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shortage of manpower, is an inglorious story that has not yet been fully told:

Bordeaux prefers to leave its evil spirits alone and its bodies deeply buried. How-

ever, its reputation was never truly damaged: even the worst characters were

unable to resist the otherworldly charms of the wine and its native land, like

the allure of a lady of easy virtue. Bordeaux is a city which runs wild in beauti-

ful finery during the day and then at night is redolent of the demimonde like a

perfume that bewitches the senses.

It is ironic that the Bordelais have a woman – Eleanor of Aquitaine – to thank

for making wine into such an all-powerful asset, because for a long time, the

Bordelais would not even allow women into their cellars for fear of them turn-

ing the grape juice sour. But these same Bordelais would happily squander their

money in the city's brothels or the city theatre (which was built in 1738 only

to burn down 17 years later, leading to the construction of the current Grand

Théâtre by the architect Victor Louis, now a major attraction of this city that

was named a World Heritage Site in 2007). And these same Bordelais would

conclude their transactions –generally in private alcoves – so loudly that the few

real culture lovers persuaded the king's intendant to establish France's first pub-

lic park, or Jardin Public, in Bordeaux in 1746, where good male society could

finally swagger in the open air or the shade of the Atlas cedars.