Classification

The Crus Classés de Graves

One rank, no hierarchy, settled in 1959 and never revised. It ranks nothing except whether an estate is classified for red, for white, or for both.

What it is

The INAO drew up a classification of the Graves in 1953 and settled it by the decree of February 16, 1959. There is one rank, Cru Classé, and the only division in the list is what an estate is classified for: red, white, or both. No estate is above another. Haut-Brion, which is also a first growth of 1855, was allowed to keep printing Premier Grand Cru Classé through the 1981 vintage and has used Cru Classé de Graves since 1982.

How it moves

It does not, and it was never built to. The Union des Crus Classés de Graves calls 1959 a slight enlargement that brought no great changes, and Bordeaux.com calls it the one and only change. Nothing has been added or removed since, except by 2 estates disappearing into a third.

Where they are

Every classified growth of the Graves stands inside Pessac-Léognan, an appellation created by the decree of September 9, 1987, 28 years after the list was settled. That is why no classified growth of the Graves carries the word Graves on its label.

Every edition

4

  1. 1953

    The first list

    A jury named by the INAO classified the wines of the Graves, and the minister of agriculture approved the list in August of the same year.

  2. 1959 Decree of February 16, 1959

    The one and only change

    The list of 1953 is completed for the white wines and settled by decree. The estates date their rank to 1953; the decree of 1959 is the text in force.

    15 estates and 21 wines. Nothing has been added or removed since; in 1972 Couhins was divided, and both halves, Couhins and Couhins-Lurton, are classified for their white.

  3. 2006 2005 the last vintage

    Château La Tour Haut-Brion stops

    Domaine Clarence Dillon announced in April 2007 that from the 2006 vintage the fruit of La Tour Haut-Brion would go into La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion. 2005 is its final vintage.

    • Out Château La Tour Haut-BrionAbsorbed into Château La Mission Haut-Brion

  4. 2009 2008 the last vintage

    Château Laville Haut-Brion becomes La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc

    Announced in March 2010: from the 2009 vintage the wine is labeled Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc. 2008 was the last under the old name, and the list falls from 16 estates to 14.

    14 estates, 12 classified for their red wine and 9 for their white, 7 of them for both.

    • Out Château Laville Haut-BrionNow Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc

The list today

14

Classified for red and white 7

Classified for red 5

Classified for white 2

See this classification on the map

Sources

Syndicat Viticole de Pessac-Léognan, the Crus Classés de Graves · Bordeaux.com, the Graves classification · INAO, the Pessac-Léognan cahier des charges · Berry Bros and Rudd, the Graves classification · Decanter, La Mission Haut-Brion white changes name · André Lurton, Château Couhins-Lurton

All the classifications