But the 18th century revolution in wine quality took hold first and most firmly in the Médoc. It's not that other wine regions weren't active the Graves boasted a much longer history, and Cheval-Blanc in St.-Emilion and Canon in Fronsac were highly regarded by the early 19th century. "You know as well as we do, Sirs, that this classification is a delicate task and bound to raise questions remember that we have not tried to create an official ranking, but only to offer you a sketch drawn from the very best sources."Ĭuriously, all of the courtiers' selections came from the Médoc, with the single exception of Haut-Brion (they also ranked the sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac). It included 58 châteaus: four first-growths, 12 seconds, 14 thirds, 11 fourths and 17 fifths. The courtiers hardly even paused to think two weeks later, they turned in the famous list. They agreed, according to their records, to present "all our crus classés, up to the fifth-growths," but asked the Syndicat of Courtiers, an organization of wine merchants, to draw up "an exact and complete list of all the red wines of the Gironde that specifies in which class they belong." The members of the chamber knew a hornet's nest when they saw one, so they passed the buck. He invited Bordeaux's Chamber of Commerce to arrange an exhibit. In 1855, Napoleon III, emperor of France, decided to throw a Universal Exposition in Paris, a kind of world's fair, and wanted all the country's wines represented. Go directly to the 1855 Classification of Sauternes and Barsac.Go directly to the 1855 Bordeaux Classification.
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