🏷️ Old vines

Old vines is a label term meaning the wine comes from grapes grown on vines planted long ago. Old vines is a label mark: the wine is made from grapes of long-planted vines. In France it is vieilles vignes, in Germany alte Reben, in Spain viñas viejas. Most often it is used for vines aged 35–50 years or more. The law sets no age, so each producer decides.

An old vine gives less fruit, but the berries are smaller and more concentrated. The roots go deep into the ground, reach water and minerals, so the vine copes better with heat and drought. Wine from such grapes is often denser, more complex and longer-lived. But with age a vine falls ill more often, for example with esca, so some vines die and are harder to look after.

The mark is tied to wine classifications and to yield: the crop from old vines is lower. There is the term vin de garde, wine for ageing, and old vines often go into such wines. A label statement does not guarantee quality but shows the producer's intent. Some vineyards are more than a hundred years old and are regarded as heritage.