Bordeaux wines, the very first classification, dated 1647, saved from the flames and restored (source journal Sud-Ouest , 03 March 2024)

The document, licked by flames during the terrible fire that ravaged the Rohan Palace in June 1862 (see elsewhere)in Bordeaux , was saved and then restored around twenty years ago.

A little more than two centuries before its prestigious successor of 1855, a classification of Bordeaux wines was drawn up in 1647: it details the sale prices of barrels according to their Gironde provenance.

“It is a first form of classification with the establishment of a hierarchy: a document established by the municipal body of the time based on market prices,” explains Stéphanie Lachaud, head of a research program.

A first classification of Bordeaux wines from 1647 establishes prices according to their origin. Two centuries before the prestigious classification of 1855.

At the top of the bill, the vintages of Graves or Médoc, those of Barsac or Preignac, those of Pujols and Fargues. The cheapest barrels are found near Entre-deux-Mers and more surprisingly, in Saint-Émilion which will still wait many years before reaching its current aura.

Market prices are not necessarily a guarantee of quality. The geographical location and mobility issues also explain the disparities between wine-growing territories. “The most popular wines are those benefiting from easy transport with the Bordeaux region, particularly those located along the Garonne,” underlines Stéphanie Lachaud.

Between 1647 and 1855, other classifications of Bordeaux wines were carried out, by agronomists or wine enthusiasts such as the Irishman Abraham Lawton (on Médoc wines) or the illustrious American Thomas Jefferson, but none under an institutional form. That of 1647 has, in any case and until now, no known ancestor.

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