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For two days, conferences, walks and exhibitions took place around the World Heritage classification of the Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction. Among the many highlights, the involvement of the Lavaux vineyards, also classified by Unesco.
WINE CONVEYS AN ORIGINAL STORY
It’s a beautiful experience to which the Lavaux vineyards invited the participants of the Heritage Camp: taste a wine to feel its history. The theme of the meeting was on the original story that a glass of wine tells. In front of thirty people, Blaise Duboux, 17th generation of winemaker and Emmanuel Estoppey, manager of Lavaux World Heritage site, spoke of what unites the Swiss vineyard of Lavaux and the Saint-Emilion vineyard.
“Let us return to the essence of wine. The terroir, it is not only earth strata, it is also the human drive to look for a place to make it live. Wine is not a luxury item. It is a product that carries a tradition, a way of life and know-how, I think it’s very important”.
Blaise Duboux, winemaker in Epesses (Switzerland)
SAINT-EMILION AND LAVAUX, CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
The Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction was listed in 1999, and the Lavaux vineyard later in 2007. Both vineyards are examples of interactions between a territory and people over more than 800 years. In the Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction, the Combe de la Barde is a good illustration of this history. We can see the limestone plateau, with small terraces that undulate to follow the evolution of the elevation. One can also make out a vineyard hut, a stone château and a winery with contemporary architecture. A real condensed history of the juridiction.
In Lavaux, the whole vineyard also illustrates this encounter between human drive, that of the Cistercian monks, and geography. On the steep slopes of Lake Geneva, 806 terraced hectares are hand cultivated. As Emmanuel Estoppey says: “The terrace is the compromise that the men and the slope found to have a relationship”.
After listening to the story of the Lavaux vineyards, the participants tasted a white wine from the Chasselas grape variety. Everyone were then able to share their feelings. Some stressed “the minerality of the wine“, others “the great liveliness”, or the feeling that “the sun had concentrated in the glass“. Many finally talked about the human work and the pleasure of feeling the emotion of the winemaker. Through their wines, the Lavaux vineyards and Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction tell a rich and original story.
Blaise Duboux concluded the meeting, a glass of his own wine in hand:
“All the emotion that can be conveyed by a bottle of wine is interesting because it can be shared. It’s the same for World Heritage listing. If you do not share your listing, it is useless. It is interesting when you invite people and say to them: “Look at this, nature has made it, and we take care of it”.
The next Heritage Camp will take place in 2017, still in the Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction, on the theme of water.
