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The new online database Old Vine Registry (OVR) documents vineyards worldwide with vines that are at least 35 years old. The project initiated by Jancis Robinson MW and her team has been online for a few days and is available to all interested parties free of charge. Wineries and wine lovers can enter the data of historic vineyards themselves. Currently, 2,200 vineyards are recorded in the register. Most of the data at the start comes from Portugal and Spain with 822 and 383 registered vineyards. The United States is in third place with 334 sites, followed by Australia and France with 208 and 142 respectively. 28 sites are currently listed in Germany. The project is financially supported by the US wine group Jackson Family Wines.
On the importance of old vines, the OVR writes on its website: "Old vines have adapted to stress over decades and even centuries. They are often more resilient in times of drought and heat waves, they have learned to live with or develop immunity to pests and diseases, and they have survived extreme weather events. Unlike young vines, they do not need to be irrigated and require less or no chemical inputs to survive. Old vineyards are also often rich in clonal diversity and rare varieties. The genes of old vines can be researched and the material of old vines can be propagated for more resistant young vines.
We need to value old vines more than we do. Governments need to stop funding runaway programmes where older vines are replaced with young vines that need to be irrigated for many years."
To expand the register, the OVR team is calling on all winegrowers and wine lovers to add the data of more vineyards online.
(al / source: Hapers.co.uk)