The Triumph of The Wine Culture
Last Thursday evening, the former French Prime minister and Mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppé, and former Maitre of the Commanderie de Bordeaux in New York and Managing Director of Epstein Becker & Green, PC, George Sape, officially launched “The American Friends of the Cité des civilisations du vin” during an international wine tasting extravaganza at the United Nations Delegates Dining Room in New York. As a result, the best wines from more than 50 countries, from Lebanon to Mexico, from Australia to Jordania, and of course from several French regions, was available during an “around the world” wine tasting and food pairing. Created in the heart of France’s famous wine region Bordeaux, the Cité des civilisations du vin aims to share the ancient culture of wine with an international public, to light the way, to contribute to protecting and passing down this intangible universal heritage.
“This is the first fund-raising effort for the American Friends of the Cité des civilisations du vin (AFCCV). “We plan to raise one million dollars to fund the naming of ‘The Thomas Jefferson Auditorium’ at the Cité, which will be symbolic of the unique history of close relations between France and U.S.” George Sape
The Cité des civilisations du vin, is expected to open to the public in 2016. “[This landmark] cries out for creativity and futuristic thinking not just the presence of wine,” Sape explains. “This magnificent new landmark that will house a new world center for wine is destined to become an international focus on wine and its role in our lives, past, present, and future. Not a museum, but a living and evolving center of all that wine has and will embody in our lives!”
Fun Facts: Did you know that while Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father and future President of the United States, was the U.S. Ambassador to France (1785-1789), he discovered the wines of Bordeaux, and later introduced them to the United States? He later grew vines and produced wine on his beloved property in Monticello, Virginia.
