Another lovely day in downtown Bordeaux. Since we discovered that there is a bigger and better (supposedly) wine museum in town, we decided we’d go and have a look.
Called Cité du Vin, it’s very imposing. It’s a fairly new (2016) building, which is supposed to represent swirling wine in a glass prior to tasting. Perhaps if you squint. It has 8 floors, including a restaurant on level 7, but the exhibition is all on level 2.
We spent about 3 hours there and it was very interesting and definitely worth the trip. How did it compare to the little Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux we saw yesterday? Different.
The Musée du Vin is actual artefacts, in an wine old cellar, in an old wine storehouse. An audio guide takes you through the history and development of the wine trade in Bordeaux. This is backed up by the artefacts (even old wine ledgers) on display. The wine tasting picked on two local products and the guide (?) explained the soils, the grapes and the process used to produce the wine you taste.
The Cité du Vin tells you all about the wine. How it’s made, the umpteen varieties, the nose, the process and everything you wanted to know about red, white and everything else wine-related. But almost no historical information. And no information about Bordeaux other than a short film. You won’t find a barrel or a wine bottle here, it’s all multimedia and interactive.
You will find out all sorts of interesting stuff about wine from across the world though. I didn’t know that France was ranked number two, both in terms of hectares planted with vines, and of wine volume produced. Who was number one? You’ll have to visit and look it up for yourself.
Tasting has its own floor, level 8. You get to taste one of about a dozen varieties. No historical or soil/grape information here. You needed to do your own research downstairs. And the tasting floor has some great views.
We were happy we saw both, and would recommend both for different reasons. Cité du Vin is definitely the better choice for those that mainly care about the wine. Musée du Vin is the one for history buffs.
Lunch was had in a sort of market hall across the road. Every type of food imaginable, from seafood to cheese to steak. I saw one of the cleverest ideas there. Pizzas sold by weight. Instead of ordering a large pizza and forcing it all down, you tell the chef (?) how much you want, he cuts it off a very large pizza about the size of a cricket pitch, weighs it and charges you accordingly. No excuse for being a guts. Michelle had pizza, I had something else, with ham and cheese and other unknown stuff.
We spent the afternoon doing more roaming, me retaking a lot of my botched Monday pics. We went to look at the Place de la Bourse about 8pm, to see it reflected in the reflecting pool. Unfortunately, the pool was empty but it was still wet, so you got the idea.
We wandered off home about 9pm and all the cafes were busy and bursting at the scenes. It’s got me beat how so many cafes can do so much trade, all of the time. Still, it makes for a great ambience.
Tomorrow it’s off to Toulouse.
Stephen and Michelle
*Spain has the most area under cultivation and Italy produces the greatest volume of wine. They’re also number 3 for volume (Spain) and area (Italy). So, Spain, France and Italy are the ‘Big Three’ of wine.
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