A high-speed rail link planned between
Bordeaux,
Toulouse and
Spain is due to cut right through the vineyards of
Graves, threatening up to 50 hectares of vines. Ten chateaux are particularly affected by the proposed train route. These include chateaux include Le Tuquet, Méjean and Saint-Jérôme in northern section of the Graves, and Château du Grand Bos, Château Haut Selve and Château de Castres in the southern section.
André Vincent of Chateau du Grand said, ‘the final route has not yet been decided, but we are right in the middle of the affected area, and it is very close to our main buildings and prime vineyard land.’ ‘Wine has been made on this spot for 400 years, so this is not just vines, but rich history. We will continue to fight.’ Dominique Havelan, president of the Maison des Vins des
Graves, said viticultural heritage was ‘being ignored in favour of infrastructure developments.’ ‘The
Graves vineyard is the oldest in
Bordeaux.
Graves has already been affected by the
Toulouse motorway, and now is again threatened. ‘The wine tourism routes that we have recently opened are also seriously compromised by this.’ The train line is planned for Bordeaux-Toulouse, with a branch to Dax-Irun/Hendaye and down to
Madrid.
The proposed line will be part of a larger
Southwest Europe rail link joining
Spain and
Portugal with its northern European neighbours, to be completed by 2020.
Source: Decanter.com
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This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Bordeaux General Information.
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