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Old vines celebrated 7-26-2023
“Old vines”—marketing hype or a real and important thing? For the creators of the Old Vine Registry (OVR), old vines are a real and important element of the wine world.
Start with definition. OVR defines old vines as vines/vineyards at least 35 years old. For many, 35 doesn’t even seem old, but there is logic behind the designation.
Old vine zinfandel (Photo by Randy Caparoso)
Wine vines evolve. Vines typically do not produce useable fruit until their third birthday. Then they enter a period of about 30 years where fruit improves and production is generous. For a grower fixated on yield-per-acre, this is the sweet spot. Once production declines, time to rip out old and plant new.
That approach overlooks advantages older vines bring to the sorting table. Older vines may deliver less fruit, but fruit with more intensity and character. Quality rather than quantity. Old vines have much deeper root systems—some up to 30 feet, although 15 feet is more common. Young vines likely have roots less than three feet deep. Deep rooted vines cope better with drought, heatwaves, certain diseases. The growing challenge in vineyards today—drought, heatwaves, certain diseases.
In the U.S., you most likely encounter old vines with California zinfandels. Wineries survived Prohibition by making sacramental wines and various clever, and legal, home-made wine packages using zinfandel.
The OVR currently lists 229 U.S. vineyards containing old vine zinfandels. Eschen Rinaldi was planted in 1865, Original Grandpere in 1869. The OVR website provides links to find wines and vineyards. Eschen Rinaldi grapes, for instance, make their way into Turley Wine Cellars Zinfandel.
There are vineyards and vines 600 years old in Germany, 400 years old in Georgia and Slovenia, and 350 years old in Italy. In the Americas, Chile has several vineyards more than 200 years old.
The OVR website began in 2010 as a spreadsheet on JancisRobinson.com, but now is a growing, stand alone, crowd-sourced, non-profit enterprise. Longtime wine writer and digital expert Alder Yarrow took up the challenge in 2022. He notes: “It’s important to stress that this site that we’re launching is what we call an MVP—Minimum Viable Product. It’s our first shot at it and we think it works rather well but there's plenty more that we know we’d like to add and change…”
Old vines consistently produce some of the highest quality wines. OVR is worth a visit.
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Old vines celebrated 7-26-2023