Napoleon III asked the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce
to sort and order their best red wines in 1885. The wine brokers
of Bordeaux identified sixty-one of the most expensive red wines
and divided them into five classes called crus. The classification
is highly selective and with 13,000 producers in Bordeaux only 61
châteaux were given the Grand Crus Classes. Sixty of the Châteaux
are located in Medoc and one is located in the district of Graves,
Château Haut-Brion.
Since 1855 there have been no additions to the
list. The only change was in 1973 when Château
Mouton-Rothschild was promoted from a second growths to a
first growths after nearly fifty years of lobbying by Baron Rothschild.
