Guide
Margaux, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe: know these cold
4 names, 4 characters, and 55 of the 61 red growths of the Classification of 1855 between them.
The short answer
Margaux is the widest and the most perfumed, 4 communes and 21 classified growths. Pauillac holds 3 of the 5 first growths in 1,220 hectares. Saint-Julien is the smallest and the most consistent, 929 hectares and 11 growths. Saint-Estèphe is the coolest, with more clay and 5 growths.
The 4, in numbers
| Communes | Vineyard | Growers | Growths of 1855 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Margaux | 4 since 2017 | About 1,500 hectares | Some 62 estates | 21 |
| Pauillac | 1, with parcels of 4 neighbors | About 1,220 hectares | 47 | 18 |
| Saint-Julien | 1, with parcels of 3 neighbors | 929 hectares planted | 19 | 11 |
| Saint-Estèphe | 1 | About 1,200 hectares | 69 estates and 1 cooperative | 5 |
That is 55 of the 61 red growths of the Classification of 1855 in 4 names. The other 6 are in Haut-Médoc and Pessac-Léognan.
What tells them apart
Margaux is the only one of the 4 made of whole communes: Margaux-Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labarde, 4 communes since Margaux and Cantenac merged on January 1, 2017, and 5 villages before that. The other 3 are single communes that reach into a neighbor only for parcels, as the table above shows. The gravel is thin and the wines are the most scented of the Médoc.
Pauillac is 1 commune with 3 first growths in it. The gravel is deep and the wines are the model everyone means when they say Bordeaux: cassis, cedar, a frame of tannin that takes 10 years to relax.
Saint-Julien has no first growth and the highest floor. 19 growers on 929 hectares, 11 of them classified, which is the densest concentration of classified ground in the Médoc. The style sits between the perfume of Margaux and the structure of Pauillac, and its reputation is for never letting you down.
Saint-Estèphe is the northernmost and the coolest, with more clay in the ground, which keeps the vines fed in a hot year and makes the wines firmer and slower. It has 5 growths in the Classification of 1855 and the largest number of estates of the 4, because much of it is not classified land at all: the classification of 2025 holds 9 Crus Bourgeois here, and the Crus Artisans list of 2022 to 2026 holds 3.
How to remember them going north
Margaux, then Saint-Julien, then Pauillac, then Saint-Estèphe, in that order up the river, with Haut-Médoc filling the gaps between them. Perfume, poise, power, then grip.
Where to go next
Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Pauillac · INAO, Saint-Julien · Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855