The Time Is Ripe

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Old vineyards exist in every wine region in the world, and range in age from 35 to 100 years old, with one in Santorini said to be 500 years old! But it’s only in South Africa that they can be certified on the label. This is thanks to the Old Vines Project (OVP). Members can put a Certified Heritage Vineyards seal on bottles of wine made from vineyards 35 years or older, together with the planting date. The oldest vineyards in South Africa are around 120 years old, and are semillon, cinsault and Muscat of Alexandria in various pockets.

“Whenever we visit an old block, we feel the living energy and experience the history of the place,” says André Morgenthal, project manager of OVP. “Probably because we wonder what the vineyard has seen over the decades.

“We didn’t really know at the offset how to approach the OVP initiative. At first it was to keep vineyards 35 years and older in the ground, but we very soon realised there is a strong humanitarian element to our efforts as well: to keep farmers in business and farm workers in jobs,” explains André.