The official Bordeaux Classification System of 1855 was not an exceptional undertaking at all. It was a very public validation of an evolutionary process that, in the end, just so happened to lock things in place.

The many myths that have surrounded its creation need to be debunked.

Although Napoleon III sanctioned the World Exposition in Paris that year, it was the wine brokers of Bordeaux, at the request of the Chamber of Commerce, who created the ranking system that was sent to the French capital.

The wine brokers based the five-tier ranking on the prices the wines had commanded on the open market over the five years prior to 1855 and the commercial reputation each property had established over many decades (Mouton was already selling at "first growth" prices in 1853, but the brokers did not feel it had a long enough track record to make official "first growth" status).

All Bordeaux chateaux were considered for this classification system. But the fact of the matter was that the wines of Graves (with the exception of Haut Brion), St. Emilion and Pomerol were selling for less money than the Medoc Cru Bourgeois at the time! They weren't overlooked. They weren't forgotten. It was no administrative snafu. The wines from these regions just didn't make the cut.

There was no grand tasting, although wines were solicited for display purposes. These sample bottles were not allowed to bear the chateaux labels, but were instead given generic uniform labels by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce. The sample bottles, however, had nothing to do with the ranking itself. There were more classified growths that did not send wine to Paris than sent wine!

As for the undertaking itself, from start to finish, it took two weeks. It was really all the time needed for the brokers to transcribe the current commercial state of affairs in 1855. Their records were that good.

There have been two changes to the original document submitted to Paris. Mouton was elevated to first-growth status in 1973. But there was a change long before that one.

In 1855, while the fair was under way in Paris, Madame de Villeneuve Durfort, owner of Chateau Cantemerle, petitioned the brokers and the Chamber of Commerce for inclusion in the list. She had heard about the document and wanted "in." Her wines had always been sold directly to the Dutch, hence there was no public record of her sale prices, and she was selling her wine for a very good price. She took her record books, invoices and receipts to the brokers and convincingly made her case for inclusion as a "fifth growth."

On the original document, the name of Chateau Cantemerle is literally squeezed in at the bottom of the page in a smaller script and in a different hand. Little did she know that that hand would become the hand of fate.

No one at the time expected this document to become the landmark document into which it has evolved. The properties sanctioned within it have been graced with more than 150 years of vinous limelight.

But the properties have sold and acquired lands, owners and winemakers have changed. Is this classification system still valid?

Dewey Markham Jr. argues convincingly to keep the status quo, and he cites Chateau Lynch Bages as a case in point. "Lynch Bages," he states, is punching above its weight. Although a fifth growth, it is very often considered a "second growth."

Jean-Michel Cazes, owner of Lynch Bages, did not feel that the classification system should be changed, in theory. He argued that the classification system is changed in practice every single year when the prices are released for the next vintage (Lynch Bages is selling far above fifth-growth prices).

In essence, and where it matters most, the Classification System of 1855 is not frozen in time. It's just captured a moment in time. With an eye to current events, it is both touchstone and springboard for an evolving Bordeaux trade.

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