Head to Saint-Émilion, less than an hour’s drive from Bordeaux, where Vignobles Bardet has created a unique collection in official partnership with J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga. The result of this meeting between expertise and literature is three wines with evocative names: The Shire™, Númenor™, and Dorwinion™, each paying homage to a mythical land of Middle-earth.
Candlelight has also fully grasped the importance of oenology in J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, as in Bordeaux, the world of The Lord of the Rings comes to life through music in the spectacular setting of the Cité du Vin this Sunday. The trilogy’s greatest musical themes will be performed by candlelight, for an experience as enchanting as a grand cru.
The first, The Shire™, draws inspiration from the Hobbits’ verdant haven of peace, the Shire, with an accessible and convivial wine meant for sharing. Dorwinion™, meanwhile, references the legendary wine enjoyed by the Elves, with a more powerful and complex cuvée. As for Númenor™, it evokes a mythical island and gives rise to an elegant, structured wine. Much more than mere names, Vignobles Bardet drew on the books to reproduce as faithfully as possible the distinct characteristics of the different wines in real life, using French vineyards.
More than just a nod to the source material, these wines embody a true meeting of two worlds: that of the imagination and that of the region’s winemaking expertise. Between tastings of wines inspired by Middle-earth and a musical tribute in an iconic wine region, Bordeaux has perhaps never been closer to resembling… a fantasy world.