The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Documents WHC-15/39.COM/8B and WHC-15/39.COM/INF.8B1,
- Inscribes the Climats, terroirs of Burgundy, France, on the World Heritage List as a cultural landscape on the basis of criteria (iii) and (v):
- Takes note of the following provisional Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
Brief Synthesis
The Burgundy Climats are small and precisely delimited vineyard parcels located on the slopes of the Cotes de Nuits and of Beaune, extending for 50Km south of Dijon up to Maranges. The property encompasses the elements that made possible the development and differentiation of these parcels in relation to the features and qualities of the wines they produce and comprises two separated components: the first covering a series of small hills articulated into 1247 vineyard parcels – the Climats – each identified by its own name and cadastral data, the associated productive units, the rural villages and the town of Beaune, illustrating through its tangible attributes the commercial dimension of the Burgundy Climats, and the second encompassing the historic core of Dijon, which represents the political regulatory impulse to the formation of the Climats system.
The 1,247 Climats materialise in an outstanding manner the long lasting relationship of the local human communities with their territory and their ability to identify, exploit and distinguish progressively their geological, hydrological, atmospheric and pedological proprieties and associated productive potential since the Middle Ages. The historic construction of the parcels is linked to the foundation of Cluny and Citeaux abbeys the influence of which extended throughout Europe, but also to the Dukes of Burgundy, who acted as owners, managers, stewards, through the regulations they issued, as well as their promoters. The Climats represent an outstanding vineyard production model and a living repository of specific vine- and wine-cultural traditions and technical know-how which has resulted from the century-long human work to produce a minute subdivision of land cadastral units where a great number of localities still clearly recognisable in the landscape through paths, stonewalls, enclosures, meurgers, ... and fixed and regulated in the bylaws for denominations of origin since 1936. the cultural and historical construction of the Climats relates to the development of settlements and villages along the Cotes, the built heritage of which materialises a tangible testimony of this process: life and production places (wineries, cellars, vineyard habitat and villages, cabottes, etc.), places of political and religious power that could be found particularly in Dijon (e.g. Saint Benigne Cathedral, Church of Saint Vivant de Vergy, Saint Bernardine Monastery, Ducal Palace, Ancient Parliament of Bourgogne, Municipal Archives and Library), places associated to the commercialisation of the wines (e.g., houses of commerce and cellars), and places associated to research and education (e.g., the Hotel Pouffier, the oenological station in Beaune, the vine-cultural Lyceum) mainly concentrated in Beaune. These attributes are complemented by intangible manifestations, attesting to the liveliness of the vine – wine culture tradition of the Burgundy Climats (e.g. the wine auction in the Hospices of Beaune, the guild of knights of the taste-wine, the feast of Saint Vincent tournante).
Criterion (iii): The system of the Burgundy Climats, in associating the cadastral vineyard parcels, the villages of the Cotes, the towns of Dijon and Beaune, is a remarkable example of a vineyard historic landscape the authenticity of which has never been questioned throughout the centuries and where viticulture is still lively. The vitality of this activity rests upon the transmission to future generations of experimented practices and the several-century long accumulation of vine farming and wine making know-how. The differentiation of places and wines was made possible by the political and commercial impulse of the towns of Dijon and Beaune which still remain lively centres for the scientific and technical formation, for commerce and institutional representation. This distinction is accompanied by the progressive construction of a body of regulations the completion of which corresponds to the establishment, in the first half of the 20th century of the denominations of origin.
Criterion (v): The Burgundy Climats attest to the historical construction of a viticultural territory, the parcels of which has been precisely delimited, which expresses the cultural fact that a human community has chosen the reference to the place (the climat) and to times (the millesime) as a marker of quality and diversity of a product which results from the conjoined work of the natural potential and the human work. The Climats represent the human interaction with a specific natural environment under the influences of the urban poles of Dijon and Beaune. The recognition of specific properties of the soil parcels and the progressive establishment of the Climats are materialised through physical delimitations which still survive in enclosures, walls, stone-piles (meurgers), hedgerows, paths, etc. and attest to the specificities of each Climat. The built heritage of the town of Dijon and Beaune bear tangible witness to this viticultural construction: it is formed by edifices of power and representation of the institutions which governed the viticultural territory and are closely linked to the places of production and of life of the viticultural actors. For two thousand years, the human perseverance in alliance with the unique natural conditions have made of this site the exemplary crucible of site- specific vineyards.
Integrity
The property, despite the presence of the highway A6, the urban growth occurred in delimited areas and some changes to the landscape, maintains a satisfactory level of integrity. The cadastral structure has never been substantially affected as the historic studies demonstrate.
The energy and the commitment of the vineyard owners ensures the maintenance of the Climats, as this is their primary interest in relation to the great economic importance of the vineyards, of the parcels themselves and of specific wines therein produced, have also contributed to the containment of the urban sprawl and to maintaining most of the original features of the villages and of the rural landscape as well as the stability of ownership and land-use.
However, the structure of the landscape has undergone some changes, namely the afforestation with conifers of uncultivated plots and the reduction of its fine- grained appearance due to the loss of small elements caused by mechanisation, which require careful monitoring and ad – hoc protection measures which are to a large extent already in place or, where missing, under elaboration and shall cover the entirety of the property according to its specificities.
Authenticity
Living witness of a specific natural environment which has been valorised by a stable human community, the Burgundy Climats’ authenticity is materialised in the permanence and liveliness of the millennial vine- and wine culture vocation. The cadastral recording of the vineyard parcels attests to the their size, location and ownership reflecting in a credible manner the complex process of formation of the Climats and the persistence of tradition and ancestral techniques and farming land management. The continuity of the land use and of the minute parcelling is expressed also by the several landscape features that materialise the articulation of the climats (e.g., stonewalls, hedgerows, meurgers, paths, enclosures, etc.) and make evident their distinction and specificity. The phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century – in itself a discontinuity which hit all European vine cultivation and wine making – strengthened the resilience and perseverance of the local human communities. The denominations of origin, established in 1936, and the related cahiers de charges contribute to maintain the conditions of authenticity of the property although they need to be accompanied by other ad – hoc measures that are partly in place and partly being developed and that shall cover the entirety of the property. The urban poles of Dijon and Beaune as the living centres for scientific and technical knowledge and education as well as for marketing and institutional representation share in the same authenticity and still bear witness through their built heritage of the role played throughout the centuries in the construction of the Climats.
Protection and management requirements
The protection of the property relies upon different legal instruments, namely the Heritage, the Urban Planning, the Environment, the Rural and Forest Codes. Several zones, areas and monuments are already covered by specific forms of protection (sites classes, sites Natura 2000, monuments historiques, abords des monuments, secteurs sauvegardés, aires de valorisation de l’architecture et du patrimoine) and other ones are being developed and shall cover the entirety of the property to complement and complete the protection provided by the cahiers de charge for the existing denominations of origin, which also act as management tools. The entirety of the property is covered by territorial plans known as Schemas de Coherence Territoriale which provide the overall framework for the municipal master plans and land-use plans: the coordination of their objectives and regulatory tools contributes to territorial management effectiveness also through their sectorial planning instruments. The management framework is completed by the signing of a Territorial Charter by the 53 local decision makers which engages them to cooperate for the value – based governance of the property, which is ensured by the Mission de Climats de Bourgogne. The Mission encompasses a governing body – the territorial conference – and operational body – the permanent technical commission, advised by a scientific committee, and a participation forum of citizens and civil society. The expertise of the commission relies upon the technical competences of the permanent staff of the existing bodies and offices. Financial resources for the functioning of the Mission are allocated by each body, institution and office part of the Mission. The management system is documented in a management plan which identifies priorities and a strategic action plan detailed by specific operational schedules. Altogether these instruments must ensure that the landscape qualities and minute features of the property continue to be respected and enhanced where this is necessary.
- Recommends that the State Party give consideration to the following:
- Complete the protection through regulatory instruments to the entire property, so that all attributes that materialise the historical development of the Climats be protected;
- Finalise the landscape plan and related cahiers des charges for the quarry district within the property and prepare a Heritage Impact Assessment for the plan in accordance with ICOMOS Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessments for Cultural World Heritage Properties;
- Developing traffic and tourism-specific management strategies to be integrated into the enforced planning framework;
- Continuing the process of coordination and harmonisation of goals with the Department of Saône-et-Loire for planning previsions and projects to avoid negative impacts on the attributes of the property;
- Sensitizing the relevant territorial authorities to upgrade progressively their planning instruments to ensure the prompt adaptation of urban local plans to SCOT objectives and rational;
- Including the notion of bio-cultural diversity according to the CBD – UNESCO declaration within management;
- Operationalising the management system so as to manage the property as one entity and as a cultural landscape, paying special attention to the landscape’s man-made elements;
- Extending the monitoring system to the elements of the landscape mosaic and map these elements at an adequate scale of representation for conservation planning and monitoring;
- Ensure, in accordance with national legislation and in particular the landscape plan, that the impact studies for the renewal of quarries’ concessions shall demonstrate that visual or hydrological impacts related to the operation of the basement do not affect the Outstanding Universal Value of the property;
- Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2017, a report on the implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd in 2018.