I briefly mentioned l’Académie du Vin de Bordeaux in recent post about Pichon Comtesse. As a wine educator, my knowledge of the Académie was limited to Le Code des Millésimes, a very useful little handout, that they have published since 1953. It is a tri lingual guide to the quality of Bordeaux vintages (red and white, sweet and dry), how they are evolving and with advice on drinking windows. It’s a useful take away for wine students. 

I have now discovered that there is a lot more to the Academy than this vintage crib sheet. Bordeaux has a lot of institutions, thanks to its size, its history and its complicated hierarchies. They are mainly commercial associations: the organisations overseeing each of the appellations, the promotion associations for each of the Bordeaux regions or the associations of negociants or courtiers, it’s busy. 

The Academy de Vin de Bordeaux has a different approach. It was created in 1948 and modelled on the auspicious Academie Francaise, although without the glamorous outfits and ancient history. Its focus is on wine and culture. To the outsider, wine as a cultural product might seem like a pretentious French notion but I’m sure the Italians, Spanish and Portuguese hold similar strong feelings about their national products. 

Look no further than the increasing number of wine regions obtaining UNESCO heritage site awards, keen to link their product to its heritage: geographic, natural, historic and cultural.

Saint Emilion was the first wine region designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999, in recognition of its cultural landscape. Now Bordeaux city has joined the ranks but also the Climats of Burgundy, the Loire, Champagne, the Duoro, Tokai, Lavaux in Switzerland, the Upper middle Rhine in Germany and in Italy Piedmont, Pantelleria and the latest; Prosseco. With Chile, the ‘New World’ has recently joined the club. 

Since the Bordeaux UNESCO heritage award site in 2007, tourism has boomed in the city and the surrounding vineyards. In 2006 the average number of annual visitors to Bordeaux was two million, ten years later we are at 6.8 million. Culture and economics can go hand in hand.

Hedonism and Humanism. 

Why is Bordeaux so obsessed with culture? The city has a long and strong cultural tradition, dating back to Roman times. Famous Bordeaux literary figures and philosophers include Ausone, a poet, teacher and Roman Consul to the region, Michel de Montaigne, a 16th century philosopher and famous humanist, who was one of the most important literary figures of the French Renaissance, Montesquieu, the 18th century author of the Persian Letters and ‘De l’Esprit des Lois’ and in the 20th century, Noble literature prize winner Francois Mauriac who was also a member of the Académie Française.

‘The Age of Enlightenment’ was important for Bordeaux, and not just for culture. Economically Bordeaux was booming thanks to the port activity, architecturally the city was redesigned and we can see the results on the beautiful waterfront of Bordeaux today.  If you have time when visiting Bordeaux, call in at Le Musée des Arts Decoratifs et Design for an illustration of the dynamism of the period. The magnificent Bordeaux Opera house or Grand Theatre built in 1780, the first outside Paris, is also a witness to this cultural boom. for an illustration of the dynamism of the period.

The younger generation’s idea of culture has changed since the age of enlightenment, their approach to wine too. Even in wine producing regions French wine consumption is down. Wine is no longer an agricultural product, a daily consumable safer than water, yet weaker than spirits.

Wine consumption in France fell to 27 million hectolitres in 2017, down over of 20 per cent compared to 2000, according to statistics from the International Organisation of Wine (OIV).  Understandably this worries the wine world; the French market still represents over 50% sales. 

France is seeing a strong neo-prohibitionist, anti-drinking campaign, that seems to hit out at wine more than spirits. Call for moderation, responsibility and sustainability favours an approach to wine consumption that encourages a ‘less is more’, quality over quantity approach. A philosophy I very much subscribe to as a wine educator, and I champion in my book; The drinking Woman’s Diet. 

The Académie du Vin de Bordeaux promoting wine as a civilising influence is on message. The notion of the ritual tasting is very much in tune with calls for moderation, responsibility and sustainability from all sides.

The link between wine and culture offers a different way of communicating about wine; promoting wine as accessible culture with its history, its traditions, its link to the land and the environment. It is a convivial product, made for sharing in real life but also, of course, virtually. 

The Académie works alongside the appellations, organisations, negociants, courtiers, CIVB and the Faculty of Oenology.  Many of their members are from a larger cultural and economic world, too. Amongst the 40 lifetime academicians, alongside Bordeaux wine makers and merchants are artists, writers, academics and politicians (Christine Lagarde is a member). 

Focusing on research and study for the memory of wine, they link to commercial players and more importantly university, cultural and political players, organising events, conferences, workshops, and exhibitions. They promote the famous French or rather Bordeaux way of life – always around great food and wine. At events the wines are served in specially designed Baccarat carafes and glasses adorned with Plantagenet leopard, the moon of Bordeaux (Port de la Lune) and, of course, a bunch of grapes. 

The centre of the wine world?  

The Academy also reaches outside of France, with its strapline ‘ici la vigne dont le nom est partout’ (here is the vine whose name is everywhere). Is Bordeaux ‘partout? 

The Bituriges lived in the region in the 3rd century, we have them to thanks for planting the first ‘Biturica’, cold resistant, vines. Then the barbarians overran the region after and local wine production didn’t go anywhere much for another 600 years.

The Brits are always credited with this re-birth of Bordeaux wines in the Middle Ages, thanks to the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry Plantagenet in 1152, giving the Anglo-Saxons a taste for Claret. ‘Le Port de La Lune’, Bordeaux’s port, was the largest port in France in the 17th century, ensuring Bordeaux wine production was indeed ‘partout’, or at least as far as the ships would carry it. 

Bordeaux with its long and international history, still has a global as well as local reach. In 2018, according to the CIVB, Bordeaux exported 251 million bottles for a value of €2.09 billion, that’s 44% of Bordeaux’s production by volume and 56% by value; an international economic force to be reckoned with. All the more important given the declining home market.

The events and dinners hosted by the Academy, at key periods of the Bordeaux wine calendar are regular occasions for the international wine trade and cultural personalities to meet up.

Jean Pierre Rousseau was made ‘Grand Chancelier’ of the Académie last year. Director of Negociant house DIVA his election is a change in itself. Up until now only chateau owners have been at the helm. Last year also saw the arrival of de Frédérique Dutheillet de Lamothe as communications director of the associations with her strong background in wine and in luxury goods.  

The Academy keeps their cultural tradition contemporary by awarding the literary Prix Montaigne prize each year. The prize is given to a work that espouses the themes ofhumanism, tolerance and liberty dear to Montaigne. As well as the prestige, the lucky winner receives 20 cases of top Bordeaux from members of the Academy. The 2019 prize was awarded to Jean Birnbaum for his book ‘La Religion des Faibles. Ce que le djihâdisme dit de nous’ published by Edition du Seuil. You can see the full list here. 

They also organise conferences, exhibitions and film viewings on the theme of wine and culture with dinners that punctuate the wine events calendar of Bordeaux and further afield. The Chateau de Versailles always chooses the Académie du Vin de Bordeaux wines for their great ‘vernissages’.

Every yearn,  closer to home l’Académie du Vin de Bordeaux partners with the “Vendanges de Malagar”, a three day conference hosted in Château Malagar, the home of François Mauriac. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the death of the famous Bordeaux writer.

Culture and agriculture are not mutually exclusive and perhaps 21st century enlightenment is just a glass away. 

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