Behind the headlines: will the new Cru Bourgeois ranking make a difference?

Last week, during Wine Paris, 170 Cru Bourgeois were unveiled in the new 2025 ranking, split across:

•  14 Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels (the same number as last time, but with a few notable name changes)
• 36 Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs (compared to 56 in 2020)
• 120 Crus Bourgeois

That is a pretty drastic reduction in numbers, almost 80 fewer properties (just under 38%) than in the previous 2020 ranking, where there were 249 Cru Bourgeois across the three categories. This shortens the discrepancy with the region’s other red classified groups, as there are 60 1855 Cru Classés across the same footprint of land (Haut-Brion is outside of the Médoc, as are the sweet white 1855s), while St Emilion currently has 85 Grand and Premier Cru Classés, and 16 Cru Classé de Graves.

The reason for such a drop in numbers is partly through rules that now put more emphasis on environmental farming – although HVE3 as a minimum is not especially onerous – but also because there were less candidates, as more and more Cru Bourgeois are either being bought up, consolidated, or simply don’t have the funds to pay the entry fees to groups such as these. But tightening up is a good thing, and should help with perception and name recognition, as it was always a challenge to put faces and names to such a sprawling number of Cru Bourgeois.

Dig deeper, though, and there are plenty of other changes that are less positive, with a few notable losses to the flagship Exceptionnel category, most notably perhaps Château Lilian Ladouys, the Jacky Lorenzetti estate that is part of a group that includes Château d’Issan, Château Lafon Rochet, and Château Pédéslaux, all 1855 classifieds that lent some lustre to Cru Bourgeois ranking.

The new Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels include eight new names, all upgraded from Cru Bourgeois Supérieur last time around:

AOC MÉDOC
Château la Cardonne (new addition)
Château Castera (new addition)
Château Laujac (new addition)

AOC HAUT-MÉDOC
Château Malescasse
Château de Malleret
Château Paloumey (new addition)
Château Reysson (new addition)
Château du Taillan

AOC LISTRAC-MÉDOC
Château Reverdi (new addition)

AOC MARGAUX
Château d’Arsac
Château Mongravey (new addition)
Château Paveil de Luze

AOC SAINT-ESTÈPHE
Château le Crock
Château Lafitte Carcasset (new addition)

Missing this round, after withdrawing from the ranking are:
Château le Boscq, Château Lilian Ladouys, Château d’Agassac, Château Arnauld, Château Belle-Vue, Château Cambon la Pelouse, Château Charmail, Château Lestage.

How was it decided?
A total of 10 experts studied each dossier to award points before a six-member jury, chaired by Philippe Faure-Brac, 1992 World’s Best Sommelier. For the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel ranking, estates had to receive a two-thirds majority vote from the jury in a secret ballot. I would suggest looking at full details of all châteaux in the new ranking on their own website, but they have not yet updated it to reflect the announcement… I guess keep checking back in.

What happens now?
Will it help with the distribution challenges? With the best will in the world, it’s hard to say that this is transformative. The region’s négociants are already sitting on huge stocks of classified growths, and have turned away from Cru Bourgeois, something that has been devastating to commercial strategies in place for decades at many of these properties. As interest rates have risen sharply over the past few years (and France’s economy weathered several credit agency downgrades as political chaos continues) this is unlikely to change any time soon. Just this week it was announced that négociant Yvon Mau is looking at redundancies for 57 of its 73 strong staff, an enormous blow to the tiny commune of Gironde-sur-Dropt where the company has been located for the past century.

At the same time, it should be remembered that the credibility of the entire ranking lives and dies with the performance of the Exceptionnels. The 2024 vintage is unlikely to make things easy for them, but there are some good names here – Paloumey and La Cardonne have regularly performed well in my tastings over the years, and it’s great to see that they have retained traditionally strong performers like Château Malescasse and (especially, in my opinion) Château Le Crock. Of the names that have gone, Cambon la Pelouse and Belle-Vue were never going to stay after their purchase by Treasury Wine Estates, but the group as a whole will certainly feel the loss of Lilian Ladouys, Arnauld and Le Boscq.

On the bright side, unveiling of a new ranking will help draw attention to the Cru Bourgeois, which has a history dating back to 1932, and that over the years has delivered incredible quality. The Médoc remains a big place with a maze of estates, and these classifications can help guide consumers if they are serious about quality. But most estates – even at the top level of the 2025 ranking – will still have to learn how to effectively sell direct rather than through négociants.