Corks pop in France for bubbly heritage

Historic French vineyards, wine cellars and champagne houses in regions where the world's most famous sparkling wines are produced - Burgundy and Champagne - were listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO on Saturday.

The United Nations' cultural organization picked out the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, where the grand houses sit atop miles of cavernous cellars holding millions of bottles of bubbly.

There was special mention, too, of the village of Hautvilliers, in whose abbey, as legend has it, the monk Dom Perignon first invented the double fermentation technique that gives champagne its fizz.