What Does Old Vines Mean?
One of the rare cases where people seek out old age.
by Erin Henderson
In the fall of 2021 I toured through the Vinho Verde region of northern Portugal. Roaming the breathtaking grounds of A&D Wines in the Baião region, we paused to admire a short, sprawling, gnarly tree twisting and turning in all directions.
Except it wasn't a tree. It was a 200-year-old vine, still producing Avesso grapes for a rich and layered white wine.
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When "old vines" is printed on a wine label, there aren't any regulations to stipulate what that means. Most wine pros suggest anything older than 35 years is considered old enough to denote the special demarcation on the bottle.
The reason why old vines are so prestigious is that as a vine ages its fruit crop diminishes; the vine simply doesn’t have the power to keep pumping out loads of bunches of grapes.
Counterintuitively, this is a good thing. Fewer bunches mean the vine can pump its energy into one, or two, or three bunches, as opposed to many more. That energy means the grape bunches become more intense, concentrated, and aromatic. In short, a fuller flavoured, more complex, and structurally interesting grape. And, of course, that means (at least in theory) a fuller flavoured, more complex, and structurally interesting wine.
However, old vines, just like any living thing, can be a suscepticble to sickness and disease as it ages – which could threaten younger more vital vines that surround it, but also require a lot of care and dedication to keeping it well and performing.
When I visited a vineyard in Aloxe-Corton, in Burgundy a few years ago, I was surprised to see a fallow piece of land completely devoid of any vines. Aloxe-Corton is prime real estate and I thought the winery would want to maximize all its resources.
It was explained to me that very old vines don't always make economic sense. The effort to keeping vines alive and thriving versus the output of the vine can be a losing battle. The caretakers of the vineyard I visited said every once in a while they pull out parcels of their aging vines and let the ground rest and rebuild nutrients for a season or two before planting new vines.
In short, it all comes down to the vineyard, the vine, and the general management of the land. Old vines are a prize, but there comes a time when things must come to an end. When that is exactly, just like with anything living, is unique to that plant.