Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars
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Technical Evaluation Mission An ICOMOS technical evaluation mission visited the Champagne Hillsides, Houses and property from 6 to 10 October 2014. Cellars Additional information received by ICOMOS (France) On 23 September 2014, ICOMOS sent a letter to the No 1465 State Party requesting additional information on the following aspects: • the rationale adopted to select the components of the nomination and to define the boundaries of the Official name as proposed by the State Party nominated components; Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars • the expansion of the comparative analysis so as to include a few further relevant examples; Location • safety and accessibility measures and requirements Champagne-Ardenne, Marne for underground spaces; France • current or planned projects within the nominated areas and their buffer zones; Brief description • finalisation and approval of the prevention plan for the The Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars encompass nominated property; the areas and places where the method of production of • the protection measures in place or planned for the sparkling wines was developed from its beginnings in the nominated property and the buffer zones, 17th century until its early industrialisation in the 19th • the structure and stage of development of the century. The components of the serial nomination, management system and of the management plan clustered into three distinct groups – the historic vineyards and the monitoring system. of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, and the Avenue of Champagne and Fort The State Party responded on 28 October 2014 and the Chabrol in Epernay - reflect the key processes of this additional information provided has been incorporated into agro-industrial system as well as the milestones of its the relevant sections of this report. On 3 November 2014 evolution from a refined artisanal craft to a capitalist, site– the State Party also provided an English version of the based enterprise. additional information report. Category of property On 22 December 2014, ICOMOS sent a second letter to In terms of categories of cultural property set out in the State Party seeking further additional information on Article I of the 1972 World Heritage Convention of the following points: 1972 site , this is a . • the need to extend the boundaries of the buffer zone In terms of the Operational Guidelines for the of the Epernay component to encompass the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (July underground cellars and to provide it with specific 2013) paragraph 47, it is a cultural landscape. protection measures for the cellars; • the need to finalise and enforce the regulatory protection of the nominated series; 1 Basic data • the need to formalise a commitment for a heritage impact assessment on the wind farm projects of Thibie Included in the Tentative List and of Pocancy-Champigneul. 1 February 2002 The State Party responded on 24 February 2015 and the International Assistance from the World Heritage additional information provided has been incorporated into Fund for preparing the Nomination the relevant sections of this report. None Date of ICOMOS approval of this report Date received by the World Heritage Centre 12 March 2015 16 January 2014 Background 2 The property This is a new nomination. Description Consultations The Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars encompass ICOMOS has consulted its International Scientific the areas and places where the method of production of Committee on Cultural Landscapes and several sparkling wines was developed from its beginnings in the independent experts. 17th century until its early industrialisation in the 19th 174 century. The serial nominated property occupies a small This complex process has affected the entire production part of the much larger current AOC vineyard region and sequence, its organisation and its spaces: e.g., the re- includes fourteen elements that have been grouped into fermentation in bottles requires extremely extended cellars three clusters – vineyard hillsides, houses and cellars – with very stable climatic conditions, and, in the absence of and selected on the grounds of geomorphological, the limestone quarries, it would not have been possible to functional and historical criteria. These are located in three obtain these conditions without major technical and different places: the Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, the financial investment. Avenue of Champagne in Epernay, and the villages of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. Epernay and the The territorial structure of the region and particularly of the nominated vineyards lie in the Marne Valley and form a nominated serial property has been marked by the entire single territorial unit; Reims, with the Saint-Nicaise Hill, economy of Champagne in its rural, urban and industrial rises up to the north of the other clusters from which it is dimensions: human settlement is still concentrated in separated by a forested plateau and by the northern side compact villages that grew up in areas not suited for vine- of the Montagne de Reims. growing, champagne–related industries also flourished to support this agro-industrial district (e.g., bottle and cork The nominated components reflect the key processes of production), and the existing long-distance communication the agro-industrial system for the production of sparkling network was further developed through the construction of wine developed over the centuries from a refined wine- the railway, facilitating the distribution of champagne. making craft. The description of the components is organised according The Champagne wine region is the northernmost area for to the three clusters in which they have been grouped: the vine-growing and the variability of its climate has a historic hillsides of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, considerable influence on grape productivity; on the other where champagne was pioneered; the Saint-Nicaise Hill in hand the milder summer sun exposure and temperature Reims and the Avenue of Champagne in Epernay, where allow for long maturation of the grapes and for the specific districts developed for its production and refinement of flavours. commercialisation. From a functional perspective, the clusters comprise elements reflecting different aspects of The geomorphology of the region, characterised by the production chain: the supply source of the grapes - the sedimentary chalk formations belonging to the Paris basin, vineyards; the places for the production of champagne – is the other key factor in the development of champagne. the cellars; and those for its commercialisation – the The limestone substrate acts as a water reservoir: rain marketing houses. Although the clusters include elements and surface waters are rapidly absorbed and later belonging to different production phases, each of them released according to the rock porosity and the above- exhibits a different concentration of functional elements, ground environmental parameters, thus allowing the vine so that each cluster preferentially reflects one of the plants to receive an adequate amount of water throughout identified key phases. the growing season. On the other hand, the poverty of nutrients in the limestone substrate has been Part 1 – the historic hillsides of Hautvillers, Aÿ and compensated for by cultivation and reworking of the soil Mareuil-sur-Aÿ over the centuries. The cluster includes seven components, reflecting mainly the phase of vine cultivation and grape-growing, with the The soft limestone and its early exploitation as a building three vineyard hill areas of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil- material have left an important legacy that was revealed to sur-Aÿ, which are complemented by four underground be crucial for the development of large scale champagne elements representing the earlier system of cellars. The production: former underground quarries were converted selected vineyard areas correspond to the most ancient into cellars to exploit their stable micro-climate, which was vine-cultivated hillsides to be documented. found to be favourable for re-fermentation and champagne maturation. The softness of the stone The historic vineyards include the first areas of vine substrate also facilitated the extension of underground cultivation, the villages of Hautvillers, Aÿ and de Mareuil- cellars. sur-Aÿ and the grounds and the vestiges of Hautvillers Abbey, the Chateau of Montebello, as well as the The production method of champagne involves a viticultural infrastructure, such as the harvest huts and the sequence of key passages: the rapid pressing of the presses which allowed grape processing in the immediate grapes (mainly chardonnay, pinot noir, and meunier) that proximity of the vineyards, thus limiting as much as has to be carried out as early as possible after the possible its transportation after the harvest. The harvest; the cleaning of the must; the re-fermentation in underground heritage encompasses several cellars, bottles, which produces, under stable climatic conditions, among which is worth mentioning the Thomas cellar, the CO2 responsible for the effervescence. Re- which is the most ancient among the ones dug specifically fermentation causes the degradation of the yeast, forming to stock champagne (1673 AD), and the cellar of the a sediment which needs to be removed: this has been Chateau Montebello (1770-1780 AD). In Aÿ and Mareuil- achieved by progressively turning the bottles so as to sur-Aÿ the cellars extend upstream from the villages below move the