Set in Bordeaux in the early 2000s, local lad Jean-Claude Bourjois, the technical director of top-flight vineyard Château La Fayette, just wants a quiet life making classic claret. But the aspirations of his sophisticated Parisian wife - an unsuccessful artist - and the greed of La Fayette's aristocratic owner, are creating serious dilemmas for Jean-Claude.
Rescue seems at hand when two of the world's leading wine experts - dynamic young American Laura Appleton and ageing British playboy Quincy Dubloon - invite Jean-Claude to join them in transforming Château Belle-Mère, an obscure bankrupt vineyard with potential. Laura, however, has an obsessive ulterior motive in luring handsome Jean-Claude away from La Fayette; Quincy's clandestine enterprises in Bordeaux would shock both Laura and Jean-Claude. Yet none of them could ever imagine the machinations of Belle-Mère's bitter ex-owners.
Even though the web of deceit begins to unravel when all three partners move into Belle-Mère's rambling château, Bordeaux itself - 'Europe's most civilised city' - has the last laugh, ensuring that everyone gets their just deserts.