The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has decided to include the Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars on its world heritage list. The 21 representatives of the State Parties to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention unanimously voted in favour of including the Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars on the World Heritage List in the Living Cultural Landscapes category. The committee members recognised their exceptional universal value and deemed that the protection and management conditions for the proposed property had been fulfilled.
Pierre Cheval, president, Association Paysages du Champagne, which has spent eight years putting together and managing the area’s application said, “A feeling of great satisfaction and collective delight. My thoughts immediately turn to all those who worked on the application, all the partners who supported this slightly crazy undertaking, and the local people whose area has just received worldwide recognition. Inclusion on the list is a form of recognition but also an undertaking to the world’s nations, so we must ensure that we are worthy of it. We are duty-bound to preserve and maintain this landscape, know-how and heritage so that we can pass them on unspoilt to future generations. We have a date with history, our very own history!”
The Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars are not a standard vineyard landscape. This is clear to see in the way that the landscape’s sites are organised and the work done by men and women, the rise of an original wine production, making and selling method from the 18th century onwards, a method that is still in use today and that has left its mark on the region and its rural and urban landscapes, and given rise to a globally renowned wine, a symbol of celebrations and parties. A unique grouping of landscapes and sites, packed with history, culture and know-how.