Plans for a massive new road through Bordeaux have been shelved.
A Bordeaux tribunal yesterday gave in to protesters and blocked plans for the 'Grand Contournement' road that was to pass through the Médoc and Côtes de Bourg and Blaye.
The bypass and bridge across the river Gironde were designed to relieve congestion on the Rocade, the existing ring road around Bordeaux. It would also allow easier access to the Spanish border from northern France
The French government greenlighted the project in May 2004, although work was not to begin for another 15 years.
The wine community protested vigorously when detailed announcements of proposed routes, published last year, showed several routes cut straight through prime viticultural land in Bourg, Blaye and Margaux.
Chateau Cantemerle director Philippe Dambrine, one of the most vociferous voices against the proposals told decanter.com, 'It's very good news for us, as there were plans to cut our vineyards entirely in half. We don't need a motorway through the Médoc, we need to concentrate on making the existing D2 road really welcoming for tourists, and ensure all the towns and villages along it are well restored.'
Not every one is pleased. Jerome Bonacorrsi of Château La Rivalerie in Premieres Côtes de Blaye said, 'Even though the road would have cut through my vineyards, the proposed exit would have been a chance to bring more tourists to Bourg and Blaye. We need a solution that stimulates the local economy but not at the expense of the winemakers.'
Another well-placed observer said the road was needed for speeding up commerce. 'It just shows once again that, in France, if you complain for long enough, the authorities cave in.'
The government has the right to contest the decision.
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It may seem presumptuous for a distant American to take pleasure in the successful revolt against the planned superhighway through Bordeaux. But it isn't.
Here in New York City we had an autocratic, overly powerful public-works czar, Robert Moses, whose steamroller highway-building mania was finally stopped dead by outraged residents of Greenwich Village, whose intimate neighborhoods would have been wiped out and rendered soulless by one of his blueprints.
The Médoc revolt brings to mind the insurrection in 2001 against the Robert Mondavi Winery's interest in establishing a vineyard in Aniane, a Languedoc village, from whose grapes it would make a premium wine.
One foe was the famed Aimé Guilbert of Mas Daumas Gassac, who hated 'industrial wines.' His passion for expressing terroir is well-documented in the film 'Mondovino.' The town's mayor, Manuel Diaz (a Communist), joined with environmentalists and hunters to defeat the Mondavi project, which might be seen as a threat to social terroir. Diaz said at the time: 'I know danger when I see it. If they're coming here, they're not coming to create wealth for us here, but for their shareholders.'
Look at what has become of the Mondavi empire today. At whose mercy, with what new promises, would its collapse have left the villagers?
Similarly, what would a superhighway through irreplaceable Médoc vineyard land do? The short answer: Breed eventual widening, with even more lanes. And maybe another highway. The traffic-loving planners in Paris would wind up saying: Goodbye, Haut-Brion. Thanks for the memories. Howard G Goldberg, New York
That's good news that there will be no motorway thru the Margaux Vineyards. Wine we can enjoy. Motorways only destroy!
Felix Christen, Wallisellen, Switzerland
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It may seem presumptuous for a distant American to take pleasure in the successful revolt against the planned superhighway through Bordeaux. But it isn't.
