"hmm? All right, all right. But do you know that the first garden in Burgundy is usually owned by many wineries? . "
"eh? Really, not a few words! "
This is a dialogue between the big cat and his friend. He spoke to me two days ago.
Well, to be honest, there are quite a few people who have this misunderstanding, and it can't be said that Big Cat Friends don't understand it at all.
If you drink wine, you must have heard of the word Grand Cru. But in Bordeaux and Burgundy, there are different meanings, which are easily confused by people with little knowledge.
So let's take a look at the grading system of Bordeaux and Burgundy today?
1 (rating) Who is the object?
First of all, please make it clear that the scoring targets in the two places are different. The classification of Burgundy is for vineyards, while Bordeaux is a winery. In Burgundy, Grand Cru refers to a special garden/field; In bordeaux, Grand Cru usually appears with Class, and "Grand Cru Class" refers to rank village.
2 the grading system of the two.
Because of the different classification objects, the classification systems of the two places are also very different.
burgundy
Burgundy has four grades, from the most common regional AOC (regional AOC), to the rural AOC Communales, to the top Cru, and finally to the 33 Grand Cru. Only the core three sub-producing areas, namely Ye Qiu, Mount Bern and Chablis, have super wineries.
Since this system is only for land, no matter how big or small the winery is, if it owns a vineyard in a Grand Crewe, they can call the wine brewed in this garden Grand Crewe wine. And a vineyard, except for a few exclusive gardens, is generally shared by multiple wineries.
Therefore, the grade of a Burgundy does not fully represent its quality. For wines from the same top winery, winery A may produce amazing wines, but winery B may be mediocre. There are deviations in some vineyards, and the level of first-class gardens in different villages is also inconsistent. Perhaps the first-class gardens in this village are generally of high level and expensive, but the first-class gardens in another village are very ordinary.
So people always think Burgundy is very complicated, because there are too many vineyards, and each vineyard has a variety of producers, producing different grades of wine.
Hmm? Why are there so many vineyards? In fact, this is related to the Napoleonic Code in history. According to the code, the inheritance needs to be evenly distributed among the heirs, so the vineyard is also divided into one point, so today there are many wineries in a vineyard.
Burgundy is a field that needs time and accumulation to get familiar with, but generally speaking, at least knowing its classification and its garden name is also a guarantee.
Bordeaux
As for Bordeaux, although its grading system is different, it is not difficult to find it.
Bordeaux's famous sub-producing areas include Medoc, Graf, Sotne and Balsack on the left bank, and Saint Emilion and Pomero on the right bank. Except Pomeroy, everyone has their own classification
left bank
Medoc, Medoc
There is the most famous classification so far-Medoc Winery 1855 classification. * * * There are five grades, including 6 1 winery. All wineries listed in the 1855 classification list are called "column wineries", and most of them can see the words "Grand Cru Class" or "Grand Cru Class en 1855" on the wine label. Premier Grand Cru is one of the "five famous villages" in Bordeaux: Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Upper Bourion and Mouton.
However, although this classification is very famous, except for the first-class village, the market prices of other famous villages have changed greatly compared with the then 1855. At present, some second-class villages are only equivalent to the position of fifth-class villages in those years, while the prices of some fourth-class fifth-class villages are close to the level of second-class third-class villages. For example, the third-class Palmer and the fifth-class Ponte-Carney and Lynch-Bacis are not losing to the second-class Zhuang.
In addition to the classification of 1855, there is another place in Medoc called "Krubourgeois". Because the classification of 1855 has hardly changed after 150 years, many other wineries that have not been selected for the classification of 1855 will inevitably feel unfair. As a result, a new classification "Crubourgeois" was born in 1932, which is a good supplement to other high-quality wineries that were not lucky enough to be selected in 1855. At that time, most of the more prestigious wineries that were not in 1855 joined.
"Intermediate Famous Villages" are re-evaluated by the Intermediate Famous Villages Alliance every year according to the quality of New Year's wine, but this list is relatively stable and occasionally changes. Generally speaking, the title of intermediate famous village is more reliable, and it is a place where Bordeaux wines with high cost performance are concentrated.
left bank
Xie Su, Sotnes and Balsac in Balsac.
In 1855, besides Medoc, Suttern and Balsack are also classified, but this classification is aimed at expensive and rotten sweet white wine. 1855 There are only three grades in the classification of Xie Su and Balsac. Judging from the separation and merger of wineries, there are 27 wineries, among which Egan Winery (also known as Diquem Winery) is the best, and "Premieres Cru Suprieur" ranks first. In addition, 1 1 is a first-class famous village, and 15 is a second-class famous village.
Today, the classification of Xie Su and Balsack still has practical significance. Even compared with the 1855 Medoc classification used for red wine, the historical change of its market price is smaller, and the previous classification can still reflect the quality.
left bank
Gravgraf
In 1855, due to its great reputation, Wang Winery is the only winery selected by Graf in the classification of 1855. Other wineries are destined not to enter the classification. So a classification belonging to Graf was born in 1953, and 16 wineries representing the highest level of Graf wine were selected. However, its classification as a whole has only one "calf". Of the 16 wineries, three were acquired by King Hou Bo, and the name of the winery no longer exists, so there are only 13 wineries now.
right bank
Saint Emilion
This is also a production area forgotten by 1855 classification system, but in 1955, it also developed its own classification system. This rating system divides the rank-level famous villages into two levels, the first level is the highest Premier Grand Cru level, the second level is the rank-level Grand Cru level, and the first-level famous villages are subdivided into A and B, etc. At present, there are 18 first-class famous villages in Saint Emilion, including 4 A-class, 4 B-class 14 and 64 classified famous villages.
However, for a long time, the "list of first-class A-class famous villages" at the top of the hierarchical pyramid has never changed, and there are only two top-class famous villages, Osone and Cervar Blanc. However, the latest classification revision of 20 12 suddenly added two first-class A-class villages, Anglos and Pave, which also caused some controversy.
Compared with other grading systems in Bordeaux, this list is more authentic. In order to encourage and urge all wine merchants to maintain excellent brewing level, the classification system of Saint Emilion will be revised almost every ten years, so it is quite reliable.
It should be noted that there is another legal title of Saint-Emilion Grand Cru in Saint-Emilion producing area, and the number of "Grand Cru" is much more, which has nothing to do with "Grand Famous Wine". The words "Grand Cru class" are printed on the labels of high-quality wineries, and the gap between the grade and the price can be very large, which is not grade certification. Basically, the standards of yield and alcohol content are a little stricter than AOP/AOC in San Emeron Village, and almost all local wineries can apply.
right bank
Pomero, Pomejo
As mentioned at the beginning, there is no grading system after Pomei, a sub-production area that has been highly sought after. However, as we all know, although this production area is small, there are many famous villages, such as Petrus Patus, Vieux Chateau Certan Old Sedan, Chateau Lafleur, Le Pin Li Peng, Chateau Lafleur-Petrus Patus Flower and so on. These wineries can compete with the first-and second-class wineries in Medoc in quality and price.
Finally, I want to ask you, do you know the grading system in the two places?
So, do you need someone to drink with you? Zhuang Ming wine sommelier WeChat: cigarchina made an appointment to meet.