Liverpool, a city renowned for its rich maritime heritage, vibrant cultural offering, unique hospitality and world-famous music scene is delighted to be invited as guest city to the prestigious Bordeaux Fête Le Vin in June 2024.
Liverpool has a long relationship with Bordeaux, and after welcoming Bordeaux to Liverpool in 2022 for the inaugural ‘Taste Liverpool. Drink Bordeaux’ food and drink festival, it’s now Liverpool’s honour to be welcomed to Bordeaux for Fête Le Vin 2024.
This esteemed invitation is a huge opportunity for Liverpool’s growing reputation on the international stage following hosting duties of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine in 2023. The festival will provide an opportunity for Liverpool to showcase its dynamic spirit, culinary excellence and enduring connections to global trade and culture, alongside Bordeaux, as the two port cities come together once again for the ultimate visitor experience pairing.
Liverpool is known globally for football and music, home to Liverpool FC, one of the biggest football clubs in the world, and The Beatles; the most famous band in the world. But the food and drink offering, the miles of beautiful coast lines, the unique fashion and the history and heritage is all there, waiting to be explored.
The goal is to encourage visitors to Bordeaux Fête Le Vin to ‘See The Full Picture’ of what Liverpool has to offer through a collaborative partnership with VisitBritain and their ‘Audacious Kingdom’ campaign, which by its very nature, highlights the bold and unexpected side of a visit to Great Britain – a perfect fit for Liverpool and an invitation to see things differently.
Liverpool’s presence at Bordeaux Fête Le Vin follows the announcement that Liverpool was named as the UK’s best city for food and drink according to a survey conducted by Time Out and the best large city in the UK for a city break by Which?.
Experience Liverpool at Bordeaux Fête le Vin
Sample a taste of Liverpool’s food, culture and music hospitality with these highlights across the festival:
The Liverpool Stand
A dedicated stand in the heart of the festival will present the best of culture, music, sport and gastronomy Liverpool City Region has to offer. Visitors will also have the chance to enter a competition to win the ultimate trip to Liverpool.
Liverpool Music Showcase
Liverpool artists Michael Aldag, Natalie McCool and Ni Maxine will perform at the festival. A collection of songs born from Liverpool, from The Beatles to contemporary underground, will also accompany the finale of the drone shows on Friday and Saturday evening.
Liverpool Wine School
A dedicated Liverpool Wine School Day will see curated sweet and savoury canapés from Liverpool chef Claire Lara (Masterchef UK) and Paul Askew (The Art School) alongside a curated playlist of Liverpool music.
Alongside the consumer facing events, Liverpool will play a part in a series of business activations across the festival. Liverpool chef, Paul Askew (The Art School) will curate a menu based on the flavours of Liverpool City Region at a Civic Lunch to the sound of Liverpool artist Ni Maxine.
Whilst a press evening on board The Belem will take place to the sound of Liverpool musician Michael Aldag with canapés served from the kitchen of Liverpool chef Gabriella Margiotta (Masterchef UK) and cocktails created by Liverpool mixologist Scott Burgess (Scooped Cocktails) followed by the epic drone show finale.
On Liverpool’s attendance at the festival, Susan Finnegan, Commercial Director at Marketing Liverpool said:
“We’re honoured that Liverpool has been invited to be the guest city at Bordeaux Fete Le Vin this year. Our relationship with Bordeaux goes back to 2016 when we were granted the ‘UK Host City of Bordeaux Fête le Vin’ which progressed into us launching ‘Taste Liverpool. Drink Bordeaux’ in 2022, a food & drink festival showcasing Liverpool’s amazing food and drink offer.
This activation is a significant milestone for Liverpool, marking the largest overseas destination marketing initiative undertaken by our city in a key visitor target market, and in over a decade. It builds on the strength of our relationship with the Mayor of Bordeaux and with the support through GREAT reinforces Liverpool’s position as one of the UK’s most powerful attack brands.
Bordeaux is in our heritage and we can’t wait to continue to work together to showcase the very best of Liverpool alongside our friends at Fête le Vin. From our fabulous culinary offering to our world-renowned music scene and cultural significance, we look forward to bringing our famous Liverpool welcome to the festival.”
Paul Askew Chef Patron, owner of The Art School and LCR LVEP Board Culinary Arts Representative said:
“Bordeaux Fête le Vin is one of the stand-out gastronomic celebrations of the year. It’s fantastic for Liverpool to be invited as this year’s guest city for the very first time by Bordeaux. As with the recent Time Out accolade as one of the world’s best food and drink destinations for our city, these are two truly wonderful foodie paradises with world class wine to match. Being invited as the guest city positions Liverpool as a culinary powerhouse; not only known for its fantastic art, music, sport, events and architecture, but now for its food and drink culture too.
I’m deeply honoured to be asked to curate the Launch Lunch at The Town Hall for esteemed guests. Our links with Bordeaux run deep and this occasion is truly one to celebrate; it’s our relationship with the city which helped inspire the ‘Taste Liverpool. Drink Bordeaux’ festival in Liverpool of which I am the patron. Myself and my team can’t wait to bring The Art School to Bordeaux.”
Kevin McManus Head of UNESCO City of Music for Culture Liverpool said:
“Liverpool’s vibrant music scene will play a huge role at this year’s Bordeaux Fête Le Vin, as we bring some of the up-coming musical talent from the city to showcase Liverpool’s musical offering.
We’re famous for being home to The Beatles, but we also have an exciting range of new musicians from across every genre making waves around the world, continuing to drive Liverpool as a must visit destination for music.”