Boat rides, peep-shows and (literally) a world of wine at Bordeaux’s newly opened theme park

If you are planning a trip to France, take the time to take a boat up to Bordeaux’s new €81 million (HK$714 million) wine attraction.

You get to sail past the sweeping line of 18th century buildings that mark the crescent moon-shaped waterfront before pulling up at a specially-built 90-metre jetty (this cost €400,000 euros to build). Disembark, and you are standing at the base of a vast aluminium- and glass-covered building that is home to the Cité du Vin. The jetty will also be the place to head off on cruises from the Cité du Vin out along the Garonne river to the vineyards of the Médoc, Sauternes and Saint Emilion.

This is Bordeaux as you haven’t seen it before. Those 18th century limestone façades couldn’t be more different from the resolutely modern curves and swirls that make up the 10-storey, 13,350 square metre building designed by Parisian architects XTU. The centrepiece is a 35-metre tower that houses the 7 Restaurant and Belvedere wine bar where you can choose between 500 wines from more than 50 countries while looking out across a panoramic view of the city.

Bordeaux has been at the centre of the wine trade for 1,000 years but has sensibly chosen to make this new “Guggenheim of Wine” a celebration of the drink itself. Every winemaking country is represented in here somewhere, from the big guns of Napa and Burgundy to the seriously under-the-radar producers such as Kazakhstan, South Korea, Wales and Hawaii. And they are not just given a mention, but have been part of the conversation from the beginning, helping to shape the stories.

This is not, of course, totally new territory. There have been plenty of attempts at wine museums before, but most get stuck on dusty farm machinery and interminably dull collections of glasses and decanters. They don’t, at least in my experience, contain a virtual reality boat ride through centuries of wine trading, or an immersive tasting room experience that involves an audio, visual and aromatic assault on the senses, or get their guests to sink into huge red sofas for a “wine and love” section that contains a line-up of peep show-style erotica for over 18s-only.

“The challenge was to get the balance right between information and playfulness,” says Diane Casson, co-owner of the London-based design team Casson Mann that has done such a brilliant job of bringing to life the 20 themed spaces within the permanent exhibition.

“For the wine and love section for example,” her colleague, Gary Shelley, says, “we have gone for something like a cross between a monastery and a sex shop.”