Premier Grand Cru Wines

Premier Grand Cru wines are the first growths of Bordeaux, the estates placed at the very top of the 1855 classification. This category is for collectors, for anyone choosing a landmark gift, and for those who want to understand what the highest rank of Bordeaux actually means in the glass. The shop lists two names here, Château Haut-Brion and Château Mouton Rothschild, one from Pessac-Léognan and one from Pauillac.

What Premier Grand Cru means

The 1855 classification ranked the red wines of the Médoc, plus one red from Graves, into five levels called growths. The first level is the Premier Cru, often written Premier Grand Cru or 1er Grand Cru in shop catalogues. Haut-Brion, from Pessac in Graves, was the single estate from outside the Médoc to be included. Mouton Rothschild was ranked as a second growth in 1855 and was promoted to first growth in 1973, the only change ever made to the list.

Do not confuse this rank with the Burgundy system, where Premier Cru and Grand Cru are two separate vineyard levels. In Bordeaux the term belongs to the estate and its château, not to a plot of land. If you want to see how the other levels of the 1855 ladder look, browse the Classifications section, or move directly to 1er Grand Cru, 2ème Grand Cru and 2ème Grand Cru Classé.

The two estates and their appellations

Château Mouton Rothschild sits in Pauillac, a Médoc appellation built on gravelly soils and dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. Its wines are typically firm and dense, with the tannic backbone that rewards long keeping.

Château Haut-Brion lies in Pessac-Léognan, the appellation that covers the northern part of Graves near the city of Bordeaux. Its red wine tends to be more earthy and savoury than its Médoc peers, with a smoky note that many tasters recognise. The estate also makes a white wine in very small quantities, which is part of what sets it apart from the other first growths.

Styles and how to choose

Both reds are blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at the centre, so the main choice is between a Pauillac profile and a Pessac-Léognan profile. Vintage matters more than anything else: a warm year gives riper fruit and softer tannins, a cooler one gives a tighter, longer-lived wine. Ask the shop sommelier if you want a bottle that matches your timing.

• As a gift: pick a birth year or an anniversary vintage. A first growth with a meaningful date needs no further explanation.
• For the cellar: choose a recent vintage and plan to wait. These wines are built for decades, and young bottles are still closed.
• To drink soon: look for an older vintage that has already had time in bottle, and ask about its drinking window first.

Premier Grand Cru compared with the other Bordeaux ranks

Many buyers hesitate between a first growth and the broader range of Grand Cru wines. Grand Cru is a wider heading and covers many more estates and price levels, while the first growths are a short, fixed list. If you are looking for the same rank in its Saint-Émilion form, see 1er Grand Cru Classé, and for the next step down in Bordeaux, the Grand Cru Classé page is the place to compare.

A first growth is not automatically the right bottle for every table. A well-kept Grand Cru Classé can drink beautifully sooner and suit a dinner you are planning for this month, while a first growth rewards the patient.

Serving and storing

Store bottles lying down in a dark place at a steady 12 to 14 °C, away from vibration and strong smells. Young vintages benefit from decanting for an hour or two before the meal. Older bottles should be stood up for a day beforehand and decanted gently to leave the sediment behind. Serve reds at about 16 to 18 °C, which is cooler than a heated dining room.

At the table, these wines match roast lamb, beef with a simple sauce, game and aged hard cheeses. Keep the cooking plain so that the wine stays the centre of attention.

Where to go next

If you are still deciding, compare this page with Grand Cru for the wider Bordeaux picture, or with 3ème Grand Cru Classé for estates ranked lower in the hierarchy but often ready to drink earlier. For a question about a particular vintage, a gift budget or a delivery date, the shop team will answer before you order.