The Official Bordeaux Wine Classification of 1855 — Médoc and Graves

1855 — Addition : Classified a second growth by the brokers in 1855, under the name Château Mouton.

1973 — Promotion : Promoted to first growth in June 1973, after a campaign of more than twenty years led by Baron Philippe de Rothschild. The instrument was signed by Jacques Chirac, then Minister of Agriculture. It is the only change of rank in the classification's history.

The only classified growth outside the Médoc. In 1855 the brokers placed it in the Graves; the Pessac-Léognan AOC under which it is made today was only created in 1987. The Conseil's official list places it under the appellation Pessac, after its commune.

This growth does not appear on the list published by the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, which records its members only and therefore names just thirteen at this rank while stating that there are fourteen second growths. Its rank as a second growth is not disputed.

It was this growth that absorbed, in the 1870s, the vineyard of Château Dubignon, a third growth of 1855 that has since disappeared.

1855 — Renaming : Classified as Château Marquis d'Alesme Becker, the form the Conseil's official list still uses; the estate presents itself today as Château Marquis d'Alesme, without the Becker surname.

1951 — Renaming : Classified in 1855 as Château Le Prieuré; Alexis Lichine, who bought it in 1951, added his surname to it.

1942 — Split : The Batailley estate, classified undivided in 1855, was split in the mid-twentieth century: the detached part became Château Haut-Batailley, and the two growths have carried the same fifth-growth rank ever since. The date of 1942 is the most often cited but is not consistently established.

1942 — Split : The part detached from Château Batailley; see the note on Batailley for the uncertainty over the date.

1855 — Renaming : Classified as Château Mouton d'Armailhacq.

1956 — Renaming : Renamed Château Mouton Baron Philippe by Philippe de Rothschild, owner since 1933.

1975 — Renaming : Renamed Château Mouton Baronne Philippe, in homage to Pauline de Rothschild.

1989 — Renaming : Return to the name Château d'Armailhac, without the final q of the 1855 spelling.

1855 — Addition : Absent from the brokers' list made public on 18 April 1855, Château Cantemerle was written into it by hand on 16 September 1855, during the Universal Exhibition. The omission was due to its trade route — its barrels went straight to Holland without passing through the Bordeaux marketplace, so its prices did not appear in the brokers' registers — and not to the quality of its wine. It is the only addition in the classification's history.