Reviving Rioja’s old vine heritage

Early in 2021, the Rioja DOCa authorities approved a number of measures aimed at preserving the old vines of the region – a strategy focusing on the vineyard rather than on the wines or their distribution. Although this initiative won’t be immediately reflected on the shelves of wine shops, it will have a real effect in the vineyards of Rioja.

Across the EU, the wine sector is highly regulated. Unfortunately, many existing policies, based on concerns about productivity, have led to vineyard replacement rather than preservation. Rioja is promoting changes in the EU legislation that aim to stop this trend, by reallocating financial resources to incentivise growers to keep old vineyards. Although this may look like an insignificant change, it’s a major revolution in European wine policy.

Within its realm of competence, Rioja will train several thousand vine-growers to manage their old vineyards, with the aim of keeping them in production. Land holdings in Rioja are extremely small, so this is a crucial issue.

None of this will have any effect unless growers are also compensated for the lower yields that will result. So, the appellation will include vine age as a key indicator for the setting of grape prices. Extremely low-yield vineyards may even be preserved by considering them as genetic reservoirs – and recompensing the growers accordingly.

Finally, labelling indications will be implemented in due course. Vineyards will also be classified according to the certified age of their vines.

How old is an old vine?

Formal definitions of old vines tend to be out of touch with biological reality. The most usual reference age is 35 years but, considering that a vine can live for several centuries, this equates roughly to young adulthood. There is, however, a good reason for this – most commercial vineyards are grubbed up before they reach that age, because the vines begin to become less productive in terms of yield at between 25 and 35 years. In dry-climate regions, vines acquire their old-age resilience when they are at least 60 years old. In contrast, vines in high-yield, high-input commercial vineyards are exhausted after 25 years. Therefore, a simple indication of vine age on labels may have little meaning.

Is older better?

The new legislation is undoubtedly a positive step, but it raises questions about the importance of old vines. Aside from the issue of how to define ‘old vine’, there are considerations about the role of old vines within a larger ecosystem involving sustainable viticulture, and about wine quality.

‘Small is beautiful’. ‘Artisan is authentic’. ‘Old-vine wine is better’. All three of these assertions are true – if we add ‘in appropriate conditions’ as a qualifier. They don’t hold true when applied uniformly as a rule of thumb.

To be fair, there is often a rational basis for statements such as those. As consumers, many of us tend to have an unconscious preference for products that are described as ‘small’, ‘artisan’ or ‘old vine’ – even though we may not know the exact implications of those words. Certainly, committed wine lovers tend to believe that the best wines come from older vines.

This explains why there are increasing numbers of wine bottles on shelves with labels declaring the use of ‘old vines’, ‘vieilles vignes’ or ‘viñas viejas’ as a hook to hint at superior quality. If we take quality to be the consequence of all factors and values behind the wine, then I tend to agree. However, quality isn’t simply about how a wine tastes.

The effect of age

The age of vines has an influence on quality only if other conditions are met. Most vines consist of Vitis vinifera scions grafted on rootstocks of other Vitis species. V. vinifera grape clusters – the ones that give the character to the wine – grow from one- or two-year-old canes, rather than old wood. Their potential quality depends on many factors: genetics, the region’s climate, the weather in any given growing season, viticultural practices, and winemaking.

When a vine ages, the root system extends itself, and the vine trunk thickens – although there is no change to the buds, which originate in the young wood. Sap circulation can also become less efficient. The most relevant effects on the vine itself are reduced vigour, increased resilience, and the spread of the roots through the soil. In short, ageing in vines is most noticeable in the roots and the trunk.

In exceptional vineyards that have been cultivated with care for many years, there is no doubt that the age of a vine is a distinctive factor for extra finesse and complexity in the wine: the climates and soils allow for the required root system development, while the grape varieties are perfectly adapted to the region.

Conversely, not all old vineyards provide top quality: they may be planted in the wrong location, for example. In other cases, circumstances intervene. The 1970s and 1980s were a historic period in Spain, Bordeaux and many other regions. During this time, quantity was more important than quality. In many vineyards planted on privileged sites, productive grape varieties and clones were grafted on classic rootstocks to ensure high yields. It’s not possible to produce top-quality wines with this genetic material.

Ultimately, the age of the vine is the age of its roots – and that’s a huge benefit. It means that producers can regraft the part of the vine that’s above ground with qualitative clones, in such a way that the advantages of old age are retained, and the opportunities for excellent genetics seized.

In Rioja, Marqués de Riscal and Palacios Remondo (among others) have shown spectacularly that it is possible to reconvert old vineyards of average quality into top sites by regrafting their selected Tempranillo and Garnacha buds on old stock.

The role of preservation

In my view, the most important reason that old vines should be valued relates to issues of sustainability, environmental responsibility and heritage preservation. A centenary vine contains 100 years of climatic, environmental and cultural information, encrypted in an extremely complex ecosystem that originated around the roots.

Centenarian vines are the result of huge natural and human investment – the living memory of a century. They are a major element of a landscape and should be a crucial factor for its future. If it is obvious that felling a sequoia tree is a crime, for example, why is it acceptable to pull out an 80-year-old vine?

We live in a time of environmental consciousness. Wine is widely used to highlight natural and cultural values. Producers tell us about long traditions, unique landscapes and (oh, that much abused word!. . .) sustainability. Many of them use lunar calendars, avoid pesticides and organise pleasant wine tourism initiatives, but they also grub up their vines as soon as the yields are not as high as expected.

Governments talk about preserving vineyard areas and provide support for environmentally friendly viticulture, while issuing subsidies to ‘reform’ (ie, replant) vineyards. It is contradictory to speak about sustainability while preventing vines from reaching old age.

Producers in wine-producing nations such as Australia, South Africa and Chile have launched initiatives to protect their scarce old vineyards by certifying old-vine wines. This is an excellent idea for regions with modest production. In northern Spain, by contrast, Rioja currently has 9,400ha of vineyards planted prior to 1980 – one seventh of its total plantings of about 65,800ha in production in 2020 (DOCa Rioja). Each year, some 200ha of those old vines are lost. To protect such an extensive heritage, a more assertive and public-oriented policy had undoubtedly become necessary.

Old-vine wine is about much more than good taste. It conveys the values of respect for our past and care for our present environment; it is key for safeguarding landscapes and ecosystems.

Rioja is now moving towards creating the right conditions for preserving its old vineyards. What’s more, the driving factor for this legislation is a sense of responsibility for the region’s heritage and future, rather than any commercial consideration. This is a pioneering initiative – never before undertaken on such a large scale – covering thousands of hectares. I hope that it will become a crucial element of Rioja’s identity, as well as proof of a commitment by the appellation and its producers to their own terroir.

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