Customer Reviews

Bordeaux Chateaux: A History of the Grands Crus Classes 1855-2005

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This book was created in collaboration with the Conseil des Grands Crus Classes to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1855 classification. It's not chock full of detailed information. It conspicuously omitted Ch. Leoville Las Cases, because the proprietaire, M. Delon, had withdrawn from the Conseil in part to protest the continued use of a classification system he deemed to be misleadingly anachronistic (presumably because he believed that LLC, like Mouton, should have been elevated to first growth status to reflect the quality of the modern wines). But putting to one side the internal politics of the Bordeaux trade and the controversy surrounding the continued use of the 1855 classification, this is a nice book to have around the house. No, it does not include any new and revelatory information about any of the classified estates depicted. But it does include a nice profile of each estate and some lovely photography; and it does document the current state of the classified growths as they want to be seen by the wine buying public in the 21st century.

There is also a recently released and revised edition of the book in paperback format. This hardcover edition appears to be out of print and now available only from "new old stock" and as a used book. Given the nature of the book, I'd still go with the original, hardcover edition.