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
South West France (wine region) High Country with barrels of wines being stranded at Bordeaux warehouses for several weeks or months before they could be sold at much lower prices due to that year's market already being saturated with wine. In many years another vintage would actually take place before the "High Country" wines were sold. South West France includes the following Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) and Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (VDQS) designations. The following grape varieties are commonly found in at least one sub-region or appellation of South West France. South West France (wine region) South West France, or in French "Sud-Ouest", is