The ranking comes from the échelle des crus, a scale of grape prices made official in 1911 and set village by village. Villages rated 100 percent were grands crus, those rated 90 to 99 percent premiers crus; a decree of 1 July 1952 reserved the two words for them. The INAO withdrew the scale in 2010 but let the villages keep the words, so grand cru and premier cru survive on the labels as a reference to the standing of the village. The list of 17 grands crus has not changed since the last revision in 1985, which promoted Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Oiry and Verzy.

The 17 villages are spread over three areas of the Marne. Nine lie on the Montagne de Reims, where Pinot Noir leads: Ambonnay, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly-Champagne, Puisieulx, Sillery, Verzenay and Verzy. Six are on the Côte des Blancs, the home of Chardonnay: Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Oiry. Two, Aÿ and Tours-sur-Marne, are in the Marne Valley. A grand cru Champagne can therefore be a blanc de noirs from Bouzy or a blanc de blancs from Le Mesnil, and the two have little in common beyond the rank.

The page follows the classification on each wine's label. For the next rank down, see the premier cru Champagne page; for the two kinds of producer, the growers and the grandes maisons.

The wines above are the grand cru Champagnes in the cellar. See all our Champagne or the new arrivals.