At the UN’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Bonn, Germany, Saturday, the committee also granted World Heritage status to Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountains, the Diyarbakir Fortress in Turkey, and two sites in Denmark.
The second largest economy in the Euro-zone, France was the world’s most-visited country last year, with 84 million tourists. The country’s tourism industry employs two million people, and France now has a great reason to add to its tourism base, as well as help with economic growth.
France’s Champagne region
The World Heritage committee, in describing the Champagne region said the status covers “the places sparkling wine was developed using a second fermentation method in the bottle from the beginning of the 17th century until its early industrialisation in the 19th century,”
The UNESCO status includes the vineyards of Hautvilliers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, and the Avenue de Champagne and Fort Chabrol in Epernay. Also included are the production sites, underground cellars, and the sales and distribution centers, or Champagne Houses.
The Champagne region of France is in the northeast of the country, lying between Paris and Belgium. Champagne is best known for its sparkling white wine that bears its name, but the official name of the region is Champagne-Ardenne. It is one of the historic provinces of France, a rich agricultural region known for its fairs, dating back to the 9th century when Emperor Charlemagne ruled.
The vineyards of the Burgundy region
In the Burgundy region, the UNESCO committee recognized the Climats, vineyards on the slopes of the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune south of the city of Dijon. “The site is an outstanding example of grape cultivation and wine production developed since the High Middle Ages,” it said.
The Burgandy region is in east-central France and is known for its Pinot Noirs, Chablis and Beaujolais wines. In the heart of Burgundy, visitors discover the climats, a regional term that refers to the area’s unique rich soil composition and microclimate. It is in the heart of Côte-d’Or that the vineyards of Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune are found.
French Culture Minister, Fleur Pellerin was very pleased with the committee’s decision, saying the two new designations give France 41 World Heritage sites, including two other wine-making regions, Saint Emilion and Bordeaux.
UNESCO has “brought amply deserved recognition to these two regions, which have learned how to preserve and value their cultural and natural patrimony,” said Pellerin.
