30 Blaye winegrowers breaking the Bordeaux bottleneck

he latest initiative designed to reconquer the Bordeaux wine scene is a pop-up wine bar by AOC Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux, rolled out from Tuesday 3 to Friday 8 February. The bar actually replicates the pop-up bar featured in Paris for the past two years, bringing it to the Bordeaux region. It is part of a series of direct-to-consumer promotion and sales initiatives which Nicolas Carreau – chairman of the producers’ organisation – claims is in the appellation’s DNA.

The Côtes appellation is investing in engagement with Bordeaux consumers that don’t reach for its wines automatically. “In a way, we meet them where they are”, confirms Manon Jullion, a winegrower at Château Grillet Beauséjour. She feels the event offers the opportunity to roll out “a different approach to customers” by tapping into events-led occasions. For six days, 30 of the 170 independent wineries in AOC Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux will introduce Bordeaux customers to their wines, selling them by the glass or the bottle. None of the appellation’s co-operative wineries chose to join the event.