Our third year hosting one of the largest global tastings of old‑vine wines took place on Tuesday 17th June at Vagabond Wines, in the heart of the City of London. With 150 remarkable old-vine wines from regions spanning Argentina to South Africa, Italy to Australia, and beyond, our annual London tasting truly showcased the depth and diversity of old‑vine heritage.

In 2009, Michael and Velichka Zehe make an accidental discovery – an old vine parcel in Bulgaria’s Thracian Valley – that kick starts their winemaking journey. They rescue the abandoned vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in the 1970s that was on the verge of being cut for firewood, and expand by buying new plots and planting more vines – across both Bulgaria and Germany. 

At the Old Vine Conference, we celebrate initiatives that champion heritage vineyards and their invaluable contribution to global viticulture. One such pioneering collective is VIGNO -- Vignadores de Carignan, a collective established by a group of winemakers in 2011 to revive and garner attention for the historic, bush-trained, dry-farmed, Carignan vineyards in the Maule—the cradle of South American viticulture. 

The winners of The Old Vine Hero Awards 2025 were announced at the winners’ webinar on Monday 31^st March 2025.  

We've received another inspiring haul of nominations for the third Old Vine Hero Awards and our judges have had the agonising task of reaching 5 shortlists from 14 countries!

Bodegas Numanthia is the longest standing Spanish member of the Old Vine Conference, making outstanding, age-worthy wines from some of the country’s oldest ungrafted Tempranillo vines.  Its flagship wine, Termanthia, is made from Tempranillo vines that have an average age of 110 years.

We’re thrilled to announce the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) as proud sponsors of the Old Vine Hero Communication & Education Award 2025! The Communication & Education award is a new category that broadens the scope of the original Old Vine Hero Communication award, recognising not only exceptional communicators in the wine industry but also the educators who are working to inform, inspire, and raise awareness of the importance of old vines and the wines they produce.

Entry to the Old Vine Hero Awards 2025, including four new award categories, is now open!

The Old Vine Registry, the world’s first and most authoritative database of old vine vineyards marked the new year having accumulated more than 4,000 entries from 39 countries, making steady progress to a goal of registering 10,000 vineyards by 2027.

In June 2023 Vinchio Vaglio became officially recognised as a Sustainable Winery when they received their Equalitas certification. For the second consecutive year they share a summary of their Sustainability Report to inspire and encourage others to do the same. 

Written By Michèle Shah, The Old Vine Conference Regional Ambassador for Italy. Etna is home to an ancient civilisation of vine-growing: the study of its rich viticultural history and understanding of its unique viticulture and oenology can tell us as much about its past as it can inform us of its bright and

The 22nd OIV General Assembly of the International Organisation of Vine & Wine (OIV) has adopted the Resolution OIV-VITI 703-2024 “OIV definition and recommendations about old grapevines and old vineyards in the vitivinicultural sector”, by recognising the works of international initiatives including The Old Vine Conference, The Old Vine Project,The Old Vine Registry and the Censimento Vecchie Vigne.   

A progressive partnership between The Old Vine Conference (OVC) and Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) has been announced at the closing session of day 1 of The Old Vine Conference 2024. OVC & ZAP together with other notable organizations including California Wines, Lodi Wines and the Historic Vineyard Society will come together to host an extraordinary event series from 31st October to 4th November, 2025 in Northern California.

In Tuscany, on the 8th and 9th October our winery members from across Italy gathered at Tenuta Sette Ponti for the inaugural ‘All of Italy’ Old Vine Conference.  The first meeting of its kind united 22 Italian wineries from across the country in their shared mission to preserve, protect and promote the viticultural heritage of Italy and the fine wines they produce.    

For decades, the author of this post, Natalia Morrison, has been captivated by the deeply rooted, ancient trees and vines living around us.

The winners of The Old Vine Hero Awards 2024 were announced at a virtual results webinar on Monday 25th March 2024.

Find out more about all the shortlisted nominees …

Rethinking Barbera through the old vine lens: Cynthia Chaplin recounts our old-vine fieldtrip to Piedmont with Vinchio Vaglio.

Jumilla DO is organising an old vine fieldtrip to study the soils of the regions vineyards in April 2024.

Alchemy Wines launches world’s first old vine wine in cardboard bottle.