Bordeaux wine regions all the producers within a given area: rather, only the producers (universally known as "châteaux", although not usually possessing the architectural grandeur that might imply) perceived as being of an unusually high standard are included in the classification. The châteaux included in the classification are referred to as "classed" or "classé", and those not included are referred to as "unclassed". Some classifications sub-divide the classed châteaux, according to the perceived quality. On the Left Bank, the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 is the starting point for classification. Although this purports to be a classification of all Bordeaux wine, it
Bordeaux wine regions 4g/l of residual sugar. This appellation covers around 6500 hectares of vines and 38 million litres of wine. If it has more than 4g/l of residual sugar, then it may be labelled as Bordeaux Molleux AOC, but little wine is in fact produced under this AOC. Bordeaux Supérieur AOC covers both red and white wines, and the grapes used are the same, but permitted yields are slightly lower, minimum alcohol content is slightly higher and slightly longer aging is required. The amount of red wine produced under this appellation (around 45 million litres, from 10,000 hectares of vines) is much