URBAN VINEYARDS ASSOCIATION AVIGNON ALSO JOINS THE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

Avignon , an ancient French town, has joined the network of the Urban Vineyards Association , the international association that brings together the surviving vineyards within the city centers, founded in 2019 on the initiative of Luca Balbiano who manages Villa della Regina in Turin. Thus the number of associated vineyards rises to nine and those located in France to three.

In fact, if Avignon is famous for the historical events that indissolubly link it to papal history, it is less known than inside the Palazzo dei Papi - a Gothic masterpiece that was the official seat of part of the College of Cardinals, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site - is guarded a suggestive vineyard whose history begins in the thirteenth century. The only French AOC intra-muros vineyard, the Clos de la Vigne at the Palais des Papes overlooks the historic center of Avignon and the Rhone from the top of the Rocher des Doms, the famous rocky spur located on the right bank of the river. The Clos, set in a grandiose urban landscape, is owned by the city of Avignon and, since the first rows were planted in 1997, it has been managed by the Compagnons des Côtes du Rhône in collaboration with the Lycée professionnel viticole d´Orange.

The Clos was built in less than twenty years by two popes, Benedict XII and Clement VI, who decided to allocate one of the most panoramic and privileged points of the Palace to the fascinating art of viticulture. Today this strip of land that bears witness to Avignon's illustrious past has a double value for visitors: aesthetic for the splendid view from the top of the Rocher des Doms and learning for the opportunity it offers in the knowledge of the different French varieties. Among the vines planted, which count about 540 vines, ten native vines can be found : for the reds Grenache noir, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Marselan and Counoise while for the whites Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne.

" We are happy and proud that the Clos de la Vigne du Palais des Papes has joined the association of urban vineyards - comments Louis Buzan ç ais , president of Les Compagnons des Côtes du Rhône - and is associated with the promotion of this heritage unique. We fully support the approach adopted by our Italian friends in celebrating the wine culture by promoting these very special sites. We share the desire and enthusiasm for the establishment of this network and, to use a term that is dear to us, for make sure that 'the man talks to the man' ".

" To welcome the Avignon vineyard is an honor: the Clos of the Palazzo dei Papi is a place that holds an inestimable value. One of the most beautiful aspects of the grape is that very often the vineyards that are part of it have a memorable history to Their origins almost take on the traits of legend, where the protagonists are great kings, brilliant inventors or daring political projects. Welcoming the Avignon vineyard within the Association represents a further great step in the internationalization of our project "concludes Luca Balbiano , President of the Urban Vineyards Association.

The vineyard of the Popes joins that of Turin, Siena, Montmartre, Venice (two vines), Milan, Palermo and Lyon. The Urban Vineyard Association "- UVA - is thus enriched with another site of great cultural value, giving new impetus to the promotion of the rural, historical and landscape heritage that these urban rows testify and becoming an important tourism development opportunity that connects culture and food and wine. .