Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1993 Pauillac Bordeaux Blend: Price ex-tax Eur325. Must be drunk now as from 2013 it will start to decline.

Chateau Margaux Grand Vin 1994 Grand Cru Classe’: Price ex-tax Eur365. Not a very exiting vintage year, but some wines are better than others. Probably reached its peak, if you have it drink it.

Chateau Haute Brion 1990 Grand Cru Classe’ : Price ex-tax Eur615. An excellent vintage year. Can still be bottle aged for some more years. Can be enjoyed now.,

Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1998 Pauillac: Price ex-tax Eur720. A very good vintage. Another classic Bordeaux that can be kept for some years.

Grand Vin de Chateau Latour 1984 Pauillac: Price ex-tax Eur320. 1984 produced a poor vintage, and this wine should have been consumed some time back as it is past its peak. With good cellaring, could be just right to be enjoyed still. Don’t risk it, drink it.

The First Growth Bordeaux wines are among the world’s most expensive and famous wines. The 1st Growths of Bordeaux are now, more than ever, in a class by themselves. Currently, even the newest vintages being sold as futures cost on average about Eur750, or more per bottle. How did Chateau Lafite Rothschild , Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau Mouton Rothschild earn their coveted First Growth status?

What we know of as the First Growth Bordeaux wines today, all share a long, colourful and sometimes connected history. The First Growths share histories dating back hundreds of years. In fact, for the majority of the 18th century, two families owned Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Haut Brion. Even more amazing is, during a 2 year period, the same 2 families added Mouton to their holdings from 1718 to 1720. That means that for that short period of time, all 5 First Growths were owned by just two families.

Each of the properties were famous all over the world for their Bordeaux wine, long before they were classified as First Growth Bordeaux producers. The wines were known to be extraordinary in quality and it was agreed by most people at the time, that they occupied perhaps the finest terroir in Bordeaux. The wines were the most expensive in the Bordeaux wine region. In large part, that is what made them First Growth Bordeaux wines. The wine buyers of the day were well aware of their quality and value, which have been retained to this day.

So what is the best Bordeaux fine wine? This can be a difficult question to answer since this French wine region has more than 10,000 producers within its 60 designated growing regions.

The Bordeaux wine region is very complex. However, once you know a few basics, you’ll be able to start enjoying French Bordeaux wine in no time.

All of the wine in this region is in the highest quality rating in the French wine ranking system. This means that all Bordeaux wine is considered a ‘fine wine’.

Here are a few other basics that you need to know about this region:

• There are six categories of wines in Bordeaux: dry reds, dry whites, sweet Bordeaux, rose, clairet and cremant.
• 90% of the wine produced in Bordeaux is dry red wine (since most wines are in this category - most of the information on this page focuses on this category)
• Producers of red wine are only allowed to use six red wine grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Carmenere and Malbec
• All wines are blends – which means producers are required to use more than one grape variety to create their wines

Even though producers are allowed to use six red wine grapes, most of the red wines produced here are either primarily Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. A Bordeaux blend consist of a mix of Cabermet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, in quantities determined by each winemaker and Chateau in accordance with the quality of the grapes during harvest. Recent, excellent vintage years that produced stunning wines were 1982 and 1996.