During this time of the year, the banks of the Garonne River seems to move, animated with the sway of people who slowly meander along its shores. Conversations are overheard, focused on the intricacies of wine tasting, as oenophiles opine their last sip of shiraz, malbec, and merlot. Elsewhere, couples visit booths of local cheesemakers to delight in the sights, aromas, and samples of brie and camembert. This parade of indulgences for the palate is what awaits the epicurean at the Bordeaux Wine Festival.

Bordeaux is the world capital of wine and the home of an unmissable event for any wine connoisseur. The Bordeaux Fête le Vin takes place over a long summer weekend, featuring the best of Bordelaise wine, food, and culture which are presented to eager crowds from all over the world. The Fête le Vin returns every other summer, from mid to late June, typically around the summer solstice.

Across four days, Bordeaux visitors thrive as they taste the region’s sweet wine. Visitors can also view the magnificent ships that are docked at Bordeaux’s historic port, which float on the Atlantic Sea. The ships stand as an example of how significant Bordeaux was as a trading port that transported wine all over the world.

The Bordeaux Wine Festival celebrates the July grape harvest which made Bordeaux one of the most famous and active wine trading ports in history. The festival began in 1998 and was created to celebrate the region’s love of wine and local wine makers. Over the years, the festival has slowly grown to host 1200 wine makers from Bordeaux and the entire Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Each festival premieres new and exciting entertainment events to accompany the focus of fine food and wine tasting. The 2014 Fête le Vin celebrated the relationship between Bordeaux and its guest of honour Los Angeles. There was a grand open-air cinema showing classic Hollywood films over the weekend. The relationship was acclaimed by Bordeaux’s quayside, with four immense firework displays set to live music.

Stretching across the tranquil ripples of the Garonne River, guests can wander along a two-kilometer path known by the festival as the ‘wine road’. Upon arrival to the festival’s doors, guests are given a tasting pass alongside an empty wine glass to taste different wines on the go. With almost one hundred different appellations and booths, guests can sample a variety of French wines as well as delicacies from cheeses to cured meats. From well-known names to small local producers, all of Bordeaux’s winemakers are represented. Across the festival, visitors can taste crisp white wines, rich full-bodied reds, and sweet rosés. Guests may also dive deeper into their wine knowledge and attend a wine workshop at the Bordeaux Wine School pavilion.

Like with the past festivals, cultural events take place within the city. This year, the Cité du Vin, a museum dedicated to Bordeaux’s wine history is showcasing an unmissable exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso, one of the most prolific artists of the 20^th century. The exhibition will display more than eighty of Picasso’s artworks presenting how the artist experimented with a wide variety of mediums such as paintings, drawings, ceramics, and film.

Borrowing pieces from the national Picasso museums in Paris and Barcelona, Bordeaux visitors will be fully immersed within their body’s senses from tasting the delicious regional wines to letting their eyes brighten as they roam around Picasso’s artistic masterpieces. The exhibition will shed new light upon Picasso’s work and reveal the vivacious creativity that inspired him throughout his life.

The writer D.H. Lawrence said, “If we sip wine, we find dreams coming upon us out of the imminent night”. This statement holds true for the Bordeaux Wine Festival. The region’s mouth watering wines inspire visitors to return with each festival year, leaving them dreaming of Bordeaux’s stunning ships swaying on the river and the crisp taste of chardonnay.