Bordeaux is one of the most renowned and appreciated French wines in the world, produced in Aquitaine near the city of Bordeaux, in the Gironde department, in the lands located along Garonne and Dordogne rivers.
Bordeaux grape varieties are:
Reds: Cabernet franc, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere
Whites: Sauvignon, Sémillon and Muscadelle for white wines
The main production is the one of red wine (80%), followed by the one of white wine (20%), both dry and fortified.
According to the wine regions of origin and to the crus, there are many different classification systems for Bordeaux wines.
For Médoc wines: in occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1855 has been defined the first classification system and it is based on Crus Classés ranging from the first to the fifth.
Premiers Crus
Deuxième Cru
Troisième Cru
Quatrième Cru
Cinquième Cru
Currently are part of this classification a total of 60 châteaux of Médoc and one château of Grave.
For Grave wines: it is not a real and proper classification, but rather a mention dating back to 1953, the one of Cru Classé, for all those wines which according to specific criteria are considered as having a certain prestige.
For Sauternes and Barsac wines: the classification includes three crus.
Premier Cru Supérieur Classé
Premier Cru Classé
Deuxième Cru Classé.
For wines from Saint-Emilion area: the classification dates back to 1954 and includes three crus, the first one includes a further subdivision.
Premier Grand Cru Classé
A (superior quality)
B (inferior quality)
Grand Cru Classé
Grand Cru
For the remaining wines, the ones which are not among the most valued ones: it is not a classification, but a mention, the one of Cru Bourgeois.
