South Africa’s pioneering project is proving the value of old vine wines

‘When we pull out old vines we are pulling out livelihoods, not just our viticultural heritage,’ says project manager André Morgenthal, who works alongside Kruger. ‘What we are trying to do is to save our old vines, but also plant to grow old so we can have a sustainable model of viticulture to keep our vineyards, our growers and our workers in business.’

Morgenthal says that the certified heritage seal also guarantees authenticity and traceability. ‘Our planting records go back to 1900 … nobody else has got that sort of data. It’s not just a romantic story, it’s fact.’

South Africa has around four thousand hectares of vines officially classified as at least 35 years of age, with the oldest, Cinsault, already in the ground when the record-keeping began. The Old Vine Project seeks to identify such vineyards to encourage their preservation through classification, while also promoting best practice for vineyard management, such as specific pruning techniques. ‘Dealing with old vines is like dealing with an old people’s home. The pill box at 6 o’clock in the evening looks different for each resident and each vine is different,’ says Morgenthal. ‘We’re not really pruning anymore, we’re sculpting.’

These plants aren’t just helping local vineyard hands learn new ways of working. They are also a vital barometer within the context of the climate crisis. ‘We are facing climate change [so] we are learning through research why those vineyards have been surviving there,’ says Morgenthal.

Indeed, many believe that older vines have a crucial role to play when it comes to the long-term future of the wine industry, as temperatures rise and water shortages become more commonplace. With its more extensive root system, an older vine can, literally, dig deeper for water, but many viticulturists also believe that, through their clonal material, long-established plants have a greater capacity to deal with disease pressures as well as extremes of weather.

Old vines, or ‘vieilles vignes’ have, of course, been mentioned on the front labels of specific cuvées for many years, with plenty of connoisseurs prepared to pay a premium for the privilege, yet because of the lower yields they produce, the viability of old vines is still widely questioned across the global wine industry, resulting in healthy, heritage plants being ripped out. So could South Africa’s certified heritage seal mark a turning point, creating a convincing commercial market for the fruits of older vines?

‘I think that what is particularly impressive about South Africa is that they have taken all of the different elements – viticulture, certification, marketing, education and tasting – and tied it all together,’ says Sarah Abbott MW, co-founder of the Old Vine Conference, a UK-based initiative to protect older vines globally. ‘South Africa is a benchmark for what the entire sector needs to achieve with old vine wines.’

South Africa’s Old Vine Project featured prominently as the IWSC took its 2022 South African assessment process to Paarl, with Morgenthal laying on a special tasting for the visiting international judges – including an incredible Cape of Good Hope Groendruif  (the Afrikaans name for Semillon), from vines planted in 1956, and an Imvini Wethu Pinotage Cinsault, from those dating back to 1932 – providing convincing evidence of the impact on quality that older vines can provide.

‘They handle the drought better, but the main advantage with old vineyards is the smaller crop yield,’ says Richard Duckitt, winemaker at Bellingham, whose Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc was a Silver medal winner in the competition. ‘With that you also get a slightly more elevated acidity, the grapes are also more mature at a lower sugar level, which means you can harvest them at the right phenolic ripeness, with lower alcohol, but they still have a lot of concentration at the same time … the wines are just more mature.

‘Our old vineyards are something really special for us … we rejoice in them.’

Five award-winning South African old vine wines to try

You can hear more from Richard Duckitt and André Morgenthal on Episode 62 of the Drinking Hour with David Kermode, on Food FM