First Growth

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

first growth is a direct translation of the French premier cru but its meaning tends to be limited to those bordeaux wine properties judged in the top rank according to the various classifications: Chx lafite, latour, margaux, haut-brion, mouton rothschild, cheval blanc, ausone, d’yquem, together often with the unclassified but generally acknowledged star of pomerol, petrus. Just below these red bordeaux in terms of status are the so-called super seconds.