Dr Laura Catena wins inaugural Old Vine Hero

The Old Vine Conference Ltd has announced their first Old Vine Hero as Argentina producer Dr Laura Catena. Laura accepted the award for her longstanding commitment to promoting and protecting the future of Old Vine Malbec in Argentina.

The award also recognised Catena’s work at the Catena Institute, preserving massale and clonal selections of Argentine pre-phylloxeric Malbec. Massale-planted vineyards were common before clonal selection meaning most vineyards were planted with a single clone.

Massale selection involves choosing cuttings for planting, from a vineyard based on selection criteria. This is how vineyards were planted for thousands of years, resulting in vineyards with large genetic diversity. These ancient vineyards are prized as holding a large amount of genetic diversity and can provide new clonal variation for varieties.