Three days is the perfect time to spend in Bordeaux to taste the city. On this visit, I spent Day 1 at the Bordeaux Cité de Vin, learning the secrets of great wine.
La Cité de Vin
The ultimate museum for wine lovers! Immerse yourself in wine history, wines of the world, and more in this ultra-modern experience made for learning and fun.
If you ever imagined a Disney World for wine lovers, La Cité de Vin would be it.
There are visual and sensual activities throughout, from the grand front entrance to the wine bar at the top of the towering 8-story building.
For the ticket price of 20 euros, you can spend hours wandering through the massive exhibition spaces or focus on your area of interest. Twenty themed spaces — some within bottle-shaped stations, others with audiovisual productions — enable you to self-discover the influence of wine on world culture, history, geography, arts, and sciences.
For a special occasion, imagine lunch or dinner here. It is accompanied by a 360-degree view of the nearby area of Bordeaux and the Garonne.
Looking for a favorite vintage? The circular “wine cellar” has a collection of 14,000 bottles on display and for sale.
Simply follow the map.
Architects from Paris won the design competition for imaging La Cité de Vin, and the building was opened to the public on June 1, 2016. The shape of the futuristic museum symbolizes “knotted vine stocks, wine turning in the glass, the swirls and eddies of the Garonne river,” according to officials at the site.
At the top, movable glass panels aid in ventilation. A marvel of ingenuity and sustainability!
If you think it can’t get any better than to visit Le Cité de Vin, it can! Temporary exhibits such as “Bistro” are scheduled throughout the year in the art gallery.
Ready for the magnificent city? Day 3 in Bordeaux… Stay tuned …
