Study Bordeaux: Deuxième Cru

Question 1

How many estates did the 2025 Cru Bourgeois selection classify, by tier, and how does that compare with 2020?

Accepted Answer

170, announced on February 12, 2025: 14 Exceptionnel, 36 Supérieur and 120 Cru Bourgeois. The 2020 list had 249. Fewer names, and a harder door.

Question 2

How many 1855 classified growths are in the Médoc appellation?

Accepted Answer

None. All of them lie south of it; Haut-Médoc alone holds 5.

Question 3

What changed for the Médoc appellation on July 31, 2025?

Accepted Answer

It was opened to dry white wine after almost 90 years as a red-only appellation. INAO frames it as a restoration: Médoc white reached 16,000 hectoliters in 1929 and had fallen to 1,800 by 1969.

Question 4

Is noble rot required in Sauternes, or only usual?

Accepted Answer

Required. The cahier des charges calls for grapes picked over-ripe and by successive passes through the vineyard by hand, which makes machine picking and a single pass illegal, at 25 hectoliters a hectare against 55 in the Médoc.

Question 5

Which Bordeaux appellation has the highest proportion of Malbec, and why?

Accepted Answer

Côtes de Bourg, a survival of the frost of 1956 that took the variety out of almost every other Bordeaux appellation. It also carries 3 interchangeable legal names: Côtes de Bourg, Bourg and Bourgeais.

Question 6

Which is the only estate outside the Médoc in the 1855 red wine classification?

Accepted Answer

Château Haut-Brion, a Premier Cru Classé, today in Pessac-Léognan.

Question 7

Which of the 3 Premier Grand Cru Classé A estates did not apply to the 2022 revision of the Saint-Émilion classification?

Accepted Answer

All 3. Cheval Blanc and Ausone announced in July 2021 that they would not apply, over the criteria; Angélus followed on January 5, 2022.

Question 8

Who holds Premier Grand Cru Classé A after the 2022 Saint-Émilion classification?

Accepted Answer

2 estates: Figeac, promoted in 2022, and Pavie.

Question 9

Can an estate be a Cru Classé de Graves for one color and not the other?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Smith Haut Lafitte is classified for its red; its white is not a classified wine.

Question 10

How many Bordeaux estates hold 3 MICHELIN grapes?

Accepted Answer

9, out of the 83 in the selection. 16 hold 2 grapes and 37 hold 1.

Question 11

Château Figeac: what changed for it in 2022?

Accepted Answer

It was raised to Premier Grand Cru Classé A in the Saint-Émilion classification, one of only 2 estates at that rank.

Question 12

What rank does Château Angélus hold in the current Saint-Émilion classification?

Accepted Answer

None. It withdrew on January 5, 2022. It was a Premier Grand Cru Classé A under the classification of 2012.

Question 13

What rank does Château Cheval Blanc hold in the current Saint-Émilion classification?

Accepted Answer

None. It withdrew in July 2021, with Ausone. It was a Premier Grand Cru Classé A under the classification of 2012.

Question 14

How did the 5 First Growths of 1855 fare in the first MICHELIN grape selection of 2026?

Accepted Answer

Only Lafite Rothschild took 3 grapes. Margaux, Mouton Rothschild and Haut-Brion took 2, and Latour is absent from the published selection.

Question 15

Château Beychevelle: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Saint-Julien AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Saint-Julien-Beychevelle.

Question 16

Château Branaire-Ducru: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Saint-Julien AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Saint-Julien-Beychevelle.

Question 17

Château Duhart-Milon: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Pauillac AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Pauillac.

Question 18

Château Lafon-Rochet: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Saint-Estèphe AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Saint-Estèphe.

Question 19

Château Marquis de Terme: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Margaux AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Margaux-Cantenac.

Question 20

Château Pouget: which rank in the Classification of 1855, and which appellation?

Accepted Answer

Quatrième Cru Classé, Margaux AOC. The estate sits in the commune of Margaux-Cantenac, in the former commune of Cantenac.