The past, present and future of old vines

Old vines on the volcanic slopes of Etna in Sicily.

Michèle Shah hosts Old Vine session at Green Wine Future

Our Regional Ambassador for Italy, Michèle Shah, hosted a deep dive session about Old Vines at the Green Wine Future 2022 symposium with a raft of high-profile old vine specialists from around the world. Here she summarises her key takeaways from speaker to speaker.

“It was a great honour for me to moderate this session at Green Wine Future 2022, which was an entirely digital event taking place over 4 days from different time zones around the globe. My session was comprised of an amazing highly qualified panel of speakers, looking at the aspects of how old vines are impacted by climate change and how old vines are part of a sustainable ecosystem.

Each presentation took us to a different continent or corner of the globe to witness sustainable scientific research and the special relationship of preserving, maintaining and nurturing old vines in this time of climate change.

Our first speaker was Dr. Claude Bourguignon from France - with a masters in plant physiology and a PhD in biological fixation of nitrogen, nominated director of research in the soil microbiology department at INRA in Dijon, then went on to head his own independent laboratory of Soil Micro-biological Analyses (LAMS).

Dr. Claude Bourguignon

Over the past 35 years Dr. Bourguignon has been actively working with farmers and winegrowers assisting them set up an agricultural model that respects soils and biodiversity. His research has focused on studying biological activity of agricultural soils by measuring the activity of alkaline phosphatase, as well as studying the biodiversity of the micro-fauna of agricultural soil (collembola, acaria, myriapodes, etc).

From his estate vineyards, Dr. Bourguignon delivered a presentation outlining the reasons why old vines are so in the production of great wines and why modern vineyard practices tend to accelerate the loss of old vines. “In the past 50 years intensive agriculture has destroyed biodiversity on an unprecedented scale. It is urgent to find solutions that could restore biodiversity above and below ground in agriculture,” explained Dr. Bourguignon.

We then traveled to Jerez in Spain to meet Victoria Gonzalez Gordon, 5th generation family member of Gonzales Byass and Chief Sustainability Officer of the Gonzales Byass green team - a multi department team which focusses on sustainability. Ms Gonzales Gordon told us about their Old Vine Sustainability Project: ‘Vineyard Angel’, a long-term initiative that seeks to retrieve, maintain and preserve Spain’s old vineyards. The first phase will consist of retrieving a 74-year-old vineyard, owned by the Madrigal de las Altas Torres town council (Ávila), in the D.O. Rueda and the second project is Xarel.lo and Macabeo vineyards located in Espiells, an historic wine-growing area in Alto Penedés. A third project is on the way.

Victoria Gonzalez Gordon

“Old vineyards encapsulate centuries of culture and tradition. They are historic natural treasures, key to safeguarding the biodiversity of their environment and the source of unique and very special wines. Today, many are at risk of being forgotten,” said Gonzales Byass.

We then headed to Australia to meet Dr. Dylan Grigg, who heads Meristem viticulture, a consulting service with over 20 years working experience in a wide range of regions, climates and areas of viticulture. Dr. Grigg’s PhD doctoral thesis focuses on grapevine age and quality measurements among some of the oldest vines in the world. Speaking from his vineyards in the Barossa Valley, which can be identified as a region that has no phylloxera, and 229 hectares of vineyards over the age of 100 years. Dr. Grigg explained that his aim is to achieve vine health and balance through soil health and seasonal management with respect to the local environment and conditions. He also showed how an amazing 175-year-old Grenache bush vine planted to deep soils was thriving on its own roots which had re-rooted into the soil, without fear of pathogens.

These old vines that have adapted so well to their environment are capable of dealing with drought and climate change, however Grigg explained how important it is to find the right site and practice the right vineyard management with carefully balanced pruning, that enables vines the capacity to carry the correct amount of fruit.

Dr Dylan Grigg

We then went to the volcanic area of Italy to meet Salvo Foti – winemaker from the volcanic slopes of Etna in Sicily. Foti, who has 40 years of experience of curating Etna vineyards, sees himself as a ‘custodian’ of old vines, nurturing the vineyards and upholding a traditional cultivation which is handed down from generation to generation of Etnean winemakers, preserving and allowing century vines to adapt to the territory in order to yield unique terroir driven wines.

Foti advocates that in order to preserve and maintain old vineyards one needs to uphold a system of respect for the territory, one of minimum intervention and of no chemical intervention. He explained how important it is to nurture the relationship between soil and climate and of vineyards site selection, but above all the importance of a co-existing relationship of regenerative agriculture and one of evolution between man and viticulture so as to focus on a qualitative production. How to do this? “By creating a community of ‘elder’ (in the wise and experienced sense) winemakers who can transfer their wisdom of winemaking to a younger generation of winemakers.”

Salvo Foti

Traveling across to South Africa in Stellenbosch we met Rosa Kruger and André Morgenthal - who oversee the Old Vine Project in South Africa, which boast some 130 members and 250 certified heritage vineyards. The Old Vine Project acts as a source of knowledge for scientific research in the understanding of plants and the ageing process of vines, especially in this challenging time of climate change.

Rosa Kruga.

Rosa Kruger is a consultant vineyard manager to a number of top South African estates and new emerging ones. She was the first person to publish a regularly updated list of the Cape’s old vines. Talking from a plot of Grenache Noir vineyards in Swartland, she advocated how much one can learn from the wisdom and knowledge locked up in old vines when looking at becoming more climate resistant. According to Kruger “old vines have a memory” and they can anticipate the season whether it’s going to be a dryer one or wetter one, and react in order to protect themselves. Her advice is to fertilize with self-made compost and manure and to use cover crops.

Kruger explained how South African old vines don’t have deep roots , rather they spread out more and are nearer the surface, therefore mulching is a great way to retain soil moisture, to control soil erosion and to bring down the temperature in the soil, as well as controlling compaction. She emphasised how important it is to create more biodiversity by telling us “to follow nature rather than dominate nature”.

André Morgenthal explained how important it is to have a sustainable business plan – from the planting to the sales of the wines, and that it is important to also look at the commercial aspects of producing wines form old vines by placing a value on old vineyards, as consumers are willing to pay a premium for wines form old vines.

Our final stop was in Chile with Dr Marcelo Lanino a specialist in the supervision and control of irrigation and fertigation in vines in desert conditions looking at the climatic conditions of vines in the Atacama desert and of rescuing vineyards in Tamarugal in northern Chile.”

Vines in the Atacama desert.

You can connect directly with Michèle on Instagram @micheleshah and find out more about her work via her website: micheleshah.com.

By Michèle Shah.