Grand Cru

Grand Cru is the highest classification you will come across in several French wine regions, and the term simply means "great growth" or distinguished plot. In Bourgogne, Grand Cru sits right at the top of a hierarchy that runs from ordinary regional wine up past village wine and Premier Cru. What matters is the place: a Grand Cru is tied to a particular, precisely delimited vineyard whose soil, slope and location have proven over centuries to give wine of special class. In the Côte de Nuits these are red Grand Cru wines made from Pinot Noir, for example plots such as Bonnes-Mares, Musigny, Clos de Vougeot and Richebourg.

For you as a drinker, the label means the wine comes from one of the most trusted places in the region, and you typically taste this as depth, finesse and a clear sense of the terroir the wine grew on. Note, though, that the system works differently from region to region. In Alsace, Grand Cru covers a number of selected plots with stricter rules for yield and ripeness, and here it applies especially to white wines from grapes such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer.

A widespread misunderstanding is that Grand Cru in itself guarantees quality in the bottle. In Bourgogne, a single Grand Cru plot can be divided among many owners, so style and level vary considerably from producer to producer. The classification tells you about the place, not about who made the wine.