Bryan Collins
Posts: 2355
Joined: 7/14/2006 From: Bedfordshire, UK Status: offline
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Quickly... "Premier Cru" is meaningful the heart of Burgundy (Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune, as well as parts of the Cote Chalonnaise) and in Chablis. It is virtually meaningless almost everywhere else. You need to be careful in the Chalonnaise - in some villages, such as Mercurey, it means pretty much what it means further north - ie a vineyard with the optential to make "better" wine than most - but in Montagny, which is also in the Chalonnaise, it just means that the wine has achieved a minimum level of alcohol (11.5%, iirc). Also bear in mind that a Premier Cru, even from a famous vineyard, can be rubbish. Burgundy's classification system grades vineyards (or tries to) according to their potential. You can buy a top vineyard and make crap, and it'll still keep its designation. Grand Cru is even worse. In Burgundy, it is the ultimate. The very best vineyards are their own appellations (eg Bonnes Mares; La Tache) and won't even say "Bourgogne" anywhere on the label, often. In St Emilion Grand Cru by itself means next to nothing, but Grand Cru Classé means rather more (and Premier Grand Cru Classé more still, being the best dozen or so Chateaux). It also has meaning in, say Alsace, although some top producers (eg Trimbach) don't even state Grand Cru on the labels of their best wines, even though they could. In most of France, Grand Cru means nothing, and generally if a term isn't defined in a given region, a winemaker can use it on his labels. If you buy a bottle of Rhone wine and it says "Grand Cru", this means nothing whatsoever. So, as always, the answer to your question is "it depends".
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