Bordeaux in the mid-first century, to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since. Bordeaux now has about of vineyards, 57 appellations, 10,000 wine-producing châteaux and 13,000 grape growers. With an annual production of approximately 960 million bottles, Bordeaux produces large quantities of everyday wine as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world. Included among the latter are the area's five "premier cru" (first growth) red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves), established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855: The first growths are: Both
History of Bordeaux wine Bordeaux's most prestigious estates and Pierre de Rauzan laid the foundation for Château Rauzan-Ségla, Château Rauzan-Gassies, Château Pichon Longueville Baron, and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. In 1855, a classification system was set up that ranked the top chateaus of the Médoc according to their market price. From 1875–1892 almost all Bordeaux vineyards were ruined by Phylloxera infestations. The region's wine industry was rescued by grafting native vines on to pest-resistant American rootstock from Augusta, Missouri, the first viticultural region in the United States. All Bordeaux vines that survive to this day are thanks to this action. Some grape