When it comes to France’s winemaking rules and regulations, it seems the thought is "less is more." In theory, the name of the producer, region, classification and vintage on the label should be enough to tell you everything there is to know about what’s inside the bottle. But some French winemakers have

THE ST-ÉMILION CLASSIFICATION
SAINT-ÉMILION WAS OMITTED FROM THE 1855 CLASSIFICATION. As a result, the local Wine Growers’ Union decided to formally draw up a Classification of St-Émilion in 1955. It was to be revised every ten years to keep it from becoming to rigid and outdated. Although this is not happening on schedule, it has been revised twice, most recently in 1985.
The classification was based on soil, a tasting of the wine, and the reputation o

THE GRAVES CLASSIFICATION
OTHER THAN HAUT-BRION, the clasification of 1855 did not take into account the châteaux of Graves. It was first classified in 1953, but the classification did not became official until the 1959 ranking. The one class list is divided bewteen red wines and white wines, which means that some châteaux are mentioned twice, once in each category. To avoid disputes the châteaux within each category, are not ordered by quality.
The 1959 Official

THE CLASSIFICATION OF 1855
Much like our World’s Fair today, Napoléon III’s 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris was a chance for France to display its very best for the world to see. The Gironde Chambre of Commerce requested that a classification system be devised to accompany their display fine wines of Bordeaux. The Bordeaux Wine Brokers’ Union went to work on the project and came up with what we now refer to as the Classification of 1855.

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