07/12/05 E-mails on old wines

Welcome to Vine to wine, this is your host Linda Moran and we have been receiving lots of questions about this topic in our email so on today's program we are going to talk about "Old Vines" when referring to wine. Every so often when you are reading wine labels you will notice that the winery is featuring grapes that they refer to as coming from "Old Vines". Why is this such a big deal and why should we care? Well most likely the concept came from a marketing firm somewhere but it was brilliant! There seems to be something to it. First of all "old vines" refers to grapes vines that are 40 years and older. It is believed that as the vine ages the production of fruit diminishes but the quality of that fruit is intensified and it can be made into really good wine. The wines seem to exhibit an elegance and balance that is attributed to the fruit. Most of us first heard of this when buying Zinfandel from California, where they do seem to have an abundance of Zinfandel vineyards that are over 40 years old. The Australians also seem to be big on touting their "Old Vines" on the label. So are all of the wines that say "old vines" on the label great wines, or an act of stellar winemaking or are the grapevines producing great fruit? Just for fun pick up a selection and taste them with your friends and you be the judge. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.