10 February 2022 To view or download the latest version of our Old Vines Register, click on the link below:
12 May 2022 If your vineyard is not yet on the Old Vines Register, but you've already been in touch with us, please be aware that our volunteers are working through an enormous amount of data, in their own spare time, so your patience is much appreciated. We will get there!
10 Feb 2022 Our venerable oldies have not been forgotten. Since our last major update on the Old Vine Register in 2019, there has been a lot of old-vine work going on behind the scenes, particularly over the last few months, not least of which has been the sterling commitment and dedication of Benjamin Roelfs, wine lover and Alsace specialist. Benjamin volunteered to help in 2021, and has been working tirelessly in the hours outside his full-time job to add and update more than a thousand entries in the Old Vine Register.
Despite that, there is a still a mountain of information to add. But we’ve had another volunteer hero emerge to give us a hand – Renee Berkus, cellar master of Stony Hill Vineyard in Napa Valley, contacted us to say that while things were relatively quiet in the winery, she’d love to give us a couple of hours a week. So she’s also working on the register, pulling out data from our wonderful collection of Old Vine WWC21 stories.
We’re also discussing plans to build a proper database to house this wealth of information, and make it available in a more searchable, navigable (and, we sincerely hope, more attractive) format than the current PDF, which is rapidly becoming very unwieldy! Calling all wine-loving database designers and developers out there…
There’s more. Jancis and I got together last week with Sarah Abbott MW, co-founder of The Old Vine Conference, and Belinda Stone, their new consultant head of marketing, and they’re putting together a very exciting campaign for 2022.
On 21 March they’re holding ‘The Old Vine Conference Party with Purpose’ in London for members and the wine trade – an event to mark the first anniversary of the first Old Vine Conference. Belinda Stone explains, ‘It will be a platform for us to present our plans for the coming year, to reflect on the achievements of the organisation so far, to network with like-minded old vine supporters (old and new), meet the founders of The Old Vine Conference and, importantly, to drink and enjoy some old-vine wines!’ Venue details are still being confirmed, but keep an eye on The Old Vine Conference website or subscribe to their newsletter.
They’re also planning a series of consumer-facing, old-vine wine tastings throughout the year as well as hosting virtual workshops in April and November for the global community of old-vine stakeholders.
Another major development is the brand-new Old Vine Trophy that the IWSC has recently launched in partnership with The Old Vine Conference. In the press release, Christelle Guibert, CEO for the IWSC explained that 'the IWSC want to recognise the producers who see the value of old vines and are going out of their way to look after them and encourage others to do the same.' The deadline for wine entries is 25 March and judging will take place between 2 and 16 May.
But the biggest event of the year will be Old Vine Wine Week 10–14 October 2022. It will be an action-packed week with face-to-face and virtual activities going on around the world with, in Belinda’s words, ‘a far-reaching agenda in terms of topics, speakers and hosts and a truly global reach’.
So there’s lots to look forward to. In the meantime, keep drinking and appreciating those beautiful old-vine wines. And if you have information about any old vineyards which are not on the Old Vine Register, please contact us on editorial@jancisrobinson.com.
The photo above, of Evangelho vineyard in Contra Costa, California, was provided by Dr Chris Howard for his competition-winning entry to the WWC21. Credit for the image goes to Bedrock Wine Co.
