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Cellar of Pichon Baron

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Crus Classés and Premier Grands Crus Classés A and B, and is updated around

once a decade. Still clear?

The 1855 classification is first and foremost a historical legacy with obliga-

tions: not a single estate under that classification currently fails to produce

at least good and generally excellent wines, with the same also applying to

Saint-Emilion Premiers Crus Classés and Graves Crus Classés at the very least.

Whether or not historical classifications can or should be updated remains open

to question: to me, it is like wanting to banish Picasso or Braque from the pan-

theon of fine art because their works were not painted on an iPad. The fact that

Lafite is still Lafite and Margaux is still Margaux does not prevent any wines with

lower classifications or no classification at all from tasting even better than them

on occasion, but this alters nothing about the historic context and significance

of either. I do not believe in objectivity when it comes to art or top wine – this

drinkable product of agricultural cultivation and handcrafted production that

arouses so much passion. Objectivity is the first step on the road to cultural fas-

cism.