Complete guide to all the best Bordeaux chateau, the top wines, wineries and vineyards in Bordeaux.
Bordeaux without a doubt remains the world’s most important wine region. Here is something I bet you did not know. Bordeaux is not only famous for producing the world’s most popular and collectible wine, Bordeaux is the second most visited city in France.
That makes Bordeaux a key destination for wine lovers and tourists. In fact, Paris is the only city in France that receives more visitors than Bordeaux every year! In Bordeaux today, there are close to 7,375 different chateaux in the region producing close to 900 million bottles of wine per vintage!
Which are the top Bordeaux chateau? That depends in part on what you’re looking for. There are the famous First Growth estates that can make wines of breathtaking quality with prices to match.
There are also smaller, more humble chateau that can also make some of the world’s most compelling wines.
Click on any of the links for complete, detailed profiles on all the best Bordeaux chateau. You can read histories of each chateau, details on their wines, wineries and tasting notes for their wines.
- St. Estephe
- Pauillac
- St. Julien
- Margaux
- Pessac Leognan Graves
- Haut Medoc, Listrac, Moulis and other Appellations
- Pomerol
- St. Emilion
- Sauternes/Barsac
- Petits Chateaux and Satellite Appellations
- Crus Bourgeois Classified Chateaux
- Bordeaux Value Wine Appellation Guide
- Extensive Guide to the Smaller, Lesser Known Bordeaux Chateaux, Vineyards
The appellations on this page cover the regions with the best terroir and all the top chateaux in Bordeaux. The appellations are listed starting in the Left Bank, moving from north to south.
The Left Bank is where you will find all the First Growth Bordeaux, as well as all the other 1855 Classified Bordeaux wines of the Medoc including the Second Growths, Third Growths, Fourth Growths and Fifth Growths.
In the Left Bank of Bordeaux, more than 200 chateaux can be found that are classified as Cru Bourgeois. While wine has been produced for thousands of years in Bordeaux, thanks to the Romans who first cultivated the region, the Left Bank became famous for making wine at the start of the 18th century.
At that point in time, the majority of the land switched to the cultivation of grapes for the production of Bordeaux wine. With natural drainage, access to water from the Atlantic ocean and the Gironde. The Left Bank has a terroir with gentle slopes and a wide variety of gravel, stones, sand, limestone and clay soils.
This makes the Left Bank perfect for the production of Cabernet Sauvignon based Bordeaux wine. Many wine lovers consider the wines of the Left Bank to be text book examples of what Bordeaux does best, especially when the wines age and take on notes of tobacco, cigar box, cedar chest, earth and forest floor.
Continuing from north to south, the next appellation we cover, which features several of the best chateau in Bordeaux is Pessac Leognan, which prior to 1987 was formally known as Graves, the original name of the appellation.
The region as you might suspect takes its original name from the gravel based soils that produce some of the most elegant, refined, perfumed and age worthy wines in all of Bordeaux.
Pessac Leognan has the unique distinction of not only producing sublime red, Bordeaux wine, but the appellation is also famous for their dry, white Bordeaux wine, produced primarily from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
As you noted, we also include the best Bordeaux chateau from Pomerol and St. Emilion. The style of wine produced in the Right Bank has been called opulent, silky, rich and decadent.
This is the home of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which is perfect for the clay and limestone soils found in the region.
While the chateau in Pomerol and St. Emilion are not, generally speaking as large, attention seeking or grandiose as the top chateau found in the Medoc, the wines are equally stunning and can even be more expensive.
We also provide you with a detailed look at the best chateau in Sauternes and Barsac that produce the famous, sweet, white wines.
And last, but not least, while most of the attention of the press, and shelf space in the stores is taken up by wines from all the appellations we just mentioned, there are as you can see listings where you can read about the all the best Bordeaux value wines.
If you’re not sure which appellation the chateau you want to read about is located in, don’t worry, just use the article search function.
Keep in mind, Bordeaux is a massive region with more than 7,500 different chateaux spread out over give or take about 120,000 hectares, or 296,596 acres of grapevines which planted in 60 different appellations spread throughout the region.
To read about the appellations of the Bordeaux wine region: Bordeaux Appellations Guide Each of the 60 appellations is unique with their own terroir and soil. Read about the terroir and soils in Bordeaux
