Bordeaux wine year. Sales in Britain dropped 33% in value during the same period. The UK, a major market, now imports more wine from Australia than from France. Amongst the possible causes for this economic crisis are that many consumers tend to prefer wine labels that state the variety of grape used, and often find the required French AOC labels difficult to understand. Christian Delpeuch, president emeritus of Plan Bordeaux hoped to reduce production, improve quality, and sell more wine in the United States. However, two years after the beginning of the program, Mr Delpeuch resigned, "citing the failure of the French
Graves (wine region) Classification of 1855, only one Graves property, Château Haut-Brion, one of the four original First growths, was included among the red wines, with all the rest being Médoc properties. All the sweet wines of the 1855 classification were from Sauternes, which is a part of Graves. A classification of Graves wine was carried out in 1953 for its red wine producers. Dry white wines were included in an updated 1959 classification. In 1987, the part of Graves containing most of the producers of its most expensive wines, closest to the city Bordeaux itself, created a separate AOC under the name