The Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne has officially announced a request for "The landscapes of the Champagne region" to be included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The purpose of UNESCO’s World Heritage programme is to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world. The list currently features 830 sites in 138 countries. They include, for example, Mont Saint-Michel and the Château of Versailles in France, as well as the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, Yellowstone Park in the United States, and cultural wine-producing landscapes such as the area around Saint-Emilion and the Alto Douro region of Portugal.

The portfolio requesting listing, which, with the help of international specialists, has been in progress for over a year, is to be submitted to the French ministers for culture and the environment at the end of this year.

The objective is to profile and protect the prestigious sites of the Champagne region. The great diversity of vineyards and the outstanding character of the area’s cellars carved from the surrounding chalk will be key elements to be featured in the portfolio. The landscapes of the Champagne region form a unique entity that can be found nowhere else in the world.