Old vine wine has long been popular, as the saying goes: ginger or old spicy, or old fragrance! So the older the vine is, the better the wine is? What is Old vine? How old is an old vine?
What is Old vine?
There's no definitive agreement on what old vines are, but this is how they are described in the Oxford Companion toWine by Jancis Robinson, a famous master of wine: "Old vines are reputed to produce grapes which make better quality wine." Old vines are reputed to produce grapes which make better quality wine. "
In addition to Old Vine in English, you can also see Vieilles Vignes, Alte Reben, Vinas Viejas, Vecchie Vigne/Vigne Vecchie and Vinhas Velhas, This can be seen on the wine labels of France, Germany/Austria, Spain, Italy and Portugal respectively.
How old is a grapevine?
Like people, the vine's life spans infancy, youth, adulthood and old age. So just as people have a fixed reproductive cycle, grapevines have an economic lifespan, most of the time between 20 and 40 years. To ensure that the old vines can continue to be produced requires a large maintenance cost, which may not be proportional to the economic benefits such as yield, quality and income.
The California Historic Vineyards Society, formed in 2000, says vines must be older than 50 years to be considered old. In 2009, Barossa Valley in Australia also made a clear provision for the standard of old vines: vines that are 35 years old and above can be called old vines, those that are 70 years old and above can be called surviving old vines, those that are 100 years old and above can be called century-old vines, and those that are over 125 years old can be called original old vines.
Are old vines of higher quality?
The grapes from the old vines are very concentrated. As the trees age, the capacity of the old vines shrinks, and it has been argued that the decline in the vines' capacity makes the result all essence, concentrated flavours, and therefore very strong wines.
The old vine takes deep roots. Depending on the weather to eat the grape, the good year and the bad year rotate, sunshine, rain, temperature and so on May fluctuate greatly, so the wine year has the existence of "big year". The old vines are strong enough and have deep roots, so they can draw nutrients and water from deep in the soil during bad times, so that the quality of the wine will not suffer greatly due to an off-year. Therefore, compared with the younger ones, the old vines are more prominent in lean years, tolerant of drought and flood and resistant to building.
The ripeness of the old vines is not a problem. The main reason why red wine is so concerned about the ripeness of the fruit is that the unripe tannins bring a tight, astringent taste. Winemakers have also found that older vines produce more consistent ripeness.
Are there any wineries in China that specialize in high mountain old vine wine?
Hunan Junqi Winery
Junqi Wine Industry was established in 2013, is a mountain wine production, management, brewing, tourism as one of the comprehensive enterprises. The company has a core planting base of 18,000 mu, brewing workshop 8000 square meters. The main production of Gaoshan grape as raw materials of dry red, sweet red and brandy series products. Among them, the 1863 series of century-old vine wine is deeply loved and recognized by customers. |
