Classification

The Crus Bourgeois du Médoc

Ranked by brokers in 1932, made official in 2003, annulled by a court in 2007, rebuilt as an annual award, and a classification again since 2020.

What it is

A classification of the Médoc below the classified growths of 1855, covering 8 appellations: Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Margaux, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis-en-Médoc, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe. Since 2020 it has 3 tiers again: Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel.

How it moves

Every 5 years, and the current list covers the 2023 to 2027 vintages. An estate is judged on 5 vintages tasted blind, with an environmental certification required for each tier, and the list is rebuilt from scratch. That is why 2025 saw 8 estates enter the top tier while the 8 that had held it since 2020 left the classification altogether.

Why it is the hardest list to hold

It is the only Bordeaux classification that has been annulled by a court and then rebuilt 2 times. The 2003 list was struck down in 2007 because 4 members of the jury were themselves candidates. What replaced it in 2009 was not a classification of estates at all but a mention awarded to a lot of wine, vintage by vintage. The 3 tiers came back only in 2020, and the Bordeaux court of appeal upheld that list on September 29, 2023.

Every edition

7

  1. 1932

    The brokers' list

    Drawn up by 5 Bordeaux brokers under the joint authority of the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Agriculture, registered in September and October 1932. It was never ratified by the ministry.

    444 estates, in 3 levels: Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs Exceptionnels, Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs and Crus Bourgeois.

  2. 1979

    Europe removes the tiers

    European rules restrict the label to Cru Bourgeois alone. Bourgeois Supérieur, Grand Bourgeois and Bourgeois Exceptionnel may no longer be printed. The syndicate had held internal contests in 1966 and in 1978, but those were lists of its own members, not classifications.

  3. 2003 Arrêté of June 17, 2003, annulled

    The first official classification

    The state homologates the list for the first time. Out of 490 candidates, 247 châteaux are classified, and 77 estates that had been on the 1932 list lose the standing. Dozens of the excluded go to law.

    9 Exceptionnels, 87 Supérieurs and 151 Crus Bourgeois. 247 in all.

  4. 2007 February 27, 2007

    The court annuls it

    The cour administrative d’appel de Bordeaux annuls the 2003 classification. The reason is the jury: 4 of its members were themselves concerned by the classification. In July 2007 the fraud office banned use of the term altogether.

  5. 2009 Décret of October 20, 2009

    Not a classification at all

    What replaces the list is an annual mention attached to a lot of wine, not to an estate. The first vintage covered is 2008 and the first list appears in 2010, published every September, with about 250 wines in a normal year.

  6. 2020 February 20, 2020

    The 3 tiers come back

    A classification again, for the 2018 to 2022 vintages, under the arrêté of December 29, 2017. No list of refused candidates is published: taking part is voluntary and an estate may withdraw at any stage. The Bordeaux court of appeal upheld the list on September 29, 2023.

    14 Exceptionnels, 56 Supérieurs and 179 Crus Bourgeois. 249 in all.

  7. 2025 February 10, 2025

    The list contracts by a third

    Estates were tasted on 5 vintages from 2017 to 2021, and the classification runs on the 2023 to 2027 vintages. Eight estates came up into Exceptionnel, six kept the rank, and eight that had held it in 2020 are not in the list of 2025 at all; the list does not say whether they did not apply or were not kept. Of the 170, 144 stand in the 2 appellations that run the length of the peninsula, 91 in the Médoc and 53 in the Haut-Médoc. The communal appellations hold the remaining 26: Saint-Estèphe 9, Listrac-Médoc 7, Moulis-en-Médoc 5, Margaux 4, Pauillac 1, and Saint-Julien none. Where the classified growths of 1855 stand thickest, there is least room left for anyone else.

    14 Exceptionnels, 36 Supérieurs and 120 Crus Bourgeois. 170 in all, against 249 in 2020, a fall of about a third.

    • Up Château la Cardonne, Château Castera, Château Laujac, Château Paloumey, Château Reysson, Château Reverdi, Château Mongravey, Château Laffitte CarcassetUp to Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel
    • Kept Château Malescasse, Château de Malleret, Château du Taillan, Château d’Arsac, Château Paveil de Luze, Château le CrockCru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2020 and again in 2025
    • Out Château d’Agassac, Château Arnauld, Château Belle-Vue, Château Cambon la Pelouse, Château Charmail, Château Lestage, Château Le Boscq, Château Lilian LadouysHeld Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2020 and are not in the 2025 list

Notes

The estates that would not enter

Château Sociando-Mallet, Château Gloria and Château Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre did not apply in 2003. Jean Gautreau of Sociando-Mallet had rebuilt 5 derelict hectares at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne into more than 80. we wrote about that here.

The list today

170

Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel 14

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur 36

Cru Bourgeois 120

Sources

Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, press kit of the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the 2025 classification · Decanter, 8 new estates upgraded as the 2025 results are revealed · Cour administrative d’appel de Bordeaux, the 2020 classification upheld · Réussir Vigne, the 2020 classification unveiled

All the classifications