An Irishman’s Diary: A visit to the new ‘Guggenheim of wine’ in Bordeaux

In a dimly lit corner on the second-floor gallery of the newly opened Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, visitors are invited to sink into the Chair of Despair. The red and black throne-like chair is part of an exhibit, “Drinking and the dark side”, about alcoholic over-indulgence.

Both the positive and negative sides of drinking are reflected, and the vexed question which has exercised minds for centuries is posed: “Is wine a friend or foe?”

Acknowledgement is made of its stimulation for creative artists and in chasing away melancholy, or in fuelling celebrations. But the dark side of wine, when consumed in excess, it suggests, is synonymous with disorder, poverty and decline. Through a montage of images of bawdy revelry, the complex and ambivalent relationship between man and wine in art, music, literature and cinema is explored.

The eye-catching structure, with a 55m-high tower, was built at a cost of €81 million. Dubbed somewhat hyperbolically “the Guggenheim of wine”, it is designed to give the impression of gnarled vines and wine swirling in a glass. The marketing gurus do not refer to it as a museum, seeing it as an international wine centre or a “temple” to wine. It delves into history and myths, as well as the landscapes of the famed terroir – a word from the wine-making world combining the elusive quality of vineyard soil and climate.

The building’s iridescent aluminium panels and panes of glass are said to echo the sunlit colour of the facades of Bordeaux’s elegant blonde stone houses – although you may need to imbibe a glass or two of the stuff before fully appreciating this. It does though evoke the city’s age-old link with wine and its bond to the River Garonne from where in the 18th century the precious liquid was exported in large quantities to many countries. Ireland has the distinction of being ahead of England in the amount of wine it imported from Bordeaux.

Smells

Interactive and multimedia, the centre is a digital romp through the imagination using touchscreens, animation and graphics. A whirlwind tour of the world’s vineyards with aerial footage sets the scene.

Exhibits bring out smells, colours and flavours, and the fine art of describing a good vintage. The lingua franca of wine embraces fanciful phrases that capture the sensation of the drink, complete with esoteric tasting notes such as “You beauty” or “Like an angel on your tongue”. Textures on the palate are dealt with using bell jars and include silk, satin, flabby and velvet mouthfeel. Fragrant atomisers eject citrus fruit, coffee aromas and even pencil sharpening to create a buffet of the senses.

Dinner party

Elsewhere, a film

The Banquet of

Illustrious Figures

showcases a diverse gallimaufry of historical characters at a philosophical dinner-party discussion on wine where a rambunctious Mozart tinkles the fortepiano. Walk-on parts feature Voltaire, Napoleon, Rabelais, Maria Callas, the novelist Colette, actor Pierre Arditi, and Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States.

A celebrated oenophile with an appreciation of French wines, Jefferson kept a well-stocked White House cellar and had a penchant for quaffing a robust Bordeaux red. In 1787 he compiled his own classification of Bordeaux wines, 68 years prior to the official classification of 1855. As well as holding down the vital role of wine buyer and advisor during George Washington’s presidency, Jefferson is regarded as the forefather of the US wine industry. He is also credited with turning Americans away from hard liquor to an appreciation of the pleasures of wine.

On the eight floor of the centre, as you sniff and swirl a glass, and admire the 360 degree view of the city, you can create your own adjective in the tasting room. Eavesdrop, and you may overhear a sommelier speak of “long finish”, “tannin shortness”, “lingering afterglow” or “cigar box-ish” or “pierre-á-fusil” to describe the smoky gun-flint of a dry white Loire Valley Pouilly-Fumé.

The celebrated book The Wine Snob's Dictionary says such a tasting term suggests steely minerality and it posits the notion: rare is the snob who has actually licked an antique flintlock gun.

Back at the Chair of Despair, the commentary concludes that in the world of wine, it is all a matter of moderation. This serves as a reminder of Spike Milligan’s reply when asked about his drinking exploits: “I only drink moderately, in fact I have two cases of it in my wine cellar”.