Cité du Vin, a wine museum located in Bordeaux, France, is expanding to Beijing, China. The $66.5m attraction will be modelled on Cité du Vin and will include a permanent exhibition, hotels, and more.
The new project will have 194,000 square feet of space and is scheduled to open in 2021. The estimated construction cost is $66.5 million.
“Wine is part of our world heritage,” said Sylvie Cazes, president of the Foundation for Wine Cultures and Civilizations, which manages Cité du Vin (via Wine Spectator).
“Our mission is to share this great history with Chinese visitors.”
The wine museum will be located in the Zhong Pu Hui Wine Village, a development in the Fangshan District of Beijing.
Projected construction cost is $66.5 million
Chinese businessman Weixang Tang, president and founder of the Zhong Pu Hui Wine Village, is the brainchild of the wine museum in Beijing.
The village currently boasts several acres of vines, and Tang has planning permission for three square miles of development. This will include two hotels, holiday cottages, a farm, retail and F&B.
The 72,000-square-foot permanent exhibition will be an immersive experience, with elements of the Bordeaux attraction and new additions specially designed for China.
It will house five areas, which are: What is Wine?, Wine Around the World, History and Civilization of Wine, Wine and the Senses, and Lifestyle and Wine.
Immersive experience with wine tasting in Beijing
Lifestyle and Wine will include information on how to buy and drink wine, as well as a quiz and wine tasting.
“I think this project is great because it has been promoted by someone with whom we have a great relationship and who has a real dual culture,” said Cazes.
“He has one foot in China and one foot in Paris.”
“We are at the beginning of a very long story. In my opinion, wine in China will be very important,” said Jean-Marc Menant, general manager of Zhong Pu Hui Wine Village.
Last year, the Mon Beaujolais experience, created by design firm Jora Vision, opened at Europe’s largest wine museum, Hameau Dubœuf in Beaujolais.