Inside the Bordeaux Wine Museum
As if you needed another reason to visit Bordeaux. La Cité du Vin is the world’s largest wine museum, and opened back at the end of May this year. Located in the city itself – a suitably neutral position which nicely circumnavigates the issue of having to decide which particular region or bank in Bordeaux is given such a thing – la Cité will play host to countless exhibitions, workshops, tours and events over its coming life.
Born in 2009 and funded jointly by private donations and the City of Bordeaux, the museum, designed by Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières, took around three years to build and cost over 81 million euros.
The main tour consists of an ‘immersive, sensory adventure’ to discover the history, culture and science behind winemaking in Bordeaux and across the rest of the world, ending in a visit to the belvedere, an open, 360-degree viewing platform over Bordeaux City where visitors can take part in a tasting of some of the finest wines from around the world.
Events-wise, you’re looking at a whole smorgasbord of stuff: concerts, sports, theatre and lectures every month throughout the year. Some of the workshops on offer include immersive wine tastings, architectural tours of the building, and tastings tailored to novices and beginners.
If that’s all a bit too much, of course, la Cité has its own reading room open to visitors – containing over 1,200 wine-based works – a number of restaurants and wine bars, and a pontoon and gardens around which you can simply kick back and relax.
La Cité du Vin is open from 9:30am to 7:30pm – depending on the month, it might be open daily, during the week or Tuesday to Sunday. Unsurprisingly, we can get you there – just check out one of our many, many Bordeaux trips and let us know you want to visit during you’re booking. We’ll do the rest.
