On June 1, Bordeaux opened its newest museum, a one-of-a-kind institution devoted to the French city’s most popular export: wine. Aptly dubbed La Cité du Vin, the $92 million, 144,000-square-foot complex is a premier destination for learning about, tasting, drinking, and buying wine. While Bordeaux’s vineyards date from Roman times, nearly 2,000 years ago, La Cité du Vin has been in the works since 2008. The museum’s endowment fund followed in 2011, and construction began in 2013. The shimmering, curvaceous structure, which took 80,000 hours and more than 1,000 tons of steel to build, is the brainchild of Parisian firm XTU and English museum design firm Casson Mann. Its bowing shape was inspired by the swirl of wine in a glass and the coils of a grapevine.

The institution expects nearly half a million visitors annually. They’ll be treated to rotating exhibitions (three per year), along with 19 permanent attractions that cover the full spectrum of wine education, from tactile terroir maps to an exploration of wine illustrated in art and music. The museum also offers a multisensory buffet of wine, which includes a selection of 20 wines from around the world that changes daily. If your time at this immersive wine theme park leaves you wanting more, La Cité du Vin’s proximity to the banks of the Garonne enables visitors to travel via water shuttle to neighboring vineyards along the river. laciteduvin.com