Baudains: Are old vines important?

Statistically, very old vineyards occupy a marginal place in the big picture of the wine world. Are those gnarled trunks and spindly canes uneconomical romance or the source of great wine and precious biodiversity?

To try to unpack some of the complicated issues prompted by the question, I spoke to three people in Friuli-Venezia Giulia who work with old vines, in different capacities.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for wines from old vines

Marco Perco, Roncus

Marco Perco is the owner of the Roncus estate in the Collio. He has just under two hectares of Malvasia, Tocai Friulano and Ribolla Gialla vines, originally planted immediately after WWII and distributed in small, irregular plots in the wooded hills above the village of Capriva.

Individual vines have been substituted over time, but more than 50% of the approximately 4,000 vines are from the original plantings of 80 years ago. Over the 2ha, average yields are around 40-50 quintals/ha, which is equivalent to a respectable 1-2kg per vine.

‘Are old vines more resistant to disease?’ I asked. ‘Not necessarily,’ is the reply, ‘but because of their deep roots they suffer drought stress less and recover better in wet conditions.’

I asked Marco to complete the sentence: Old vines are important because…

He replied that the most important reason for maintaining historic vineyards is that they preserve the natural habitat. They were planted in the pre-mechanised era, without modifying the natural contours of the land or destroying the structure of the soils with the creation of artificial terraces and drainage systems.

They are non-invasive and live in symbiosis with their surroundings.

On a scale of values, he says, ‘the ecosystem is more important than the wine.’ The wine exists in function of the terroir, and not vice versa. At the same time, he recognises the economic realities. ‘Without a financial return,’ he says, ‘the rest is poetry.’

He sells his old-vine Collio Bianco Vecchie Vigne at double the price of the rest of the range, and he argues that by doing so, he helps to maintain the terroir intact. For his Vecchie Vigne, Marco picks the Malvasia, Tocai Friulano and Ribolla Gialla together and co-ferments them with their own yeasts.

The wine ages in used 20hl casks and is cellared for up to three years before release. The 2019, due out this month, is crisp, vibrant and compact; the 2018 is rounder, with intriguing aromas of Mediterranean herbs; the 2017 is agile, intense and long; the 2003 – 21 years old – almost steals the show with its amazing freshness and purity.

Consorzio del Friuli Colli Orientali

The producers’ consorzio maintains a vineyard register of the DOC area, which details varieties, soils, exposition, elevation and the age of the vines. Matteo Belotto, the consorzio’s communications person, tells me that 75% of the vineyards in the DOC are over 40 years old, which is considerably older than the European average.

According to the most recent EU statistics (2020), only 36.7% of vines are more than 30 years old.

The vineyard register was started in 2006 as part of the consorzio’s Antichi Vigneti (‘Ancient Vineyards’) project, for the progressive conservation of pre-clonal selection biotypes of four of the Colli Orientali’s most widely planted native varieties: Tocai Friulano, Malvasia, Refosco and Verduzzo.

A total of 24 vineyards planted with massal selection between 1900 and 1950 were identified, and within each of these a selection was made of the healthiest vines.

Cuttings from these were used to propagate the old vines, and in 2010 a number of prototype vineyards were planted with the different biotypes.

Bellotto says the ancient varieties very quickly arrived at optimum wood/leaf/fruit balance in their new surroundings, but how about the wine? The La Sclusa estate at Spessa di Cividale bottles a Friulano called 12 Viti (‘Twelve Vines’), which is made from the 11 biotypes of the variety selected by the project, plus one commercial clone, used for control purposes.

Vinified without any frills, it has a distinctive subtle, crisp and minerally personality which sets it apart from the familiar style of rich and fruity Friulano.

The historic biotypes are commercially available from the region’s leading nursery at Rauscedo, and Bellotto says that the take-up on the part of producers is encouraging.

The impact of the reintroduction of autochthonous genetic material on a wider scale will only emerge in the long term, but the consorzio’s aspiration is that old biotypes will become an element of the terroir character of the DOC in the future.

Carlo Petrussi

Carlo Petrussi grew up among the vines in a farming family. Professor of agronomy, author, researcher and consultant, he has devoted the best part of his life to tracking down, cataloguing, and – where possible – conserving old vines in the region.

For his work as a guardian of old vines, the Old Vines Conference nominated Carlo Petrussi ‘Old Vines Hero for Viticulture’ in 2024.

Petrussi was the lead researcher in the Antichi Vigneti project. I asked him why some vineyards live longer than others. ‘Vineyards from seventy or eighty years ago survive,’ he replies, ‘because they belong to a different social and cultural world.’

What Petrussi means is that they were planted by hand (in his view a critical factor in longevity) and cared for with a sensibility which was handed down through generations.

‘Will the new plantings of the historic biotypes of the Antichi Vigneti project have the same longevity as their genetic parents?’ I enquired. ‘This will sound drastic,’ he replies, ‘but no, absolutely not, because the knowledge, skills and the sensibility of our grandfathers’ generation has been lost.’

‘Do old vines give added value in a wine?’ Petrussi is sceptical. ‘They might,’ is the reply – the value of old vines is a question of consumer perception, and that depends on effective communication.

As we leave his home in the countryside, Petrussi points out an orchard of 400 varieties of apple and pear trees which he has saved from extinction. ‘Are they good?’ I asked him. ‘They are different,’ is his reply, summing up a philosophy which extends to conservation in general.

Conserving old vines can have a scientific objective – DNA studies which Petrussi commissioned have revealed the fascinating genetic tree of the local Schioppettino variety, for example – and it may have a role in modern wine production, but ultimately conservation is an end in itself.

Old vine variables

Are old vines uneconomical? If 75% of the vines in the Colli Orientali are over 40 years old, in this part of Friuli, it would seem not.

Are old vines all romance? There is a strong emotional tug that operates in the discussion, especially for producers. Petrussi told me of his grandfather’s ‘affection’, and the professor said he used the word advisedly for his vines.

Old vines have been described as family heirlooms, and perhaps Marco Perco’s attachment to his old vineyards is connected to the photo which hangs in his tasting room, of him aged 10 in the Vecchia Vigna with his family. The narratives do have a romantic element.

It is received wisdom that old vines impart something special to a wine, but is it true that old-vine wines are necessarily superior? Possibly, but there is the risk of supporting the case by citing only the exceptional. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has some great wines made from very old vines, but also others which are not exceptional.

The age of the vine is only one of many variables, not least of which is the terroir and the hand of the producer.

Would Marco Perco’s Vecchie Vigne express its sense of place in such a brilliantly transparent way if he fermented three varieties separately with selected yeasts, aged them in barriques and assembled a new cuvèe every year? I think not.

How important is biodiversity? It is hard to tease out a single factor among all the variables, but the quality and personality of the wine from La Sculsa’s 12 Viti vineyard makes a very good argument for the value of intra-varietal diversity.

Statistically, old vines occupy a marginal place in the big picture of the wine world. Do they matter? Instinctively we want to say ‘yes’. The scientific grounds for conservation are irrefutable. Old vines provide an invaluable and irreplaceable source of research, and when an old vine dies, it takes its genetic secrets with it.

The other reasons why old vines might matter – the wines themselves, and perhaps also the idea of conservation as an absolute value – are less easy to rationalise.

What is incontrovertible, however, is that the world would be a sadder place without them.

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