In 2015, what UNESCO designation was awarded to Champagne’s vineyard landscapes, houses and cellars?

In 2015, UNESCO designated Champagne’s vineyard landscapes, houses and cellars a World Heritage Site.

The inscription covers three connected parts of the Champagne wine region: the historic vineyards around Reims and Épernay, Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, and the underground chalk cellars and production facilities in Reims. UNESCO recognised the area as a cultural landscape shaped by centuries of grape growing, sparkling-wine production and commerce.

The award is not simply for the wine itself. It honours the relationship between the physical landscape, including chalk soils and vineyard slopes, and the human systems developed to make and store Champagne. The long cellars carved into chalk are especially important because they provide stable conditions for bottle ageing.

Champagne is one of several famous wine regions on UNESCO’s list, but the inscription specifically links vineyards, production buildings and storage cellars as one cultural and technological heritage system.