The right perimeter

A thoughtful area

The dual logic of protected and development led to the definition of a perimeter appropriate to these two concerns to propose a territory of intervention larger than the protected site. The project scope therefore includes:

• The area of protected site affected by successive protection measures, sites classified et registered, taken under the law of May 2, 1930 relating to natural sites and monuments. Established by a decree of October 18, 1985, it covers the entire territory of the municipality of Vergisson and almost the entire municipality of Solutré-Pouilly. 
• A perimeter expanded necessary to implement a strategy for disseminating tourist flows in a discovery island multi-thematic. It encompasses the perimeter of the classified site and extends to the limits constituted by:
  – to the north and east, the Mâcon-Cluny greenway,
  – to the west, the crest of the Monts de Bruyère,
  – to the south, the GR 76 A link to the Mâcon-Loché TGV station.

The perimeter of the Grand Site

The perimeter of the Grand Site currently covers 2774 hectares spread over 6 municipalities:

• Solutre-Pouilly et Vergisson who give their name to the Grand Site. These are the two municipalities at the heart of the Grand Site, their entire territory is part of the Grand Site, 100% of Vergisson and almost all of Solutré-Pouilly are protected sites (classified or registered). Their territory includes the Deux Roches (with the excavation sites) and the Mont de Pouilly. The municipalities also have plots in the zone Natura 2000 of which the Department is the facilitator. Finally, Solutré-Pouilly is the headquarters of the Grand Site facilities, owned by the Department (Prehistory Museum and Maison du Grand Site).
• Davaye, of which the entire commune is part of the Grand Site.
• Charnay-les-Macon, Run away et Prized, on part of their municipal territory.

Four municipalities, which are not part of the perimeter of the Grand Site, are historically related to its management:

• Chasselas  et Cenves because they support part of the classified site,
• Bussieres et Leynes for which the Department, manager of the Large Site, maintains the areas Natura 2000.

With the exception of Cenves, located in the Department of Rhône, the municipalities mentioned are part of the Mâconnais Beaujolais Agglomération urban community.

The reasons for the choice

This perimeter does not respond to a logic of administrative divisions, but rather to objective data which makes it a coherent geographical and human entity :

• It is a green basin oriented gently from west to east, towards the Saône valley and delimited by a belt of wooded ridges:
  – to the west, the woods of Torvon (between Cenves and Vergisson),
  – to the north, the woods of La Roche on Mont Saint-Claude,
  – to the south, the woods of Charnay and Saint-Léger in the continuity of Mont de Pouilly and the woods of Cenves,
  – to the east, the Petite Grosne valley where the TGV line, the RN 79 and the CD 89 run parallel, seems to form an almost impassable barrier that separates two worlds.

The GR 76 A delimits the basin to the west and south, up to the Mâcon-Loché TGV station.
On the eastern slope of the Grosne, the Voie Verte, on the route of the old Mâcon-Cluny railway line, closes this landscape marking the limit with the denser urban area.

• Charnay-lès-Mâcon is the main gateway to this territory. The RD 54, which crosses it, crosses the roads and SNCF tracks, connects the Mâcon town to the vineyard. The old Charnay station, headquarters of the tourist office, constitutes a strategic location, a hinge between the city and the countryside, the greenway and the RD 54, access to the site.
• It is a territory of winegrowers whose destiny is linked to those of the supporting appellations of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran.

The diagram below, drawn up in 2003, presents the initial intentions for defining the scope.