Bordeaux wine the subregions and two white based on sweetness: The vast majority of Bordeaux wine is red, with red wine production outnumbering white wine production six to one. There are four different classifications of Bordeaux, covering different parts of the region: The 1855 classification system was made at the request of Emperor Napoleon III for the Exposition Universelle de Paris. This came to be known as the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, which ranked the wines into five categories according to price. The first growth red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves), are among the most
Bordeaux wine regions Bordeaux's production uses these generic appellations. Red wine produced under the Bordeaux AOC is made mostly from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with the addition of Cabernet Franc and small amounts of Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenère. This appellation covers around 42,600 hectares of vines and produces around 223 million litres of wine (which is nearly a third of the total wine production of Bordeaux). White wine produced under the Bordeaux Sec AOC is made mostly from Sauvignon blanc and Sémillon, with the addition of some Muscadelle, Colombard, Mauzac, Merlot blanc, Ondenc and Ugni blanc. It must contain no more than