The file has been accepted! The Ministry of Culture agreed on 13 January to submit the Burgundy climate file as a candidate for France inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If these "climates" concern only part of the Burgundy vineyard (Côte d'Or essentially), it would undoubtedly be a very nice recognition of a unique typicity of Burgundy and its wines. And perhaps that would pave the way for other issues? Response expected from UNESCO by June 2015. Here is the press release of the project team, (to be found on www.climats-bourgogne.com): 
The good news is now official: the file of the climates of the Burgundy vineyards has been formally submitted by the Minister of Culture and Communication, Mrs. Aurélie Filippetti, to UNESCO. "We were certainly confident," says Aubert de VILLAINE, President of the association that is applying, "but we are very pleased with this official recognition of the quality of our file, which can now enter its formal investigation phase at the international level.I would like to stress that we would not be where we are today without the unwavering support of all the stakeholders in this magnificent project, scientists, viticulture professionals, elected officials, technicians, inhabitants… whom I thank from the bottom of my heart. It is the work of a whole team as well as the mobilization of 55,000 members of the support committee who are now rewarded." The candidacy of the climates of Burgundy will now be the subject of an investigation by a team of experts appointed by Unesco. There is still a long way to go until the official inscription, which will only be decided in June 2015, at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee. In the meantime, all stakeholders in the inscription project will once again be mobilized to demonstrate that Burgundy fully deserves its place on the World Heritage List and that the management plan for the site proposed for inscription meets UNESCO criteria. The Association des Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne congratulates the Champagne Houses, Hillsides and Cellars, also presented by the France.The two files are by no means competing. Indeed, the basis of their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and the criteria adopted by UNESCO are different. Burgundy is presented as a unique "cultural site", shaped by man for two thousand years and whose model of terroir viticulture shines today throughout the world. Champagne will be presented in the category of "cultural landscapes", whose agro-industrial system has marked the territorial and social organization of the Region, without forgetting its symbolic dimension of celebration shared throughout the world. By presenting these two files in the same year, the French State affirms the richness of its cultural heritage in wine, which makes its prestige and reputation at the international level. The next major events: – Autumn 2014: ICOMOS experts, UNESCO's advisory body, responsible for examining the scientific quality of the file, considering the progress of the management plan and probing the involvement of all actors in the field; – At the beginning of 2015, following this visit, any questions may be addressed to the site managers; – At the beginning of May 2015, ICOMOS will send the France an official report recommending the inclusion of the files or their differently; – In June or July 2015, the 21 Member States of the World Heritage Committee will make their decision on the basis of the report provided by ICOMOS, at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee in Berlin.
