On the 4th
of July Champagne and Burgundy received their inscription as UNESCO World
Heritage sites. I heartily congratulate them not only for the wonderful wines,
but also for the years of hard work they have put in to achieve this.
UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) was established in
1945 to promote peace through the protection of human patrimony. In 1972 the
World Heritage Convention was introduced to protect nature and human
interaction with it, allowing vineyards to be included.
If any
vineyards deserve World Heritage status it is surely those in the Marco de
Jerez. The nearby Coto de Doñana is already a World Heritage site for its
biodiversity, but the Sherry vineyards, with their ancient history and culture
and a totally unique product produced in wonderful bodegas, surely deserve
recognition as human patrimony. If Champagne and Burgundy deserve it, so does
Jerez.
Maybe
nobody has thought of this or prioritised it, maybe it is the wind farms or maybe
it is the dilapidated state of many vineyard houses, but for some reason Sherry
is not a World Heritage site. With hard work it could be however, and that
would attract many more visitors – and customers.
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