Other Bordeaux Classifications

Question 1

When was the Cru Artisan designation formally recognized?

Answer 1

2002

Question 2

From the 2005 vintage forward, how many small producers throughout the Médoc were granted the right to use the Cru Artisan designation and how many of such producers are there today (following the 2023 review)?

Answer 2

From
44 in 2005
To
33 in 2023

Question 3

What does the Cru Artisan designation denotes?

Answer 3

It denotes producers as stewards of the land and craft of winemaking, without the financing or apparatus of large-scale operations.

Question 4

What is the average vineyard holding of an estate that bears the Cru Artisan designation?

Answer 4

6 ha

Question 5

How regularly will the rankings of the Cru Artisan designation be reviewed and updated?

Answer 5

Every 5 years

Question 6

When was the Cru Bourgeois designation originally introduced?

Answer 6

1932

Question 7

What was the original motivation behind the creation of the Cru Bourgeois designation?

Answer 7

It gave properties that were considered bourgeois—i.e., lacking the breed of the more aristocratic 1855 estates—some collective marketing power in a time of worldwide depression.

Question 8

Why was there an outright ban on the term cru bourgeois itself by 2007?

Answer 8

The 2003 major revision trimmed the list of total qualifying châteaux from 444 to 247, with only nine exceptionnels, and mandated further revisions every 12 years. This didn’t sit well with a number of declassified estates; ensuing legal action nullified the entire classification and resulted in an outright ban on the term cru bourgeois itself by 2007.

Question 9

Reintroduced for the 2008 vintage, how were cru bourgeois awarded?

Answer 9

Annually from 2010 until 2019, though the separate designations of cru bourgeois exceptionnel and cru bourgeois supérieur were eliminated.

Question 10

What happened in 2018 regarding the Cru Bourgeois designation?

Answer 10

In 2018, new legislation passed to reinstate the previously abandoned terms of crus bourgeois supérieurs and crus bourgeois exceptionnels.

Question 11

What is the current state of the Cru Bourgeois designation (as of the last review of 2020)?

Answer 11

In 2020, 249 châteaux were classified as cru bourgeois, including 14 crus bourgeois exceptionnels and 56 crus bourgeois supérieurs.

Question 12

When will the Cru Bourgeois classification be reviewed?

Answer 12

The classification will be reviewed every five years, with a new list appearing in 2025.

Question 13

List the 14 Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels of the latest 2020 Cru Bourgeois ranking alongside their respective communes.

Answer 13

Saint-Estèphe:
Château Le Bosq
Le Crock
Lillian Ladouys

Listrac-Médoc:
Château Lestage

Margaux:
Châteaux Paveil de Luze
Château d’Arsac

Haut-Médoc:
Château d’Agassac
Château Arnauld
Château Belle-Vue
Château Cambon La Pelouse
Château Charmail
Château Malescasse
Château de Malleret
Château du Taillan