Raise a glass to vintage France
THEY used to call her the Sleeping Beauty but although she’s hit the snooze button a few times, Bordeaux is now wide awake and ready for action.
The new LGV Sud-Ouest line, due for completion in mid-2017, connects the city with Europe’s high-speed train network and cuts travel time from Paris to two hours.
Its timing is perfect. The recently opened Cité du Vin continues the impressive redevelopment of the Garonne riverfront with a state-of-the-art wine-lovers’ experience and the city’s gastronomic revolution keeps building on its own success. She’s going to skip breakfast – all aboard for Bordeaux’s grande bouffe! The Cité du Vin’s sinuous glass tower – dubbed the “Guggenheim of wine” – puts an architectural exclamation point on the rejuvenation of Bordeaux’s riverfront. A Bordeaux-wide regeneration that started in 1995 saw half of the city receive Unesco listing in 2007, making it the world’s largest urban Unesco site.
It’s not all about preserving the old. All but abandoned riverside warehouses are now swanky apartments and sleepy areas like Chartrons, north of the centre, have been transformed by a new generation of design, clothing and food shops.
The buzz has spread to Bordeaux’s restaurant scene.
Formerly a fine-dining wasteland, the city received a shot in the arm with Joël Robuchon’s La Grande Maison: in 2016, only 10 months after opening, it earned two Michelin stars. But it’s in Bordeaux’s néo-bistrots – small, affordable places with passionate young chefs at the helm – where you can really feel the city’s gastronomic blood pulsing.
At Bar à Vin you’ll find 30 Bordeaux wines by the glass and staff who know their stuff. And it’s part of the École du Vin, so the sampling’s “educational”.
The riverfront is Bordeaux’s exciting new focal point. At its epicentre is the Miroir d’Eau, an immense reflecting pool; in summer, its picturesque, cooling mist is a magnet for the whole town.
Néo-bistrots offer inventive food served in intimate spaces at reasonable prices, especially at lunch. Try Miles or Belle Campagn. Extract from Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017 (£9.99)
THE KNOWLEDGE
easyJet Holidays (02034 995232/easyjet.com) offers seven nights in Bordeaux from £350pp (two sharing), room only. Price includes return flights from Luton to Bordeaux and accommodation at Quality Hotel Bordeaux Centre. Bordeaux tourism: bordeaux-tourism.co.uk