Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Féret, sometimes known as Cocks et Féret, important directory of Bordeaux châteaux which was first published in 1846 as Bordeaux, its Wines and the Claret Country by the Englishman Charles Cocks who died in 1854 (see literature of wine). A French version followed in 1850, with the emphasis on classifying wines in order of merit, also published in Bordeaux by Féret. It played a significant part in establishing the 1855 classification and continues to be updated, expanded, and published by members of the Féret family to this day. It has always provided a useful historical record of the evolution of different properties’ and districts’ reputations. (The 1868 edition, for example, ranked petrus as a mere cru bourgeois.) As a sign of the times, the 19th edition of what is now known simply as Bordeaux et ses vins was published in 2013, in e-book format, in French, English, and Mandarin.