The Best Wines of the Left Bank of Bordeaux

Dear all,

Since that I am a new kid on the block, I would like to share with all of you the outcome of my little study on Bordeaux which I performed sometime ago.

I have analyzed over 18,000 professional ratings of wine critics and journalists along with 89,000 consumer ratings of wines from 1982 to 2017.
The idea behind this research was to come up with the weighted and up to date rating of the estates of the left bank of Bordeaux.
How relevant is the original classification of 1855?

I am aware of many other attempts by very well respected authors and organizations, but my approach is slightly different as I am looking from a different angle, which is the reputation of the estates and the consistency of the high quality of grand vins they produce.

I invite you to share your thoughts. Would be great to hear from this community.

Cheers!

Stas


Please follow the link to my article - The Best Wines of the Left Bank of Bordeaux

This is a fascinating topic.

From my reading of French as well as English language critics, I doubt if many of the former would agree that Lafite-Rothschild comes in a second category. Bettane & Desseauve refer to it as "cru suprême de Pauillac". I can't express a personal opinion because it is very many years since a drop of 1er GCC, except Haut-Brion, has passed my lips.

There was an abortive proposal to reclassify in 1961.

I have to go out now and will revert to this topic on my return.

[David M. Bueker]

1855 classification - price based

Your classification - score based (score then influences price, so back to 1855 in reverse)

It was always well known that certain Chateaux were over-performers, and certain Chateaux were under-performers. Not sure that a statistical analysis of subjective ratings really changes anything.

Critics tend to be pretty good at assessing the wine in front of them. Amateurs not so much, especially in the case of famous wines. The reputations color assessments. Lafite's history of mediocre wines in the 1970s haunts them with some amateurs to this day. Same for Margaux.

Then there is the fact that the world of high quality Cabernet Sauvignon is so much larger than it was in 1855, or even 1961. Accounting for understandable stylistic differences, it's not hard to find equivalent quality Cabs from other places than Bordeaux. A more interesting exercise might be to do the statistical comparison between the left bank and Napa.

Nice read.
I am more "follow the notes of amateurs and critics you like" rather than aggregate scores. You'll never get me to agree that Ducru and Pichon Lalande should trail LLC and Cos (excepting the 86-89 TCA problems at Ducru, and even there if you do the checked re-release bottles).

Nice read.
I am more "follow the notes of amateurs and critics you like" rather than aggregate scores. You'll never get me to agree that Ducru and Pichon Lalande should trail LLC and Cos (excepting the 86-89 TCA problems at Ducru, and even there if you do the checked re-release bottles).

Thank you Dale for reading my article!
Well, my personal rating does not exactly match the one in the article, but that is just my personal taste preference. However, I tend to agree with most of the findings. And LLC is one of my favourites together with Pichon Baron among the 2nd Growths.

Welcome to the forum, Stas.

I read your article, but regret it is of only theoretical interest to me now.

There was a time when I used to buy first growth clarets - they were a little more expensive - but not that much.

But in the last decades their price has gone astronomical and the only classed growth I regularly drink is from the 5th rung.

I wonder tho', how many of the critics reviews were made at EP tastings, where they knew the name of the wine they were tasting, and yet it wasn't the finished bottled wine. And how many of these reviews came from MWs and others in the employ of businesses selling EP with an interest in making it attractive for potential purchasers.

In my view, the most objective criterion on which to base a classification, if one must have one, is price. But that only works in homogeneous area like the Médoc where one is comparing broadly similar sized estates with broadly similar varietal composition. Perhaps the classification could be usefully extended to Pessac-Léognan without too much distortion but not to the right bank where there is a different encépagement and where some prized estates, e.g. Ausone and Pétrus, are very small which results in a scarcity effect on their prices. The scarcity effect is magnified even more in Burgundy.

I agree with Peter about the limitation of making a classification based on scores and would add that what really counts for me is performance at maturity, which is rarely scored by the "experts". The opinions of some earlier generations of wine writers like Michael Broadbent and André Simon have value for me when it comes to the underlying worth of the terroirs and to ageing capacity but are not, of course, up to date about performance of present day managements and styles.

The Saint-Émilion classification system is quite complex and does bring local (objective?) expert opinion into the equation. However it has proved very controversial with lots of litigation about the 2006 classification, as also did an attempted classification of crus bourgeois.

The abortive 1961 re-classification was confined to the Médoc only and proposed three categories -

- Premiers grands crus exceptionnels (the same as now excluding H-B)
- Premiers grands crus classés (included recognised over-performers like Palmer, Lynch-Bages..)
- Grands crus classés (included some of the then best crus bougeois)

I posted about this in detail in 2016 after an article had appeared in La Revue du Vin de France which reproduced a page from the Sud-Ouest newspaper detailing most the proposal.

There was also a classification of Pomerol proposed by the wartime collaborator Vichy government which looks very strange to our modern eyes. Like nearly all Vichy initiatives it was regarded as automatically discredited and was forgotten after the war.

Welcome to the forum, Stas.

I read your article, but regret it is of only theoretical interest to me now.

There was a time when I used to buy first growth clarets - they were a little more expensive - but not that much.

But in the last decades their price has gone astronomical and the only classed growth I regularly drink is from the 5th rung.

I wonder tho', how many of the critics reviews were made at EP tastings, where they knew the name of the wine they were tasting, and yet it wasn't the finished bottled wine. And how many of these reviews came from MWs and others in the employ of businesses selling EP with an interest in making it attractive for potential purchasers.

Thank you Peter for a warm welcome!
I am glad to join this amazing community of wine enthusiasts. Already feels like home

My study was based on a very large number of critics and wine journalists scores. The data has been normalised and in case the same critic rated the same wine several times, only the recent one was taken into the account. In my opinion the outcome of the study shows a decent picture. Critics and wine journalists of course are the opinion leaders and they influence and somewhat shape the perception. However, there are many occasions when their opinions are controversial and the the occasions when they all agree.
So those wines which consistently over the last 40 years showed the results better than the others are sitting on the top of the chart.

I cross checked many vintages with the scores on cellartracker, especially when there are thousands of such scores, so the individual impact of one crazy winehead won't affect the overall consensus. And those scores do correlate significantly with the ones of professionals. Not in the absolute figures of course, but rather supporting the same trends.

I really liked the recent instagram video by Nick Jackson MW on his approach to tasting EP.
He shared his criteria when tasting those:
1. Concentration level.
2. Complexity.
3. Length.
4. Integration of tannins, level of fruit and the acidity.
5. Typicity according to Chateau style. Here you need extensive experience.
6. X-factor. Unquantifiable cause of excitement. What makes it fantastic.

Looking forward to soon become a member of WineLoversPage discussion board family )) Great place to exchange ideas.