Two rivers, two banks

Bordeaux follows the Garonne and the Dordogne to the point where they meet and become the Gironde estuary. In 2024 the Bordeaux wine council counted a little under 95,000 hectares of appellation vines, the largest such vineyard in France, shared among 65 appellations. That year, black grapes covered 89 percent of the vineyard, and Merlot made up about two thirds of them, ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Most wines are blends. The left bank, west of the Garonne and the estuary, holds the gravel soils of the Médoc and the Graves. Cabernet Sauvignon plays a large part in their blends. On the right bank, along the Dordogne, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol grow mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc beside it.

The Médoc

The Médoc is the peninsula between the estuary and the Atlantic, north of the city. It holds eight appellations: Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis and four communal appellations along the estuary. From north to south come Saint-Estèphe, home of Cos d'Estournel, and Pauillac, with three of the five first growths. One of them is Lafite Rothschild, and Pichon Comtesse lies in the south of the commune. Then comes Saint-Julien, where Ducru-Beaucaillou is a second growth. Last is Margaux, the largest of the four, with 21 classified growths: Château Margaux is its first growth, and Giscours a third growth at Labarde. North of Saint-Estèphe, Sociando-Mallet makes Haut-Médoc at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, and Rollan de By makes Médoc at Bégadan.

Graves and Sauternes

South of the city, the Graves takes its name from its gravel, and the wine council calls it the birthplace of Bordeaux wine. Its northern part became the Pessac-Léognan appellation on 9 September 1987, for red and dry white wine. Haut-Brion, at Pessac, is the only red of the 1855 classification from outside the Médoc, and Domaine de Chevalier, at Léognan, is a classified growth of the Graves. Further up the Garonne lie Sauternes and Barsac. There the cool Ciron river brings morning fog. Fog in the morning and sun in the afternoon let noble rot shrivel the ripe grapes, mostly Sémillon. The sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac are the only whites in the 1855 classification, and Rayne Vigneau, at Bommes, is one of their first growths.

Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and the right bank

Saint-Émilion is a medieval town above the Dordogne, where vines have grown for at least thirteen centuries. Two appellations, Saint-Émilion and the stricter Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, share 5,400 hectares in nine communes, on a limestone plateau, clay-limestone slopes and sandy gravel. Ausone farms the plateau and the slope at the southern gates of the town, and Tertre Roteboeuf a steep slope at the edge of the plateau. Laroque, at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, has been a grand cru classé since 1996. Pomerol, between Saint-Émilion and Libourne, covers only 813 hectares, 80 percent Merlot, on clay and gravel over an iron-rich subsoil. Lafleur farms 4.5 hectares on its plateau, half Merlot and half Cabernet Franc. In August 2025 its owners announced that, from the 2025 vintage, its wines would be sold as Vin de France, outside the appellation. On the same bank of the Dordogne, Ormiale farms biodynamic vines in the Côtes de Castillon and the Côtes de Francs, for a red sold as Bordeaux Supérieur.

The classifications

Bordeaux has five classifications, and each covers only part of the region. The 1855 classification was drawn up by the Bordeaux brokers for the Paris Universal Exhibition and published on 18 April 1855. It ranks 61 reds in five growths, all from the Médoc except Haut-Brion, and 27 sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac. It has changed only twice: Cantemerle was added in September 1855, and Mouton Rothschild became a first growth in 1973. The Graves list was first published in 1953 and adjusted once, in 1959. It ranks châteaux for red, white or both, and has held 14 since two of them merged into La Mission Haut-Brion. Saint-Émilion revises its classification about every ten years. Ausone and Cheval Blanc did not apply for the 2022 edition, and Angélus withdrew from it. That edition ranks 85 châteaux. The Crus Bourgeois of the Médoc, 170 châteaux in 2025, are reviewed every five years, and the Crus Artisans gather small Médoc estates. Pomerol has never had a classification, and the wine council notes that great wines also come from unranked estates.

Labels, second wines and keeping

On a Bordeaux label, read the château, then the appellation, then any rank. The rank appears as a line such as Grand Cru Classé en 1855 or Grand Cru Classé de Graves. In Saint-Émilion, Grand Cru alone names the appellation, while Grand Cru Classé is kept for the classified châteaux. Many estates also make a second wine. Pavillon Rouge, the second wine of Château Margaux, has carried its name since the 1906 vintage, and the estate calls it the oldest second wine of the Médoc. Carruades de Lafite, La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou and Chapelle d'Ausone follow the same idea. The wine council advises a few years in the cellar for Pauillac, says Saint-Estèphe rewards keeping, and gives Pomerol five to ten years. Older bottles from every region gather in our mature wines, collector wines and old and rare vintages, with magnums in our large formats. The wines above are the Bordeaux of our cellar. See also all our red wines and white wines.