This wine bar in Bordeaux is truly unique, decorated in neo-18th century style, complete with Aubusson tapestries, gleaming colonnades and stained glass windows of 1950s vintage dedicated to the glory of Bacchus, the god of wine himself.
It is also keenly priced because the owners are the Conseil Interprofessional des Vins de Bordeaux (CIVB), the region’s wine trade body. From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily their bar offers a spectacular, constantly changing carte of Bordeaux wine by the glass, ranging from heavy to light reds, rosés to sparkling whites, sweet vintages to very dry. Many of the wines would be unobtainable in other bars except by the very expensive bottle. They are expertly served by an energetic team supervised by sommelier Katell Le Goaster.
Such a spectacular shop window, alas, disguises a crisis in the Bordeaux wine industry. Last May the CIVB president, Christian Delpeuch, dramatically resigned in protest at the lack of government support for his programme of reforms to reduce the glut of wine. Delpeuch claimed there had been scarcely any progress on the changes he wanted to the process of quality control, the granting of AOC certificates, the distillation of excess wine and the creation of a Vin du Pays. Despite a superb 2005 vintage, huge over-production threatens the livelihood of many of CIVB’s members and no amount of clever promotion can disguise the critical state of the industry.
Bar à vin du CIVB
3, cours du XXX Juillet
33000 Bordeaux
Tel. +33 (0)5 56 00 43 47
baravin@vins-bordeaux.fr
www.vins-bordeaux.fr
