Old Vines

There are many wines on the shelves of Joe Canal's that are labeled as "Old Vine." What constitutes an old vine, and what's so special about them?

While the term old vine has no legal definition, the common consensus is that a grapevine that's over 40 years of age is considered an old vine.

A 120+ year old grapevine at Kunde Winery in Sonoma, California

As a grapevine gets older, it yeilds fewer grapes each season, so it's more economical for the wineries to pull out vines after 35 years or so and replace them with new ones. Old vines are a lot rarer than new vines, that's why they're less common to see. In the U.S., the most common old vines are Zinfandel, because in California vineyards up to 125 years old are still bearing small amounts of prized Zinfandel fruit.

Historically in Europe, older vines were always thought to result in better-quality wines. Old vine wines aren't necessarily "better" than new vines in terms of quality, they just have a different character. Because of the smaller yield, old vine wines tend to be intense, bold wines that are deep in color with concentrated dark fruit flavors.