Old Vine Day: What Is It, And Why Do We Celebrate It?

It happens on August 1 every year, but what is Old Vine Day, and why is it important to celebrate it?

Read on to find out, and to discover some of our favourite old vine wines. 

Old Vine Day is relatively new, having been launched in 2022 by the Old Vine Project, a South African non-profit organisation that certifies the plant dates of vineyards that are at least 35 years old.

Old Vine Project exists to demonstrate the benefits of preserving old vineyards, and to ensure that old vine wines are sustainable and profitable, so that growers won't be tempted to pull precious old vines. 

Although only in its third year this year, Old Vine Day is an annual event celebrated by industry folks and wine lovers around the world every August 1.

First of all, old vines are impressive as hell. 

They can live for well over 120 years, with the oldest known grape-producing vine in the world coming in at over four centuries old. 

According to Wikipedia, the world's oldest authentic continually producing commercial vineyard is believed to be the Shiraz vines at Turkey Flat in the Barossa Valley's Tanunda, originally planted in 1847.

We reckon the fact that old vines are so resilient is worthy of celebration, but it's not just their survival skills that make them so, well, gnarly. 

As vines age, they produce less fruit. The trade-off, though, is that the fruit they do produce is more concentrated, and generally of better quality. 

This means that many producers are faced with the difficult choice of keeping precious old vines, which produce less, but better, wine, or pulling them in favour of new, more productive plants. 

Thankfully, we're lucky to still have significant old vine resources here in Australia, in spite of the vine pull scheme of the 1980s.

But making sure that people appreciate the quality of old vine wines, and the resources required to maintain them, is crucial to ensuring that they're around for many, many years. 

Don't worry; new vines haven't been forgotten!

The Old Vine Project aims to preserve existing old vines, but they also want to ensure that younger vines, or vines planted in the future, will still be viable when old. A worthy consideration given climate change, which is threatening the world's vineyard plantings. 

Rosa Kruger, vineyard manager and founder of the Old Vine Project, shares a little on their website about 'planting to grow old', and the impact of climate change on vineyards. 

“If we want to plant vines now that we want to grow old, we really need to know where the climate is taking us. Climatologists predict that the world is getting warmer and drier at a rapid pace. Africa’s temperatures may increase at twice that rate compared to the global average. However, there are key actions that can be taken to become more climate resilient in viticulture: Plan and plant smarter; capture rainwater effectively; design new vineyards within correct contours; plant higher and cooler; build a biodiversity of plants, animals and insects; build soil health; and plant acid-retaining varieties or varieties that ripen before heat waves.”

Old Vine Day is about celebrating vineyards that have survived the strains and stresses of a changing environment, while looking to the future and making sure old vine wines are still viable for decades (and centuries!) to come.

We're big fans of old vine wines, and we have plenty to choose from.

Take a look at our range of old vine red wines, and old vine white wines, or get in touch with us for recommendations from our wine gurus. 

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