The land

Bordeaux sits at the confluence of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers in southwest France, with a maritime climate moderated by the Atlantic and the Gironde estuary. The region splits into Left Bank (gravelly soils, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blends — Médoc, Graves, Pessac-Léognan) and Right Bank (clay and limestone, Merlot-dominant blends — Saint-Émilion, Pomerol). Sauternes makes the world’s reference botrytized sweet white. Pessac-Léognan and Entre-deux-Mers produce serious dry whites.

The classification

The 1855 Classification was created for the Paris Universal Exposition and ranked the top Médoc châteaux into five tiers (First through Fifth Growth) — a list that has barely changed in 170 years. Right Bank Saint-Émilion has its own classification, revised periodically. Pomerol famously has no classification at all, though some of the world’s most expensive wines come from there. Below the classified growths sit Cru Bourgeois (Médoc) and Petits Châteaux — often the best value in the region.

Why it matters

Bordeaux invented the concept of the wine estate as a brand. The combination of long-lived wines, an organized trading market (the négociant system, en primeur), and a reliable maritime climate built a fine-wine industry that the rest of the world has been trying to copy for two centuries. Whether the wines hit their absolute aromatic peak or not, the structure is the reference, and the great vintages age longer than almost anything else made.

Vintages to know

2022 — early-picked but concentrated; one of the great recent vintages. 2020 — outstanding across both banks. 2019 — superb, age-worthy. 2018 — generous, ripe, structured. 2016 — classical and balanced. 2015 — concentrated, age-worthy. 2010 — legendary. See the full ratings at /encyclopedia/vintage-chart/.

In the BWM cellar

Léoville-Las Cases in Saint-Julien, Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac, library Château Latour, Sociando-Mallet in Haut-Médoc (the value play), La Conseillante in Pomerol — these are our anchors. Across the cellar you’ll find both classified growths and a curated bench of Cru Bourgeois that punch above their tier. Browse the full Bordeaux hand at /regions/bordeaux/.