Guide
The 5 First Growths, and why 1 of them is not in the Médoc
4 were named in 1855. The 5th waited 118 years. And the odd one out was in the list from the start.
The short answer
Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion were named first growths in April 1855. Mouton Rothschild was raised from second growth to first in 1973, the only promotion the list has ever made. Haut-Brion is the odd one out: it is in Pessac-Léognan, not the Médoc.
The list
| Estate | Appellation | First growth since |
|---|---|---|
| Château Lafite Rothschild | Pauillac | 1855 |
| Château Latour | Pauillac | 1855 |
| Château Margaux | Margaux | 1855 |
| Château Haut-Brion | Pessac-Léognan | 1855 |
| Château Mouton Rothschild | Pauillac | 1973 |
3 of the 5 are in Pauillac, which is 1 commune of about 1,220 hectares.
Why Haut-Brion is in the list at all
Because the brokers were ranking the wines that sold highest, not the wines of a particular district. The Classification of 1855 was drawn up from their own price books for the Paris exhibition, and the Médoc supplied nearly all of it: 60 of the 61 red growths. Haut-Brion was the exception nobody could leave out. It sat south of the city in the Graves, and it had been selling at first growth level for a century and a half; Samuel Pepys wrote about it in 1663, which is earlier than most of the Médoc estates existed.
When Pessac-Léognan was carved out of the Graves in 1987, Haut-Brion went with it. That is why the only 1855 first growth outside the Médoc now carries an appellation that did not exist when it was classified.
What 1973 changed
Mouton Rothschild was a second growth for 118 years, and Baron Philippe de Rothschild spent decades arguing it should not be. The promotion came in 1973 and it is the only movement of rank the list has ever made. The estate’s motto changed with it, from the famous complaint that it could not be first and would not be second to a line recording that it now is.
The only other change in 171 years is Cantemerle, which was written into the list on September 16, 1855, after being left off the first printing in April.
The thing worth remembering
The Classification of 1855 ranks estates, not ground, and it has changed 2 times. Everything else about it, including the idea that it is fixed forever, is habit rather than law.
Where to go next
Sources: Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 · Château Mouton Rothschild, key dates, 1973