Tell me about the operation you initiated: “Bordeaux passe au verre” (Bordeaux goes by the glass)?
Pierre Hurmic : I am very happy about this operation, which I carried with a number of players. An operation that, a first, was the subject of a fine article in the Times ! I can say without fear of error that Bordeaux or its mayor have not often been the subject of articles in the Times. They found the operation very subtle and impactful. This operation follows from a twofold general observation. I went on holiday to Beaune last summer and I was struck by how the whole town was promoting Burgundy wines. Which, it has to be said, is not the case for the city of Bordeaux. All the restaurants and all the bars in Beaune seemed to be in total harmony, in communion with the wine industry. There is a real economic interest in that. On my return to Bordeaux, I go to a restaurant and I see on the board devoted to the two wines of the month: an Italian Lambrusco and a rosé d’Anjou. In the middle of August, when there are visitors from all over the world in the city… I told myself, there is something deeply dysfunctional here, insofar as the interest of Bordeaux wine is the interest of all Bordelais, whoever they are. The wine economy is 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. If the industry sinks, it will take people down with it. It is clear that there are joint interests in the fact that the city of Bordeaux must take more interest in its terroir and in this economic sector that makes its renown. As mayor of Bordeaux, every time I go abroad, people talk to me about Bordeaux wines. Bordeaux, thanks to the renown of its wine heritage, remains the second best-known French city in the world. I am in the habit of saying that I am not only the mayor of Bordeaux but also the mayor of “le Bordeaux” (the wine). I truly believe it: this city must live in harmony with this economic, cultural and historical sector.
And the other observation?
PH : We know the industry is in difficulty. So it seemed to me that it was time to pull together and find something to add more value to the product within the city itself. There are 4 million tourists who come to Bordeaux each year; we need to be able to talk to them about Bordeaux wine. So I decided to bring together economic players who did not necessarily talk to each other, namely the UMIH, the CIVB and the chamber of commerce, to think about a smart and genuinely effective promotional operation. That is how I proposed that all the establishments in Bordeaux, the bars, restaurants and hotels, play the card of promoting Bordeaux wines, putting the emphasis on selling wine by the glass, which is meeting with real success. There is a real change in the way wine is consumed, and it is less about buying a bottle than a glass, at aperitif time, of white wine, Clairet or a slightly chilled red, of which I am a great fan. The Bordeaux industry must become much more aware than it is today of this change in habits and customs, especially among the youngest. This project had to be carried together, with an entry price of 5 euros for a glass of Bordeaux wine. Between ourselves, I would have liked it to be a little lower still. Basically, the aim is to compete with beer in terms of price and consumption habits and to see that young people drink, for example, local wines, as can be done in the Basque Country. To make them almost “chauvinists” for the local. This operation must be able to spread across a region, a city, a village; these consumers must realise that they are thereby defending their territory.
Jean-Pierre Xiradakis (1) : In the southern Basque Country they have txakoli (a lightly sparkling white) and we have the blanc limé, also made from local whites! People are not aware of the drama unfolding in our territories. In the Entre-Deux-Mers, where I go very often, you meet more and more vines that are no longer cultivated, not to mention the effects of those who pull up vines to collect the 6,000 or 7,000 euros. This leads to an incredible state of human and landscape desolation in one of the most beautiful wine regions of Bordeaux. Let these consumers not forget: there is the product, there is the wine, but there are also women and men behind it who have very often inherited properties that they will not be able to pass on, that they are in the process of losing.
How do you analyse this crisis?
PH : The crisis is structural. What worries me most is that there are changes in consumption, and it is the failure to take these changes into account that worries me. Younger people, but also other wine lovers, like fruity, light wines, whites or rosés, even reds, which today account for 80% of production. The philosophy of taste is no longer the same. I insist: we need to address the 25-35 year-olds. They are the ones who can save us.
JPX : I think we have to shout as loudly as possible that a territory, the good life together, is put at risk if everyone systematically opts for beer!
PH : I agree with you. To do that, we must stir this curiosity about local wines. That is the point of this operation: to stir a curiosity so that, in fine , people move from the glass of beer to the glass of wine. That is the idea behind the “Bordeaux passe au verre” operation. That is also why I was very attached to the price of this glass.
JPX : I would also like us to pause for a moment on the false idea that Bordeaux wines are too expensive. In the Entre-Deux-Mers, you will have a feast with wines under 10 euros; it is absolutely remarkable. I also think we must encourage the people of Bordeaux to spend more time in these wine territories, in the Entre-Deux-Mers, the Médoc or Graves, and why not imagine a system in which there would be discounts at every château visited for residents of the Gironde!
How can we restore an organic relationship between the people of the Gironde and their wines? Through popular cooking, for example?
JPX : Lunches and dinners are evolving in the same way as wines. People no longer eat in the same way. A main course and a dessert with a bottle of wine, that barely exists any more. We may perhaps be able to change the way wines are consumed but not the types of meal advocated today. I reiterate the idea that each of us must be the vector of the territory we are in. That is what has to be created. Recreating this organic relationship. In that sense, the role of the town hall is essential!
PH : Creating the cohesion of a territory is a matter for politics; that is what motivated this operation. Not all economic players appreciate the mayor of Bordeaux being on the front line, but I consider it part of my duties to “make” a territory and to bring everyone to the table by asking the question: how can we, together, save this territory? By saying that we all have a converging interest, and when I say I am the mayor of “le Bordeaux”, I mean it sincerely. I play my part every time I have the opportunity. I do so, for example, through what is called city diplomacy. So when I travel to a twin city, I bring a CIVB delegation with me, or winegrowers. I did it in Quebec, I did it in Fukuoka, Japan, which will be the guest of honour at the next Fête du Vin. Fukuoka is after all the fifth city in Japan, with 26 million inhabitants. Its mayor has a genuine appetite for our wines. I have just done the same by going, a few days ago, to Los Angeles to relaunch the longstanding twinning between our two cities.
What must the industry do, in your view, to draw another horizon?
PH : This is the opportune moment to reinvent ourselves. Hölderlin, the German poet, wrote “where danger grows, the saving power also grows”. I think we are in danger, and what can save us is a dose of inventiveness. We must stop looking at the past, that time when Bordeaux was hegemonic. We must all together show imagination. We must realise that we are no longer “the oil kings”. I very much like what Stéphane Derenoncourt says: “We have stayed in an era when Bordeaux was hegemonic, represented a pinnacle of qualities, when wine was not sold but people came to fetch it”. That time is over.
(1) : a huge thank-you to Jean-Pierre for his friendly and effective mediation.
