Margaux Third Growth Giscours is an older estate than most. It is referenced as a fortified property in a 1330 document, and recorded as making wine in 1552. It was confiscated from its aristocratic owners in the French Revolution, and re-sold, initially to two Americans from Boston. A long list of other owners followed. The most notable nineteenth century name here was not an owner at all, but Estate Manager Pierre Skawinski, one of the great agricultural innovators of his day.

The vineyards of St-Emilion property Grand Mayne lie in one single block around the rather stately manor house of a chateau, on the slopes leading up to the western flank of the town. Jean-Antoine Nony has been full-time director here since 2012, and improving the vineyards has been his mission ever since. One of his first decisions was to begin a slow replanting programme, with the ultimate goal of bringing the proportion of Cabernet Franc in the vineyards back up to the 35% it was in 1934, when his grandfather acquired the property.

Of the two Pauillac properties whose names begin Grand-Puy, it is Grand-Puy-Lacoste that enjoys rather more prestige over Grand-Puy-Ducasse. Turn the clock back to the 1855 classification of the Medoc, though, and they were the same property, Grand Puy. It was awarded fifth-growth status, a distinction both the successor chateaux still hold. But that feels like a sad undervaluing of Grand-Puy-Lacoste, a property that regularly puts many second-growths to shame.

1855 second growth Gruaud-Larose is very much one of the grander estates in Saint-Julien. It occupies a high point on the Medoc plateau and I can attest it gets windy there; that wind serves to dry the vines and help prevent vine infections. The modernistic viewing tower that divides opinion and stands in angular contrast to the classical chateau does enjoy some far-reaching views of the Medoc.

At one of Pauillac’s highest spots, with plots next to Latour (overlooking the Gironde) and to Pichon-Baron (on the Bages plateau), Haut-Bages Liberal has always enjoyed great terroir. But even that is not enough to explain the quality of recent vintages here. Jane Anson calls owner Claire Villars ‘one of the most exciting winemakers in Bordeaux’, and the work that Claire has been doing here is remarkable. She has completely transitioned the estate to biodynamic viticulture.

There are a few things that make Haut-Bailly special. There`s the fact that nearly 15% of the vines are still prephylloxera, that it is one of the few Pessac-Leognan properties not to make white wine, that it has soil that actually contributes to that rare thing in Bordeaux - real sense of terroir. That soil is sandy seabed stuffed with shellfish fossils. As a property it is less than 150 years old and like many Bordeaux estates has seen its fair share of ups, downs and idiosyncratic owners.

In 1942, the Batailley estate was divided into two, so that two brothers could each have their own part. One half continued under the name Batailley, and the other (smaller) part was re-christened Haut-Batailley. Like Batailley itself, Haut-Batailley is a fifth growth under the terms of the 1855 classification, as a continuation of an 1855 classified estate. For decades, it was ably managed (but not owned) by Francois-Xavier Borie (who owns Grand-Puy-Lacoste), and in 2006 he began a huge renovation of the wine-making facilities and cellars.

This property dates back to the fifteenth century, though the earliest mention in English is the celebrated entry in Pepys` diary in 1663 to Chateau Haut-Brion`s wine bar in the City of London. It is now the only Bordeaux chateau to be owned by Euro-aristos, with the holding company being controlled by Prince Robert of Luxembourg, or Bobby deluxe as he`s known in the trade. Haut-Brion is the only Pessac/Graves chateau to be mentioned in the 1855 Medoc classification as well as its local one.

In the 1855 classification of the Medoc, one wine that was not from the Medoc but rather Pessac was also admitted; Haut -Brion. Its Pessac neighbour La Mission Haut-Brion was not granted a similar special admission. Yet if any wine from Pessac also deserves first growth status, it is La Mission Haut-Brion.

Austere and evasive in youth but deeply profound in age, Lafite is one of the five Medoc First Growths, and one of the two owned by branches of the Rothschild family. It is one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux - the ‘Seigneurie de la Hite’ domaine is noted on a document from 1234, though in those days it was all about cereal and cattle. Vineyards were not seriously laid out here until the 1680s, at the hands of Jacques de Segur, who laid out what would become many of Bordeaux’s great vineyards.

Few Bordeaux chateaux are more associated with a particular colour than St-Estephe fourth growth Lafon-Rochet; both the chateau itself and the label on the bottle are a bright shade of yellow. (It’s worth noting, though, that over in Pomerol Vieux Chateau Certan does own pink). Lafon-Rochet began as an aristocratic home and estate, though (unlike many chateaux) it was not confiscated during the Revolution. The modern world arrived in 1959, when chateau and estate were purchased by the Tesseron family.

No Bordeaux classed growth has been in the hands of the same family longer than Langoa Barton; it was purchased by Thomas Barton in 1821. Of course, Leoville Barton followed into the family stable soon after, and both properties are now on their eighth generation of Bartons, with Damien Barton now working beside his sister Melanie and their mother Lilian. The two properties are inevitably defined against each other. The Leoville Barton vineyards lie in the north of St-Julien, between the chateau and the river.

In my tiny mind Chateau Latour always seems the most stolid of the first growths, the most reliable, the one you would want on your side. Yet in recent times their radical decision to abandon the en primeur system went against current thinking and they remain alone in this. Although the estate was founded in the 15th century, the wine entreprise started around 1670. Within 50 years, Latour was building a reputation for quality and there was already over 35 hectares of vines.