This Week >> 3/20/2008
Say the word, Bordeaux, and all thoughts turn to great wine. And while Bordeaux is one of France's seven great wine regions, it is much more, including one of UNESCO's newest World Heritage Sites. Come along with us this week to discover the hidden byways and secret treasures of this great city and also learn about up-coming events throughout France. We will hear from Bordeaux expert Muriel Quancard-Johnson as she tells us all about this port city and everything it has to offer. Then we will hear from Jean-Philippe Pérol, the director of Maison de la France, the official French tourism office based in New York.
To learn more, check out the official site of Bordeaux
Where we'll be exploring this week
BordeauxBordeaux (Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in the southwest of France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called Bordelais.
With a population of 1,200,000 inhabitants in the Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, the fifth metropolitan area in France is known to be the world's wine industry capital, and it is considered Europe's main military space and aeronautics research and construction complex. Bordeaux wine draws its name from the city around which it has been produced since the 8th century. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble" of the 18th century.
Bordeaux is located near the European Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. The city is built on a bend of the river Garonne, and is thus divided into two parts: the right bank to the East and left bank in the West. Historically, the left bank is the more developed. In Bordeaux, the Garonne River is accessible to ocean liners.
Guests
Muriel Quancard-Johnson studied business and arts in Bordeaux from 1989 to 1996. Since 1997 she has been working both in the European and the U.S. art worlds. She first worked as a Director of Communications for a consortium of Parisian art galleries. Then in 1999, she moved to the New York where she worked consecutively for two established contemporary art galleries. In 2005 and 2006, she created Quancard Contemporary art, and open-PLAYER, two consulting companies specializing in contemporary art and new technologies.
Muriel is a passionate traveler as well, and launched a travel service called OPUS dedicated to contemporary art, design and architecture. Please check out her website: www.opustravels.com In this context, she is actually planning a trip to Bordeaux for wine and art lovers.
Through Muriel's professional activities she has been maintaining relationships with various cultural actors in Bordeaux: Cultural Services of the City Hall, museums, galleries...Moreover, her family has been established in the wine business there for many generations.
Memories, from Muriel
I grew up in Bordeaux where my family has been in the wine business for several generations. My father, Joel Quancard, worked as a wine merchant and owns a winery, Château Fâge, in the Graves de Vayres near Pomerol and Saint-Emilion.
I remember Bordeaux as a charming city whose architecture and history kept fascinating me. When I was a child the city of Bordeaux was not a touristy destination, it was more of a hidden jewel. As a teenager, I was wandering in the old town that expands along the Garonne river. Each neighborhood has its proper architectural style and identity. On Sundays, I was meeting friends at the flea market in the Saint-Michel district. Not far from there, I loved the church of the old Benedictine monastery in the Sainte-Croix area. The Capucins was my night favorite spot with its restaurants and bars open until dawn around the food market. I enjoyed the purity of the XVIIIth century buildings of the Saint-Pierre quarter. I also loved living in the Chartrons, home of the old stone warehouses.
During summer we would migrate like most "Bordelais" to the Atlantic shore on the enchanting Peninsula of Lège-Cap-Ferret, 30 miles out of the city. There we used to sail on the Bay of Arcachon, swim in the Ocean and eat oysters. For its beauty, climate, gastronomy and History, the region of Bordeaux is very much a place of Dolce Vita like Tuscany in Italy.
In Bordeaux, I also had the opportunity to discover and enjoy the pioneering art forms thanks to the festivals Divergences Divisions for experimental music and Sigma for performing arts and dance. As an art student, I was attending every exhibition of the CAPC, a contemporary art center that was implemented by the outstanding French curator and Museum Director Jean-Louis Froment in the 80's.
The significance of Bordeaux stayed almost unidentified on the international scale. When I moved to New York in 1999, I realized that Bordeaux wasn't known as a city but a wine region. This is only recently under the mandate of mayor Alain Juppé that were undertook major city planning to make Bordeaux more hospitable to tourism. In the same effort the mayor of Bordeaux obtained for the old city to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
A seasoned professional, Jean-Philippe Pérol has nearly 35 years of experience in tourism in both public and private sectors. Currently director for the Americas at Maison de la France, the official French tourism office based in New York, he has spent more than 12 years with the organization. Joining as marketing director in 1988, he has headed operations as director in Latin America and Germany. From 1998 to 2003, he was CEO for the entire Maison de la France organization, based in Paris. He has held the New York post since 2003. He was also recently named chairman of the European Travel Commission for a one-year term through November 2008.
During Perol's tenure at Maison de la France the membership network of tourism companies increased 60%. He played an important role in creating the MDLF's International Advisory Board, tour operators from around the world recognized for their contribution to developing French tourism, and also ensured the smooth transition of marketing into the online arena.
Perol began his career at Air France in 1972, first as a trainee in the tour operating subsidiary Jet Tours in Rio, and then in the Marketing department where he helped open new routes in Rio de Janeiro and Caracas for the Concorde. In 1976, when he was named Director for the Amazon, he opened Manaus for the airline, bringing the first B747 into the heart of the Amazon forest. In 1980 he briefly ran his own incoming agency in Manaus, Safari Turismo, which was folded into Wagons-Lits Tourism when he became General Manager in Brazil, subsequently more than doubling the company's travel agency network. On returning to France in 1985, he directed incoming ground operations for Wagons-Lits Tourism before assuming the post of director of all entire tour operation from 1985 to 1988.
Perol holds a degree from the Institut d Etudes Politiques de Paris, a degree in history from the Sorbonne and a PHD in Business administration from Dauphine.
from Bordeaux.com
Selecting your wine well involves knowing what it will accompany. Poultry in cream sauce is better with white wine, while roasted lamb is wonderful with more full-bodied reds. To learn more about possible food & wine combinations, please refer to Bordeaux's Wine Guide.
How to choose between red and white? Nothing could be easier. Reds are better with red meat, brown sauces, cheese and delicatessen meats. Whites bring out the best in fish, and vegetables. But there is really only one rule: what you prefer.
To ensure the best experience for your guests, open the wine carefully and be sure that the temperature of the wine is correct. For more information, consult their Service Included section.