 5 châteaux - Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion, Mouton Rothschild
• Deuxième Cru (Second Growth): 14 châteaux including Cos d'Estournel, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Léoville Las-Cases, and Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
• Troisième through Cinquième Crus: 42 châteaux combined (14 Third, 10 Fourth and 18 Fifth Growths); Pauillac Fifth Growths include Lynch-Bages, Pontet-Canet and Grand-Puy-Lacoste
• The rank attaches to the château, not to specific vineyards; Lewin notes that châteaux can trade land without affecting their classification

Château Mouton Rothschild, in Pauillac, was a Second Growth on the 1855 list; Decanter's index of the classification notes that it was reclassified from Second Growth status in 1973. The château's own history says that for twenty years Baron Philippe de Rothschild fought to secure its elevation to First Growth status, and that he triumphed in 1973, when Mouton officially joined that elite following a decree signed by Jacques Chirac, then Minister of Agriculture. The Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 dates the promotion to June 1973 and counts it as one of only two official changes to the list. Lewin, in Decanter, writes that Baron Philippe succeeded through force of personality and political influence where every other attempt at reclassification had failed. Since 1945 each Mouton vintage label has carried an original artwork by a contemporary artist, per the château, and the 1973 label is by Pablo Picasso.

• Mouton Rothschild was a Second Growth in 1855 and was reclassified as a First Growth in 1973 (Decanter; Château Mouton Rothschild)
• The promotion followed a decree signed by Jacques Chirac, then Minister of Agriculture, according to the château
• Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who ran the estate from 1922 to 1988, campaigned for twenty years for the promotion, per the château's history
• Pauillac holds three of the five First Growths: Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Mouton Rothschild (Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 listing)

Alongside the reds, the 1855 classification ranks the sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac in three levels, which bordeaux.com gives as Premier Cru Supérieur, Premier Cru and Second Cru. In the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 listing, Château d'Yquem stands alone as Premier Cru Supérieur, followed by 11 Premiers Crus and 15 Seconds Crus, and bordeaux.com counts 27 classified châteaux in Sauternes and Barsac. The Premiers Crus include the Barsac estates Château Climens and Château Coutet alongside Sauternes estates such as Château Suduiraut, Château Rieussec, Château Guiraud and Château La Tour Blanche.

• Château d'Yquem is the only Premier Cru Supérieur (Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 listing)
• 11 Premiers Crus: La Tour Blanche, Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Clos Haut-Peyraguey, de Rayne-Vigneau, Suduiraut, Coutet, Climens, Guiraud, Rieussec, Rabaud-Promis and Sigalas-Rabaud
• 15 Seconds Crus complete the list, among them Château de Myrat, Château Doisy Daëne, Château Filhot, Château Nairac and Château de Malle
• Bordeaux.com counts 27 châteaux in Sauternes and Barsac and 88 classified growths across the whole 1855 classification

The 1855 Classification has proved hard to revise. Bordeaux.com says it "never changes, unlike other classifications which are regularly updated," and the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 counts only two official changes since April 1855: Cantemerle's inclusion among the Fifth Growths on September 16, 1855, and Mouton Rothschild's promotion in June 1973. Jane Anson, writing in Decanter, credits Cantemerle's owner Caroline de Villeneuve, who insisted on meeting the union of brokers after finding the estate left off the list; the meeting took place in September 1855, and Cantemerle was added as a fifth growth, in different handwriting from the rest of the original document. Lewin reports in Decanter that when INAO attempted an official reclassification in 1961, dividing the châteaux into three groups, dropping 17 and including 13 new ones, a leak to the press killed the proposal. The classification covers only the red wines of the Médoc, Haut-Brion from the Graves, and the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac; bordeaux.com notes that the region's other terroirs have their own classifications, and lists those of the Graves, Saint-Émilion, the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc and the Crus Artisans.

• Two official changes: Cantemerle added as a Fifth Growth on September 16, 1855, and Mouton Rothschild promoted in June 1973 (Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855)
• INAO's 1961 reclassification attempt, which would have dropped 17 châteaux and added 13, was killed by a press leak, per Lewin in Decanter
• The Right Bank sits outside the list; Lewin writes that its wines were so much lower in price in 1855 that they were not thought worth including
• Bordeaux.com lists four other Bordeaux classifications: Graves, Saint-Émilion, Crus Bourgeois du Médoc and Crus Artisans

Critics question how closely the 1855 ranking still tracks the market. Benjamin Lewin MW, writing in Decanter (last updated 2015), calculated that on relative prices of the classified growths over the previous decade only 28 of the 61 classified châteaux would remain in their original price groups. Ordering all Médoc wines by price, he places Palmer, a Third Growth, and Lynch-Bages, a Fifth Growth, among the 'super-seconds', and he writes that if the classification were extended to the Right Bank, most of the top 50 wines of Bordeaux by price would come from Saint-Émilion or Pomerol. The fine wine exchange Liv-ex re-ran the price-based method for Médoc and Pessac-Léognan wines with a minimum production of 2,000 cases, using average case prices for 2003 to 2007 as of 31 December 2008; Decanter reported that its list moved Mission Haut-Brion into the First Growths, lifted Lynch-Bages to Second Growth and put Palmer at the top of the Seconds. The Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 itself acknowledges that some wines classified in a given category end up selling at the price of wines in a higher category. The Saint-Émilion classification, revised every decade according to bordeaux.com, gives Bordeaux a periodically updated alternative.

• Lewin (Decanter): only 28 of the 61 classified châteaux would stay in their original price groups on a decade of relative prices
• Liv-ex's price-based recalculation (prices as of 31 December 2008) moved Mission Haut-Brion into the First Growths and Lynch-Bages to Second Growth, per Decanter
• Palmer (Third Growth) and Lynch-Bages (Fifth Growth) sit among the price-defined 'super-seconds' in Lewin's analysis
• Lewin writes that on a ranking including the Right Bank, most of Bordeaux's top 50 wines by price would come from Saint-Émilion or Pomerol

Primary sources (bordeaux.com, the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, and Château Mouton Rothschild): https://www.bordeaux.com/en/classifications/classifications-1855/, https://gcc-1855.fr/ListingGCC1855-en.pdf, https://gcc-1855.fr/history/, https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/the-history/key-dates/key-date-1973, https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/the-history/the-history-of-mouton/from-baron-philippe, https://www.chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/label-art/discover-the-artwork/pablo-picasso, https://www.bordeaux.com/en/classifications/. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/features/the-1855-classification-on-the-mark-or-marketing-ploy-246574/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/news-blogs-anson/bordeaux-women-wine-history-382581/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/liv-ex-creates-new-1855-classification-73197/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/the-1855-classification-77200/. Last verified 2026-09-24