Premier Cru

Premier Cru is a French term from viticulture and means first plant .

The term is used regionally depending on the applicable legislation.

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

The name is also used for special chocolates - apparently based on the cultivation of the respective cocoa beans - and for special cheeses (e.g. Emmenthaler Premier Cru). However, I am missing further information on this.

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Burgundy

See also the main article Premier Cru (Burgundy) .

In Burgundy , more precisely on the Côte d'Or , a Premier Cru is the second highest classification of a location, ie a spatially precisely defined area in whose ownership many wine-growing businesses can share. In Burgundy, the Grand Cru vineyards rank above the Premier Cru vineyards. Thus, the "first plants" in Burgundy are actually the second ...

Bordeaux

There are four sub-regional classifications in the Bordeaux wine region , three of which have Premier Crus.

Médoc

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  Latour 1961 (100 PP)

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  Margaux 1961 (93 PP)

In the Médoc wine-growing region , Premier Cru is the highest level of the classification of Grand Cru Classé wines established as early as 1855 for the World Exhibition in Paris , which was based on the sales prices achieved. Only five Châteaux belong to the class of the Premier Cru: Lafite , Latour and Mouton in Pauillac , Château Margaux in the same place Margaux and Chateau Haut Brion in Graves outside the core area of cultivation but only one in the city of Bordeaux .

In terms of rank below the Premier Cru estates, there are the second, third, fourth and fifth wines: Deuxième, Troisième, Quatrième and Cinquième Grand Cru Classé. With one exception, this classification has never been revised since 1855. Only Baron Philippe de Rothschild finally managed to upgrade his Château Mouton winery from Deuxième Cru to Premier Cru in a lifelong work in 1973.

Saint-Emilion

In the Saint-Émilion wine-growing region , the term Premier Cru is divided into three parts: there is the Premier Grand Cru Classé , divided into Classe A , to which only two châteaux belong: Ausone and Cheval Blanc . Next, there are 11 companies in the Classe B . Among them are the "simple" Grand Cru Classé around 50 establishments. In Saint Émilion, the quality of the work on the classified wineries is reassessed every ten years.

Sauternes

The classification of sweet wines from Barsac and Sauternes , which was also created in 1855, has two levels: Premier and Deuxième Grand Cru Classé. The Château d'Yquem also towers above it as Premier Cru Classé Supérieur . The Premier Cru Classé includes Château La Tour Blanche , Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey , Clos Haut-Peyraguey , Château de Rayne-Vigneau , Château Suduiraut , Château Coutet , Château Climens , Château Guiraud , Château Rieussec , Château Rabaud-Promis , Château Sigalas- Rabaud .

Germany

In Germany, too, efforts are being made to ennoble a few locations with excellent properties to the first plant , analogous to the Burgundian concept . The movement is led by quality wineries from the Rheingau and the Palatinate . However, these efforts have so far not found their way into German wine legislation and are quite controversial. One of the problems is that many excellent locations were enlarged considerably in the 1970s and are now no longer worthy of a first growth in their entirety.

literature

• Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon. 3rd, completely revised edition. Hallwag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
• Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France. Tome 3: Les Vignobles de France. Volume 1: Méditerranée, Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté, Alsace-Lorraine. 2nd édition entièrement refondue. Tec & Doc, Paris et al. 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
• Benoît France (ed.): Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France. Éditions SOLAR, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .