Wine Tips

Old Vines

Many expensive wines use the term 'old vine' on their packaging, but what does it really mean? When a vine starts its life, the first 2-3 years do not produce grapes. Typically they start to produce around year 4. Yields continue to increase until year 7 when the vine reaches maximum productivity. At 20-30 years the yield starts to decline. Many old vines are 50+ years when the yield drops significantly. Low yielding vines can produce grapes with concentrated flavours, as the flavour-causing nutrients are focused in fewer grapes. So old vines generally can produce very good quality grapes, which if treated with care, can produce extremely good wine.