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Bordeaux recently woke up from a long, dreamy sleep and was forced to take a hard look in the mirror. What it saw wasn't pretty.

For centuries this port and trading city had enjoyed the lucre from wines that sold with the easy nonchalance of a Gallic shrug. Its legendary red and white blends were unsurpassed, so why advertise, why cater to tourists?

Bordeaux's overconfident perch was snatched away when it wasn't looking.

Domestic wine sales and exports have taken a plunge. In 1960 the average adult consumption in France was 100 litres a year. Forty years later that number was nearly cut in half. Longer working hours meant fewer wine-soaked lunches. Publicity concerning health issues curbed drinking, as did stiffer drunk-driving laws. Meanwhile, faithful customers around the globe had been seduced by a torrent of quality New World wines from Australia, South Africa and the Americas.

According to Alexander Hall, an instructor at L'Ecole du Vin in Bordeaux, "In the next couple of years Spain will overtake France as the biggest wine producer in the world."

But Bordeaux isn't going down without a fight. In 1999, the region's leaders rolled up their sleeves and began an ambitious reinvention project to attract visitors and remind wine lovers about their fabled terroir and chateaux.

The remake is immediately apparent in the city of Bordeaux, which is less than three hours southwest of Paris by high-speed TGV train. Cars are banned from certain inner-city arteries, making it friendly for pedestrians and cyclists, and the new tramway system is an easy way to get around when one's feet get sore.

During a walking tour, I learned that the city's 18th-century stone buildings had only recently been returned to their original lustrous white after a good scrubbing. Magical old squares are now floodlit and lined with stylish bistros.

Gardens and landscaped promenades have transformed the formerly seedy Garonne riverfront. A four-star hotel, The Grand, a Radisson SAS property that faces Bordeaux's neoclassical Grand Théâtre, makes its debut this year.

The centrepiece of the region's transformation, however, is La Winery, 22 kilometres from Bordeaux in Arsac-en-Médoc, which threw open its doors in March. This multi-million-dollar shrine to wine looks like a glass and aluminum spaceship planted in a field. La Winery is the brainchild of wine merchant, winemaker and modern-art lover Philippe Raoux. It's the first of its kind in France. Raoux envisions La Winery as a way to make wine drinking more of a user-friendly experience.

La Winery boasts vast retail space and a panorama of about 2,000 wines from Bordeaux, as well as selected labels from around the world. There are unsnobby tasting classes and a chic, sun-filled wine bar and restaurant with a seasonal, contemporary menu.

More experienced wine-loving pilgrims, and those who have seen Sideways, take for granted that they can pull up to any winery in the world for a tasting. Not so in Bordeaux, at least until recently. Allowing the public into chateaux without an appointment is a new concept here.

"It's not that they don't like the public," said Jean-Michel Cazes of his fellow winemakers. "They just didn't understand why anyone would want to visit."

Cazes, the proprietor of Château Lynch-Bages, nestled in the Médoc vineyards 50 kilometres north of Bordeaux, did understand. Throughout the 1980s, whenever someone called for an appointment, he and his wife would provide a home-cooked lunch and a wine tasting. They were besieged by guests so often that by 1989 Jean-Michel's wife said, "Enough." So he opened Cordeillan Bages, an elegant hotel and restaurant, which has collected two Michelin stars.

Over the years, Cazes bought up more of the surrounding land, including the abandoned village of Bages in the heart of the Paulliac vineyards. He is lovingly restoring the tiny hamlet and dreams of opening a cinema. What is open so far in Bages is a hip bistro, Café-Restaurant Lavinal, with a year-round wine and cooking school above it.

Another vintner who clearly relishes receiving the public is Frédéric Claverie. This handsome winemaker makes Saint-Emilion Grand Cru at Château Haut Veyrac, 40 kilometres east of Bordeaux. He serves tour groups lunch in a stone farmhouse, complete with a fireplace burning cuttings from the vineyard.

We sat down at the long farmhouse table and started with a sangria-like aperitif and creamy potato and asparagus soup. Then came garlic toast topped with lamprey fish, sorrel and mushrooms. The feast continued with chicken stuffed with chestnuts and mushrooms, firm Pyrenées cheese and quivering, custardy crème renversée. All this, along with various Haut Veyrac vintages, for just $27 a person.

Women winemakers are joining forces to have a stronger presence as well. Les Médocaines is one of them. They are four friends from Médoc who are working together to take turns opening their châteaux for tours and tastings.

Bordeaux's mission to copy California-style hospitality is still in its infancy. The Bordelais are feeling their way, not easy for an insular culture. But the trend is clear. In 2006 the number of oenophiles visiting vineyards hit 15,000, up 20 per cent since 2002. La Winery is expected to attract 100,000 visitors annually.

Pack your bags

GETTING THERE

The Bordeaux airport handles 140 flights a day from 60 cities in France and abroad. There are 25 trains a day to and from Paris.

The author was hosted by the Bordeaux Tourist Board and local wineries.

WHERE TO STAY

Relais de Margaux 5, route de L'Ile Vincent, Margaux; 33 (5) 57 88 38 30; http://www.relais-margaux.fr. Rates from $200. Les Sources de Caudalie Chemin de Smith Haut-Lafitte, Bordeaux-Martillac; 33 (5) 578-38383; http://www.sources-caudalie.com. High season rates start at $342. Chateau d'Arche Exit 3 Langon from Hwy. A62, Sauternes: 33 (5) 567-66655; http://www.chateaudarche.fr. Rates start at $171.

THE WINERIES

La Winery Rond point des Vendangeurs, Départementale 1, Arsac en Médoc; 33 (5) 56 390 490; http://www.lawinery.fr (the site is only in French. so they still have a few tourism kinks to work out). Les Médocaines http://www.lesmedocaines.com.

L'École du Vin ecole.vins-bordeaux.fr. Offers excellent two-hour wine classes for about $28 from July to September.

TOURS

Mary Wakefield, Bordeaux Saveurs 33 (5) 560-09020; http://www.bordeauxsaveurs.com. Intimate, tailor-made visits to Médoc vineyards and chateaux.

ARMCHAIR IQ

The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and The Reign of American Taste, by Elin McCoy.MORE INFORMATION

For tourist information, visit http://www.bordeaux.com.