This weekend (June 14-18) Bordeaux will turn into a big wine celebration, marking the 20th year anniversary of “Bordeaux Fête le Vin”, one of the largest wine festivals in the world, a biannual event taking place in Bordeaux since 1998. Every two years, the banks of the Garonne are inviting wine lovers to five unforgettable days of events all dedicated to discovering the wines of Bordeaux and its region, Nouvelle aquitaine. But “Bordeaux Fête le Vin” is much more than a wine celebration! Visitors will be able to enjoy many events like visiting the beautiful tall ships, daily fireworks and music concerts. In this post I packed all the details you’ll need to plan your visit.
So how does it work?
This event allows you to taste wines from more than 80 appellations from Bordeaux and the Nouvelle – Aquitaine area and meet the wine makers and other professionals from the domain. While the event is free, in order to actually taste the wines you will have to buy the “Pass dégustation” that will cost you 21 euros. You can use the pass for the whole event (5 days).

What does the pass include:
- One wine glass with its red cute case to carry it around the festival
- 12 wine tastings: one from each of the 11 pavilions and an additional one of your choice. The pass is not personal so if you don’t need 12 wine glasses share the pass with friends.
- A workshop at the pavilion of the Bordeaux wine school.
- A daily public transport ticket (tram, bus, boat) that you can use in only one of the festival days
- Participation in the festival raffle
- Reduced prices to the guided wine themed exhibitions in Musée d’Aquitaine, Musée des Beaux- Arts and Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux.
- The pass is valid from Thursday to Sunday (June 14-17) from 10:30 to 23:30 and on Monday (June 18) from 10:00 to 18:00.
Where and when can I get the pass?
You can either purchas the pass online or buy it in one of the three information/selling points along the banks of the river. Either way in order to get the pass itself and the wine glass, you will have to reach one of these three points:
Locations: Chartrons, Quinconces, Cailhau (you will see them in front of the promenade).
Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday (June 14-17) from 10:30 to 23:00 and Monday (June 18) from 10:00 to 18:00.

What other activities are on?
la Fête du vin de Bordeaux is so much more than just wine tasting. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the wine festival 30 amazing tall ships are about to arrive to Bordeaux on Thursday the 14th, and you’ll get a chance to visit them.
Here is the list of all you can do besides tasting wine:
- Visit the ships- For the five days of the Fête le Vin (June 14-18), 30 tall ships will be docking along the banks of the river, arriving from many different European destinations. About 20 of these are going to be open to the public where you could take a free tour on the decks and discover the ships and their equipment. You can learn more about these special ships and their stories here.
- The ships parade– you can see the beautiful parade of all the 30 boats leaving Bordeaux on Monday the 18th at 11:00.
- The crew parade – The crew of the Tall ships are coming to Bordeaux from England, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, India and different ports in France. Saturday the 16th at 16:00 the crews parade, from soldiers to young trainees will march along the quai from Miroir d’eau throug Cours du Chapeau rouge, Place de la Comédie and Colonne des Girondins and will finis at Place Munich.
- Fireworks – every evening at 23:30 the festival will welcome the night with an incredible pyrotechnic show that will be seen from the quais.
- Sailing on the Garonne – three of the boats will offer one hour daily trips on the Garrone between Pont de Pierre to Pont Chaban-Delmas. The price is 15€ for adults and 8€ for kids. The sailing will take place June 14-17. See more info here.
- Deck parties – two ships, la Caravelle Vera Cruz and le l’Étoile du Roy, will hosts evening parties of two hours from Thursday to Sunday (June 14-17) at 22:00. The ticket to the party includes two glasses of wine of Bordeaux or Nouvelle- Aquitaine, some snacks and non-alcoholic drinks for kids. The price is 25 € for adults and 15 € for kids (5-15 years old) and free for kids under 5 years old.
- Concerts – throughout the festival plenty of concerts and shows will take place all around the city. See the full list of concerts here.
- LOVE-LOVE-LOVE event – Friday the 15th at 18:00, the National Opera of Bordeaux will give one concert in Darwin as part of the Bio wines celebration. See more info here. The price is 10€.
- Big Wheel– if you’re coming to the festival with kids and they get a bit bored, take them to the big wheel installed at Place des Quinconces (5€).

Grand Crus Weekend
One of the most interesting events accompanying the Bordeaux wine festival is the Grand Crus Weekend that will take place June 16-17. This event, organized by the the Union des Grands Crus (regional wine classification), aims to create an international meeting of wine lovers. The highlights of this weekend will include tasting wines from over 120 Grand Crus and meeting different chateaux owners as part of pre-organized dinners in these châteaux.
Read more about the event and the full program here.
“Bordeaux Fête le Vin” is probably the biggest event in Bordeaux, celebrating what this city is most famous for. This year the celebrations are going to be even larger than usual with the arrival of the beautiful tall ships that will be docking at the banks of the Garonne. You can see the the full program of events here and buy the pass here. For more updates follow the Lost in Bordeaux facebook page.
Don’t miss the chance to be a part of this incredible wine feast and don’t forget to share this post with friends on social media 🙂