Reviewing the 1855 Bordeaux Classification of Wines
Why review the Classification?
The main reason to review the Classification are:
changes in the relative price of wines. Whilst the First Growth wines are still much more expensive than the rest (see Table 1 below), Growths Two to Five now overlap to the extent that the Classification is no longer applicable to them.
many wines, some considered to be 'unofficial' First Growths such as Le Pin, Petrus and Lafleur, were ommitted from the original Classification.
Table 1: Wines by the 1855 Classification for vintages 1999 to 2003, high and low prices per case in USD at June 2005.
Table 1 shows that there is now considerable overlap between each of the classifications, for example, the average high price for a case of Third Growth wines (at $1,383) is over four times the comparable average low price for a Second Growth wine (at $342).
What would the Classification look like now?
Based entirely on price and including a number of wines that were previously ommitted (identified as 'Not Classified' in the table below) , the rank order (based on the average price per case at June 2005) is now as follows:
