There was something surreal about my visit to La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux’s wine museum, last Saturday. From the top floor, with its panoramic view of the city, you could see the smoke from the Gironde wildfire turning the sky yellow, yet none of the staff seemed remotely concerned. This was in spite of the fact that the conflagration had already triggered France’s largest evacuation since the second world war and was getting closer to Bordeaux every hour. OK, maybe they thought it unlikely they’d be asked to leave their homes, but weren’t they worried about the region’s vineyards? These people worked at a museum dedicated to celebrating wine, for Christ’s sake.
Some of the finest reds in the world are located on the Gironde’s left bank, the same side as the fire
The day before, I’d made a pilgrimage to Château Rauzan-Ségla as part of a trip to Bordeaux which Caroline had organised to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It was 35°C when we were taken into the vineyard – the first stop on the tour – and at that point our guide seemed more concerned about the ongoing drought than the nearby fire. The lack of rainfall means the berries are still quite immature, but that could turn out to be a blessing as unripened grapes are less likely to suffer from ‘smoke taint’, whereby an entire vintage can be contaminated. Even if the fires don’t reach the vineyards, the smoke probably will. By the time I left Bordeaux on Saturday afternoon, the entire city smelt like a bonfire.
