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Overview History

classification of Bordeaux wines to coincide with the Universal Exposition in

Paris. It divides 88 estates from Haut-Médoc and Sauternes plus Haut-Brion

from Graves into categories, ranging from 1ème to 5ème Cru Classé.

1860 The agronomist Jules Guyot introduces the pruning method that is

named after him, requiring vines to be grown on wires. This modern vine tech-

nique is hereafter used throughout the Gironde. Alexis Millardet and Ulysse

Gayon invent ‘Bouillie Bordelaise' (three parts copper sulphate to one part

caustic lime) as a way of combating downy and powdery mildew, which had

been damaging crops for a decade.

1863 Phylloxera comes to Bordeaux and gradually attacks all of the vineyards

across Europe. Only the richest estates have the means to combat the pest

successfully.

1922 Twenty-year-old Philippe de Rothschild takes the reins of Mouton and

revolutionises the Bordeaux wine world. He initiates bottling at the producing

estate (‘mise en bouteille au château'), and (re-)introduces so-called second

wines and artist-designed labels.

1946 This year marks the birth of modern oenology: laboratory chemist Emile

Peynaud submits his thesis and becomes a professor at the Faculty of Oenol-

ogy. He revolutionises both the art of winemaking and the language of wine.

1956 The beginning of modern winemaking on the right bank: frost destroys a

significant proportion of the vines in this area. The vineyards are restructured

and Merlot thus becomes the main variety in this part of the Bordeaux wine-

growing region.

1973 Minister of Agriculture Jacques Chirac signs the only change to the 1855

classification: Mouton-Rothschild becomes a Premier Cru Classé.

1983 American wine critic Robert Parker declares 1982 to be the vintage of the

century, and thus triggers a wine boom surpassing any other. The prices of

Grands Crus quadruple: whilst the merchants are initially the first to pro

fi

t, es-

tates make record profits in vintages such as 1989, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2009.

1991 Former bank clerk, innkeeper and wine merchant Jean-Luc Thunevin

acquires a small, unfavourably located plot in Saint-Emilion, creates a brand

called Château Valandraud, and thus invents ‘garage wine', triggering a verita-

ble wine revolution in the area and influencing developments over the next

few years.