Event venues in Bordeaux: prestige and art of living

Aside from all its conference and exhibition centres and the multitude of meeting rooms in its hotels, what attracts organisers to Bordeaux in the first place is obviously the charm of the city itselfThe city has a wealth of attractions to offer, from the historic heritage of its UNESCO-listed city centre to the diversity of urban and natural activities on offer alongside events. Its art of living, too, and its wines, some of the most famous in the world.

To experience it for yourself, and without going as far as Saint-Emilion or the Médocbusiness groups find near Bordeaux and Mérignac airport a prestigious vineyardthe Château Pape ClémentThe vineyard is the perfect setting for both tastings and corporate events. The first of the four grands crus bought by businessman Bernard Magrez, the site offers business tourists a step back in time, with the first harvests here dating back to 1252, shortly before the family of Bertrand de Goth, the future Pope Clement V, acquired the property.

Today, it is a more recent château, dating from the 19th century, which sits in the middle of a park surrounded by 30 hectares of vines. Exclusive corporate events, whether high-end meals or meetings, are regularly organised in one or other of its four salons, or even in all four simultaneously. But the château is also ideal for incentive activitiesThese include Cluedo and, of course, tastings. As part of this, Château Pape Clément is offering an original workshop, called B-Winemaker, where participants practise blending wine and create their own bottle, covered with a personalised label.

But Château Pape Clément also offers a top-of-the-range setting for larger-scale events. In its grounds, a pavilion purchased by Bernard Magrez near Annecy and rebuilt here can host sit-down meals for 70 people, cocktail parties for 100, and meetings and training sessions for 60, not to mention the outdoor areas in fine weather. For larger seminars, product presentations and, above all, gala dinners and cocktails, the venue offers business groups several solutions, including the Orangeraie, a 200 m2 room that can accommodate 150 people in theatre format or for dinners, and the 250 m2 Cuvier room, organised as its name suggests. around the huge vinification vats. In a more intimate style, but with a view of the barrels where the future grands crus are aged, the cellar room is ideal for meetings, cocktails and dinners for around sixty people.

If you don't come to wine, wine will come to you. Specialising in incentive and team-building activities, Ateliers de Bacchus, founded by oenologist Pauline Champeil, offers to organise corporate events with a series of fun and convivial wine events, For example, introductory wine-tasting workshops that can easily be incorporated into a day of seminars, or, as part of cocktail parties and receptions, stands where guests take part in wine-related games or table-to- table workshops. This events provider also has an escape game and a "wine casino" in its range of team-building activities, with themed tables where participants stake chips in challenges, sensory games and general knowledge questions. Wine tours of Bordeaux and Saint-Emilion, walking rallies or "wine Olympics" on a wine estate: Ateliers de Bacchus also goes beyond the walls of event venues to showcase the richness of the Bordeaux terroir to company employees and guests.

If they have time, business tourists can learn more by visiting the permanent exhibition at the Cité du Vin which showcases wine and its age-old history in all its aspects, whether cultural, spiritual or sensory. Celebrating not the wine of Bordeaux, but the wine in Bordeaux, the opening of the venue in June 2016 marked a major step in the evolution of the Bassins à Flots business district.

Set on the banks of the Garonne, its façade of glass and aluminium panels, designed by the XTU agency, evokes the bold curves of vines and wine swirling in a glass. Dedicated to the general public, the France's fourth-largest museum outside the Paris region, with almost 400,000 visitors a year, also derives part of its income from hosting events. This new landmark venue in Bordeaux rents out its reception areas for cocktails for 300 to 400 people. Cocktails that can also go high the Belvédère, on the eighth and top floor of the Cité du Vin, the high point of the tour, where visitors can enjoy a glass of wine while taking in a unique view of the whole city.

Alongside these opportunities for socialising, the Cité du Vin also has a number of meeting rooms with a 250-seat auditorium, four seminar rooms on the first floor and three more on the sixth floor, all with panoramic views over the city and the river. Finally, to enhance business meetings, the Cité du Vin also offers team-building and incentive activities, with three of its rooms reserved for introductory wine-tasting workshops.

While the Cité du Vin has launched a new dynamic in the district, the opening in June 2020 of the Bassins des Lumières has come to continue it. What was originally a German submarine base during the Second World War has undergone an arty transformation since being taken over by Culturespaces, the world's largest digital art centre. Immersive projections reflected on the water of the pools and the concrete walls offer a new perspective on the works of the greatest painters - those of Klimt, Renoir and Chagall in recent years, with 2022 devoted to Venetian painting and the Spanish artist Sorolla.

As well as the general public, companies can make the magic of the venue their own for an evening, with the organisation of a welcome drink in one of the four successive basins, a speech in the other, and gala dinners and cocktail receptions for 600 to 800 people at the far end. During the evening, participants can enjoy the visual and sound experiences offered by the Bassins des Lumières, but companies can also use the space to enhance their image with logo projections or visual creations.

With this large capacity, the Bassins des Lumières have come a long way. enhance the possibilities for organising major social events in BordeauxUntil now, these events have been held at Hangar 14, in the Chartrons district, or at the Palais de la Bourse, in the heart of the city centre. At the heart of commercial exchanges in the 18th century, this historic building has now been converted into a place for sharing ideas, and regularly hosts conventions for major companies and scientific and medical conferences.

In the early 2010s, the owner of the site, the neighbouring CCI, modernised it by adding a conference centre with a 190-seat amphitheatre and several contemporary meeting rooms. However, it's the historic part of the building that's the real eye-catcher, as much for its charm as for its accommodation capacity. Flanked by rooms that can be used for sub-committees, its immense hall hosts plenary sessions and dinners for 600 people, with a capacity of 1,200 participants in cocktail configuration.

The Palais de la Bourse's offer doesn't stop there, as on the first floor seven adjoining lounges, all with parquet floors, mouldings, ceiling frescoes and period furnitureThe first floor features a large meeting room, three lounges and a foyer. The second floor houses the 1855 space, in memory of the famous classification of Bordeaux's great growths, with a large meeting room, three lounges and a foyer, all offering exceptional views over the Port of the Moon.

Right next door, sharing the same historic character and contributing in the same way to the architectural unity of the Place de la Bourse, business travellers will find a more intimate seminar venueThis Bordeaux institution, bought by the de Boüard de Laforest family, owners of Château l'Angélus, has been redesigned. This Bordeaux institution, which will be acquired in 2019 by the de Boüard de Laforest family, owners of Château l'Angélus, has been redesigned to offer a tiered range of services, with a cocktail bar on the ground floor, followed by a bistro on the first floor serving friendly, lightly-priced cuisine based on seasonal produce and local producers. Just above, on the second floor, is Gabriel's focal point with its Michelin-starred table overseen by chef Alexandre Baumard. And finally, the third and top floor is dedicated to business or private events for up to twenty people, from cocktail lunches and dinners to conferences and study days. Or how to combine business with the art of living.