Glistening gold in the afternoon sunlight, La Cité du Vin on the banks of the Garonne is all swirls and eddies, wine swirling in a glass and knotted root stock – a cathedral to the history, art and culture of wine.

The striking structure in the Bassins à Flot district on the outskirts of Bordeaux opened just two years ago, and has already breached the 1 million visitor mark as international oenophiles flock to what is arguably the planet’s foremost wine-producing region to pay homage to the art of the grape. La Cité du Vin is part of an urban regeneration project which has significantly swelled visitor numbers to Bordeaux.

The city long held a reputation as a surly port town with little to offer in the way of tourism, as visitors chose instead to make pilgrimages to the nearby vineyards in Médoc (including St-Estèphe, Pauillac and Margaux); Graves (Sauternes); The Libournais (Saint-Émillion and Pomerol); Bourg and Blaye (Côtes-de-Bourg) and the Entre-Deux-Mers. Thanks to the establishment of an efficient tramway network, new parks and green space, pedestrianised areas, renovations to buildings and the redevelopment of the area around its quays has made it an incredibly tourist-friendly city. The establishment of a high-speed TGV link between Paris and Bordeaux has also slashed both costs and travel time, with the journey now taking just two and a half hours instead of a six-hour road journey or shorter but far more expensive 70-minute flight.

La Cité du Vin may be an architectural marvel, but the real treasure is inside, where eight floors of interactive experiences detail the history of wine in the region, and from around the world. The ‘Permanent Exhibition’ takes in The World Wine Tour; a Terroir Table which mimics a wine-growing landscape and comes alive with interactive videos about wines from around the world; The Metamorphoses of Wine – a series of abstract structures that illustrate the different stages involved in producing wine, with multi-sensory experiences; an E-Vine which breaks the story of wine into fun snippets and even an exploration into the slightly saucier side of wine, with Bacchus & Venus, a tribute to the way the pleasures of wine have been incorporated into art, poetry, music and film over the centuries.

Complementing the Permanent Exhibition is a series of seasonal events which place wine in the context of food, art, regional specialities and trends like organic or biodynamic production – and host dinners prepared with great theatre by Michelin-starred chefs from the Gironde region, and beyond.

Sophisticated hand-held audio & video guides bring the fascinating installations to life in 8 languages, with the tour culminating on the 8^th floor at The Belvedere for a tasting of a rotating array of wines from France – but also everywhere from Georgia to South Africa. On the way up, there are also two restaurants – from the relaxed Brasserie atmosphere of Latitude20 on the ground floor, to the regal Restaurant Le 7, which offers a fine dining experience backed by panoramic views of the Garonne and the city, from the 7^th floor.

On the ground floor, La Cité du Vin Boutique is a marvel, an in-the-round store featuring wines from all over the world (including some fine examples from South Africa – but at Euro prices!) and at its centre, some prestige vintages from First Growth estates including Chateau Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild that beg examination beyond the eye-watering price tags.

Visit www.laciteduvin.com/en for more.

*A version of this article was published in the Autumn 2019 issue of aha Moments!