The French "wine capital" of Bordeaux hopes a dramatic new cultural centre dedicated to its best known export can set the seal on this once decaying port's ambitious renewal programme, AFP reports.

The voluptuously rounded structure, dominated by glass and wood, will evoke gigantic drops of wine as they are swirled in a glass and transform the skyline of the historic city from its formerly shabby quayside site.

"It's what we've been waiting for," said Sophie Gaillard, from the Bordeaux tourist office, presenting the blueprints of the 55-million-euro ($78 million) project, due to open in 2014.

Explaining an ambitious design that mimics both wine drops and the swirling Garonne river below, lead architect Anouk Legendre said: "It will be seen from all over the city so it's round, opulent from all sides."

Just the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, south of Bordeaux over the border in Spain's Basque Country, transformed the image of one rundown Atlantic port, hopes are high that the wine centre will become a municipal icon.

Both the city and struggling winegrowers should benefit from a project that mayor Alain Juppe's office hopes will generate 750 new jobs, 40 million euros in annual revenue and 400,000 visitors a year.

At the same time, he hopes it will put an end to his city's reputation as a staid and traditional bourgeois provincial town and boost his drive to turn it into a European commercial and cultural capital.

The plans are by Parisian architects X-Tu and London design agency Casson Mann, who aim to transcend Bordeaux in time, geography and terroir -- tracing the history of wine through ancient civilisations and far-flung regions.