The Hanzell Vineyards, the first Chardonnay plantings in Sonoma in 1953, still produce.
The Hanzell Vineyards, the first Chardonnay plantings in Sonoma in 1953, still produce. (Courtesy)

There have been a number of wines reportedly from "old vines," that is vines past a certain age that has been associated with mostly red wines. I was looking up new releases in wines from a couple sources and found at least six new wines that are from "old vines" but are Chardonnay vines.

I've written in the past about the term and if it really meant anything regarding the ultimate flavor of the wine and can "old vines" be something to rely upon when selecting a wine.

A 53-year-old Chardonnay vine from Daniel Lenko Estate.
A 53-year-old Chardonnay vine from Daniel Lenko Estate. (Courtesy)

My previous investigation and comparisons show Zinfandels can be bigger in fruit, the harvest is usually lower and more consistent year-in and year-out. Can it be truly reliable? I think only if you find a label that harvests from the same old vines every year and you like the wine, then it is reliable. But, I find it hard to justify a higher price every time just because the vines are old. Plus, my research on "old vines" was only with Zinfandel grapes because there are vines more than 100 years old still producing good fruit for wine.

So, what is with the "old vine Chardonnay"?


Chardonnay, and to a different extent Cabernet, have about a 30-50 year range of peak vine age before they start to slow down. But more importantly, the quality of the grapes does not continue to escalate as Chardonnay and Cabernet vines go into old age. There are incredible examples of top quality Cabernet being made from vineyards less than 10 years old. But some varieties seem to increase in quality while decreasing in yield as the vine ages.

Old Zinfandel vines from Litton Springs vineyards.
Old Zinfandel vines from Litton Springs vineyards. (Courtesy)

Zinfandel, on the other hand, will change quite dramatically in fruit production on vines older than 70-75 years old. The fruit gets more intense, the yields are lower and you end up with a darker, richer and usually spicier big Zin.

Here we run into another issue. What is considered "old vine," I mean, how old does the vine need to be?

Zinfandel makers have adopted the OVZ acronym, meaning Old Vine Zinfandel. The standard in years seems to vary when they use "OVZ."

Some of the examples I've come up with show different standards in making an "old vine" Chardonnay.

The release of the Beamsville Bench Chardonnay from Kew Vineyards of Ontario shows some promise. The vines this wine comes from are 36 years old from the vintage. A 100 percent Chardonnay that spent fermentation in French oak barrels is no older than four years old.

That Chardonnay from Kew Vineyards won a couple Gold medals from the Canadian National Wine Awards, so it got my attention.

I found a Chardonnay from Washington that is made from the oldest Chardonnay vines in the state. Kestrel Vineyards has a wine that is 100 percent Chardonnay from the Kestrel View Estate Vineyard. The Chardonnay was planted in 1972, so it is really not that old. The strange part about this wine that is marketed as "old vine," and they mention when the vines were planted, but the wine itself is non-vintage wine. It seems kind of self-defeating to not produce vintage wine if you are promoting "old vine."

Then I found an example of a New York Finger Lakes Region wine, Casa Larga Vineyards, with a new wine called 2012 Old Vine Chardonnay. The vines are almost the same age as the others as this wine comes from vines planted by founder Andrew Colaruotolo in 1974. It's a blend of grape juices fermented in American, French and Hungarian oak barrels using the sur lie method, meaning aging the wine on the yeast deposits, called the lees.

In each case that I found, there was something about the way the Chardonnay was made in addition to the age of the vines. Not that the age of the vines was really the reason for the resulting wine, it was the Hungarian Oak or the barrel fermentation that was more likely a contributor to the wine's flavor.

I did find some standards in vine age versus classification. Again, the standard has yet to be agreed upon and these terms are not thought to apply to Chardonnay.


Old Vine: equal or greater than 35 years of age

Survivor Vine: equal or greater than 70 years of age

Centurion Vine: equal or greater than 100 years of age

Ancestor Vine: equal or greater than 125 years of age

Here in the USA, Joel Peterson recommends vines are classified this way:

Young: 0 to 10 years

Middle: 10 to 50 years

Old: 50 to 80 years

Ancient: over 80 years