The Bordeaux Wine Festival 2012

The Bordeaux Wine Festival 2012 will be held on 28th June – 1st July this year and is spread over 12 acres right in the heart of Bordeaux itself. The Festival is held every 2 years and 2010′s festival welcomed an estimated 500,000 visitors.

After Porto, Munich, Fukuoka, Saint-Petersburg and Quebec, the guest of honour this year is Hong Kong. There will be a dedicated gourmet area, the Official Pavilion of Hong Kong (400 m2) and many attractions to welcome Hong Kong to the 8th Bordeaux Wine Festival.

You can wander along the mile long Wine Road from 11 am to midnight which includes 10 pavilions with a wide range of wines from producers and merchants featuring the diversity of Bordeaux and the Aquitaine region – some 80 appellations.

Bordeaux is also celebrating its food heritage – twelve stalls will line the quay offering local produce. There will also be three gourmet restaurants where you can accompany your glass of wine by tasting the best products of Aquitaine, created by local artisans: the foie gras and ceps of Périgord, Bayonne ham, Arcachon oysters.

The Bordeaux Wine School will be offering interactive workshops including tastings, aroma tests and games. A specially designed area for reading has been set up that houses a selection over 60 works related to the cultural world of wine. Every day several authors will sign their books and meet the public.

There is also an art exhibition – the Bordelaises XXL – of wine bottles decorated by artists from Bordeaux and Hong Kong. Companies, dealers, owners, institutions, communities, unions or groups who purchase a Magnum 2.50 m high or a Jeroboam of 4 m high can offer it to the imagination of visual artists – painters, sculptors, graphic artists, photographers and taggers.

The Place des Quinconces will be transformed into a giant auditorium with some 5000 seats for three performances. This Bordeaux Music Festival will encompass music from around the world, from jazz to classical: Stacey Kent, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine and the amazing American jazz singer Dianne Reeves will be giving performances.

Every evening there will be a Sound and Light Show projected on the façades of the Palais de la Bourse. The theme this year is: “The world loves bordeaux, Bordeaux loves the world.” From 11.30 pm to midnight, there will be a firework display over the Garonne River, accompanied by various musical performances. This year, 3 countries will be guests of honour for this firework display: the USA, Australia and Spain.

The Belem, last of the French sailing ships ever to be built, will be docked in the Port of the Moon to honour the tradition of maritime trade linked to the world of wine. Now a training ship, the Belem, shipped the first cargo of wine from France by sail since the late 1800s to Ireland a few years ago. To learn more about this beautiful three-masted barque see my blog French Ship Wine by Sail.

The Bordeaux Wine Festival is well worth a visit and for further information on the festival you can visit www.bordeaux-fete-le-vin.com, or contact the Bordeaux Tourist Office by email or telephone +33 (0)556 00 66 00. Ticket sales will commence in April.

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