🏷️ Old vines

Old vines are grapevines of a documented great age; in wine the phrase is used for grapes and wines from such plants. In 2024 the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) gave the term an international definition in Resolution OIV-VITI 703-2024, adopted at its 22nd General Assembly in Dijon.

According to the OIV, an old grapevine is a single plant officially documented to be 35 years old or older. For grafted plants, the graft union between rootstock and scion must have stayed undisturbed for at least 35 years. For purposes other than producing vitivinicultural products, a higher limit may be set.

An old vineyard is a continuous, legally delimited block in which at least 85% of the vines meet that definition. It must produce wine, table grapes, dried grapes, distillates or unfermented grape products that can be certified by a competent authority.

To assess age, the OIV recommends georeferencing the site and using documented data, and also identifying the variety and rootstock, recording whether the vines are own-rooted or grafted, and noting how they are pruned and trained. Where official data are missing, it suggests self-certification with professional affidavits.

The OIV describes old vines as a heritage with genetic, agronomic and cultural value. It notes that few vineyards grow old, so studies of how age affects yield and quality are limited, and it recommends that member states catalogue old vineyards and old grapevines.