Dijon opens its City of Gastronomy and Wine

(Dijon) The city of Dijon, located in the center-east of France, inaugurated this Friday the first International City of Gastronomy and Wine, with the mission of “telling and bringing to life” the French meal as inscribed to the heritage of humanity.

“This city is a unique way of life. It makes wine and culture resonate”, launched the mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen, by cutting the inaugural ribbon in the enclosure of a former restored medieval hospital.

“It’s dazzling. It’s a marriage between gastronomy, wine, culture, education…”, marveled the former president François Hollande, while visiting the 6.5 hectare site. “It’s unique in the world,” added Mr. Hollande, the originator of the creation of the “Cities of Gastronomy”.

On November 16, 2010, UNESCO added to the intangible cultural heritage the “French gastronomic meal”. On the strength of this recognition, the French State decided in June 2013 to create a network of “Cités de la Gastronomie” in order to “understand” what makes this meal.

Four cities were selected, each with a theme: Lyon (“food and health”), Paris-Rungis (“sustainable food and responsible gastronomy”), Tours (“human and social sciences”) and Dijon, for the “culture of vine and wine”.

The capital of Burgundy is in fact the starting point of the prestigious Route des Grands Crus, which is one of the greatest wines in the world, and whose “climats” (plots of vines) are also classified by UNESCO.

A global showcase for wine heritage, Dijon was recently chosen, to the detriment of Bordeaux and Reims, to host the International Organization of Vine and Wine, the equivalent of a wine UN bringing together 48 States and a thousand experts.

Between town and vineyards

But it was necessary to find a setting to accommodate the International City of Gastronomy and Wine (CIGV): it will be the former Hospital of the Holy Spirit, an architectural jewel with glazed tiles founded in 1204. Magnificently rehabilitated, it has been completed with audacious contemporary buildings.

“We wanted to highlight the existing heritage while providing grafts of contemporary architecture”, explains the architect Anthony Bechu, renowned for having revived the Hôtel-Dieu in Marseille.

Located between town and vineyards, this 6.5 hectare site is both “at kilometer zero of the Route des grands crus and at the gates of the historic center of Dijon”, the second largest protected area in France, and classified as UNESCO, underlines Jérémie Penquer, director of the promotion of major projects in Dijon.

Thanks to 250 million euros of work, 90% financed by the private sector, it is on this vast space that the menu tells the story of the French gastronomic meal.

It is explained, first, through four exhibitions, occupying 1750 m²devoted to the history of French meals, pastry, Burgundy vineyards and the art of cooking.

Then we taste it, in two restaurants managed by Éric Pras, three-starred Burgundian chef, and a cellar that offers “one of the widest selections in the world, with 250 wines by the glass from more than 3000 references”, according to its director Anthony Valla.

Indigestion?

Added to all this is a gastronomic village with nine shops (butcher’s, grocery store, bakery, etc.) run by the producers themselves: an “experiential kitchen” offering demonstrations by chefs and workshops, a wine school or even a branch of the cookery and pastry school, a true Parisian institution.

The size of this temple of good eating could make people fear indigestion, especially since the CIGV is counting on one million visitors a year, for a metropolis of 260,000 inhabitants, while another gastronomic city, that of Lyon , had to close in 2020 because it had not reached its target of 300,000 annual admissions (a redesigned project is due to see the light of day in 2023).

The other gastronomic cities have also experienced shortcomings: that of Tours is barely starting after many twists and that of Paris-Rungis is postponed to 2026.

“One million visitors is an entirely achievable goal. I have no doubt about it: Dijon had 3.5 million visitors before COVID-19 ”, assures AFP François Rebsamen, the socialist mayor of the city.

“We learned the lesson of the failure of Lyon which offered something a little low-end and very expensive”, he assures, recalling that the Dijon city includes, “a whole free cultural and heritage part” .