Foundation for wine culture and civilisations
Origins
Wine, a cultural, universal and living heritage
Discover origins
Foundation for wine culture and civilisations
Find out about the Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations, its mission, its governance and its role in the management and development of the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux.
The Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations, established on 11 December 2014 by ministerial decree and recognised as a charity, has the mission of safeguarding, promoting and passing on the universal and living cultural heritage of wine, by making it accessible to as many people as possible.
The Foundation is responsible for the governance, management and development of the Cité du Vin, a cultural venue dedicated to wine culture, and, through it, helps to promote, explain and pass on wine culture in all its diversity.
A Foundation dedicated to preserving living heritage
Wine is a cultural heritage that extends beyond its purely agricultural or gastronomic dimensions. It is associated with regions, skills, social practices, the arts and histories that have developed over the centuries, across every continent.
In line with its mission to promote and pass on the cultural dimension of wine, the Foundation works to preserve the heritage of wine, whilst also showcasing and highlighting its influence on societies both past and present.
To carry out these missions, the City of Bordeaux, as the project owner and owner of the Cité du Vin building, has made the building available to the Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations for a period of 12 years, until 2028.
A mission: to promote and share knowledge about wine
The Foundation for wine culture and civilisations aims to promote and disseminate knowledge about wine, both at the Cité du Vin and beyond its walls.
At the Cité du Vin
The Cité du Vin brings the Foundation’s mission to life: to offer everyone a place dedicated to exploring the cultures and civilisations of wine. A range of initiatives are therefore being developed:
- Regular upgrades of equipment and content in the permanent exhibition to keep it up to date at all times
- Putting on temporary exhibitions for the general public
- Creating and co-publishing editorial projects exploring the different cultural facets of wine
- Organising study days, meetings, seminars and conferences to promote the flow of knowledge between experts, professionals and the general public
- Developing tasting workshops
Outside the Cité du Vin
The Foundation also plans to carry out cultural, educational and scientific initiatives in France and around the world:
- Involvement in designing and running other cultural sites devoted to wine
- Creating and maintaining a reference document library containing books, films and other multimedia materials to provide everyone with access to a wide range of knowledge
- Getting involved in meetings, debates and publications to raise awareness of wine’s heritage dimensions among elected representatives, professionals and the general public
- Sentence about the development of everything that can be done online
The Foundation’s governance
The Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations is the result of a collaboration between the City of Bordeaux, the Bordeaux Wine Council and Crédit Agricole d’Aquitaine, and has also received support from the American Clarence and Anne Dillon Dunwalke Trust and HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg.
It is led by a 15-member board of directors, comprising three colleges (the College of Founders, the College of Qualified Individuals and the College of Friends), which sets the Foundation’s broad strategic direction and ensures its implementation.
The Foundation’s governance structure and team work together to ensure the project’s operation and development.
A business model that supports our mission
The operation of the Foundation for wine culture and civilisations is financed primarily on Cité du Vin’s own revenue, but it undertakes all of its cultural activities by fundraising through a tailored patronage programme that is open to all.
Are you a company or individual in France or abroad and interested in supporting the Foundation for wine culture and civilisations? Donate now and join the ranks of Cité du Vin’s patrons!
Values and commitments
The mission and values of the Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations are reflected in all the initiatives undertaken by the Cité du Vin, and in particular in its CSR policy, which is based on three intrinsically linked pillars: sustainable development; staff wellbeing; and the highest levels of visitor satisfaction.
In its day-to-day operations, both amongst its staff and in its projects, the Foundation also promotes values such as friendliness, creativity, cooperation and commitment.
A brief history of the Foundation leading up to the opening of the Cité du Vin
➡️ 2008: Alain Juppé, Mayor of Bordeaux, tasked Sylvie Cazes, the city councillor responsible for wine tourism and the wine industry, with exploring the possibility of creating a large-scale venue dedicated to wine in Bordeaux.
➡️ 2009: Led by Sylvie Cazes and Philippe Massol, the Association for the Planning of the Wine Cultural and Tourist Centre was established. Its founding members were the City of Bordeaux, the Bordeaux Urban Community, the Aquitaine Region, the CCIB and the CIVB.
➡️ 2013: Construction begins, largely led by the Vinci Group.
➡️ 2014: The Foundation for Wine Culture and Civilisations is recognised as a charity by ministerial decree.
➡️ 2015: The preparatory association officially hands over to the Foundation. It is the Foundation that will operate, develop and promote the Cité du Vin.
➡️ 2016: Inauguration of the Cité du Vin by President François Hollande, followed by its opening to the public.
