Meeting of the World Heritage Vineyards in Saint-Emilion

This exchange of experiences made it possible to highlight the problems that all have encountered in managing wine-growing landscapes and to arrive at a definition of a common management approach involving all the parties concerned within the framework of an integrated development project that would bring together landscape management and tourism.

Another contribution for the partners in the VITOUR network was the development of discovery routes in World Heritage designated wine-growing areas, founded on the exceptional nature of the sites and on the integrity, authenticity and excellence that are inherent in the Convention on World Heritage. As regards the tourism section, the continuation of this project will make it possible to examine in depth the conditions for awarding the VITOUR label, the conditions for promotion and marketing, and the training of guides for the cultural, natural and wine-growing heritage.

 

One of the highlights of these meetings was the seminar that brought together all the European wine-growing networks so that they could share their experiences in the area of the development of wine tourism and the conservation of wine-growing landscapes and in addition so that they could put their heads together on the form that any future cooperation might take. After a contribution from Paul Dubrule, author of a report on wine-tourism commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Ministry of Tourism, five other programmes financed by the INTERREG fund (Vintur TourVin, VinTou, Vinum Est, Wineplan) gave presentations on their activities and results, followed by two round-table debates. The Deputy Director of the INTERREG Secretariat spoke about the setting up, the objectives and the conditions for implementation of the forthcoming INTERREG IVC programme.  

 

The question of the future prospects for the activities of the VITOUR network was discussed and these were to be based on a common charter for World Heritage Vineyards. This charter, the official emblem of a symbolic partnership under the aegis of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and based on the values of sustainable development, would bring together the priorities that had emerged from the work of the VITOUR programme. It would include four undertakings:  

 

- Knowledge of this cultural landscape and its development,

- Acknowledgement of the values of this cultural landscape by all those living on the site,

- Rational management of these cultural landscapes

- Development for wine tourism of these areas.

 

The charter will be the subject of a debate between all the partners in the course of their next international meeting, to take place in October 2007 at Tokaj (Hungary).