by Will Lyons

Corks popped and wine flowed earlier this month, as the "hillsides, houses and cellars" of Champagne and the vineyards of the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune in Burgundy were granted Unesco world heritage status, joining an illustrious list that includes the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu and Stonehenge.

But while the French president heaped plaudits on his country's wine industry, my mind turned back to a year ago, when the vineyards of the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont—including Barbaresco DOCG, the Langhe and the villages of Barolo and Monforte d'Alba—were also deemed to have the special cultural or physical significance worthy of this honor.

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Source: http://www.wsj.com/