Grand Cru

Cru is a French term indicating a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards, often used in French wine classifications. It originally referred to a region and anything grown in it, but now typically refers to a vineyard and its wines. A wine displaying a cru name on its label is expected to exhibit the typical characteristics of the vineyard or group of vineyards. Premier cru and grand cru are levels of presumed quality, with premier cru being a classification used in various wine regions and grand cru being the highest level of classification for AOC wines from Burgundy and Alsace. In Burgundy, the Cistercians isolated plots producing wine of similar quality, designating them as crus, and Jules Lavalle later formalized these classifications in his book History and Statistics of the Côte d'Or. The designations of grand cru and premier cru were expanded on in the 1930s with the creation of the AOC system.learn more on wikipedia