The 1855 Bordeaux Classification turned 170 on April 18, 2025. Whatever you think of it, it is an essential component of French wine history. It may be worth considering how it came about. The classification was published at the 1855 Paris World Exhibition, the first World Exhibition in France. Previously, there had been one in London in 1851 and one in New York in 1853. Technological advances were the focus in London.
However, in Paris, Emperor Napoleon III also wanted to promote agriculture through France’s top wines. The Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Industry was tasked with producing a list of the best red and white wines.
The ranking was based not on tasting but on price, an objective criterion (the only one).
The list included 60 chateaux in the Médoc (in five groups) and 27 chateaux in Sauternes. The city of Libourne on the right bank had its own chamber of commerce, which was not consulted by the organisers of the World Exhibition, which perhaps explains why no châteaux from the right bank were included in the list.
The prestige that this classification later acquired and still has cannot be underestimated. But that was not the intention at all. Baron Philippe de Rothschild, owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, writes in his autobiography Vivre la Vigne: “For those who were there in 1855, the classification was temporary, with no future importance, to be forgotten as soon as the exhibition was over.”
But it was not forgotten. Instead, it was eventually pulled out of a drawer, and the rest is history. A history that Philippe de Rothschild helped to write by lobbying for 50 years to upgrade his château from the second group to the first, the only change ever made to the classification (well, almost). Because, of course, it was never the intention of the organisers that anything would change, as the list was only meant to exist for a short time.
But today it feels a bit outdated to use a price list from 1855, which ranked wineries by the names of the building/brands, as an indication of quality.
Read more: vitisphere
More on BKWine Magazine:
- About the 1855 Bordeaux classification here.
- The full list of chateaux in the 1855 Bordeaux classification.
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Travel: Come on a wine tour to Bordeaux with BKWine. (PS: We’ve written a prize-winning book on Bordeaux.)
