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The odd contradiction about wine is that wine is far more about what’s outside the bottle than what’s in it. The history of the people who made it, of a place, the year it was grown in, and the political machinations that shaped it. Wine is not about a moment of silence, but of bibulous storytelling. Old vines have stories built into them. They are our viticultural grandparents imparting wisdom, able to communicate the ineffable taste of a place. In South Africa we can boast

View original article byRod Phillips “A diamond is forever” runs the famous phrase coined in 1947 by South Africa’s De Beers diamond mining company. As for grapevines—not forever, but potentially for many decades and even for more than a century, if they’re looked after. And that’s the aim of South Africa’s pioneering Old Vine Project, which encourages owners of the country’s oldest vines to keep them in the ground and continue to make wine from them. References to “old vines

View the full article by Daléne Fourie here I lived in London, like many other South Africans. I did not like it. The horizon seemed just a little too small, the sun not bright enough, and the tall buildings couldn't make up for Table Mountain at my back. It is a different experience travelling to London with a group of South African winemakers (and Rosa Kruger) intent on selling South African wine to our biggest export market. Based on 2021 and 2022 SAWIS statistics, they r

View the full article by Daléne Fourie here The launch of the Old Vine Registry last week couldn't have been better timed. Last Wednesday, I travelled to London with Rosa Kruger of the Old Vine Project to help host a South African Benchmark Tasting at South Africa House in Trafalgar Square on behalf of Museum Wines. We were joined by Greg Sherwood MW, Wines of South Africa UK, and winemakers Kiara Scott of Brookdale Estate, Ian Naudé of Naudé Wines, Sakkie Mouton of Sakkie M

View the full article by Daléne Fourie here Did you know there is a South African Tug of War Federation? And did you know that the highest percentage of Springbok tug of war athletes hail from the Breedekloof (or officially the Goudini club)? They also compete in tent pegging/Gymkhana equestrian sports and jukskei, a 270-year-old folk sport. An eclectic mix of pastimes, but judging by the feedback, something the people of the Breedekloof are very passionate about and known fo

View the full article by Daléne Fourie here "A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination, and now a hero by necessity."- David Gemmell, Legend. I love David Gemmell. I always have had a flair for the dramatic, and his fantastical tales of Celtic tribes and Druss the Legend played right into my wheelhouse. I see him everywhere in modern-day South African wine. Vineyard School Yesterday I spent the day with Rosa Kruger, Sheldon van Wyk, Nadia Hefer, Heinrich Schloms, Davi

Rosa gesels ouwingerde, die ontstaan van die Ouwingerdprojek en meer. 'Die primere doelwit van die Ouwingerdprojek is om ou wingerde te bewaar en in die grond te hou.' - Rosa Kruger Rosa Kruger is die eerste Suid-Afrikaner en wingerdboukundige om die internationale wyntydskrif, Decanter, se Hall of Fame toekenning in te palm. Kwela se André Weideman gesels met Rosa asook Nadia Hefer en André Morgenthal op die wynplaas Reyneke op Stellenbosch wat deel maak van die OVP span op

View original article here. Barcelona Wine Week is a three-day event that offers wine lovers and members of the trade the chance to get to grips with Spanish wine. Sergey Panov reports on what’s happening in Spain in 2023. Barcelona Wine Week has just finished for another year. For Spanish buyers and foreign visitors alike, it was an opportunity to meet artisanal producers whose wines often stay below the radar. Thanks to the democratic cost of participation at BWW, it’s eas

By Dr Jonathan Steyn View the original article here. Dr Jonathan Steyn caught up with global viticultural thought leader Rosa Kruger, who recently became the first South African to be inducted into the Decanter Hall of Fame. What began as a vine finding mission in her bakkie quickly snowballed into the Old Vine Project, which seeks to protect, promote, and develop vineyards older than 35 years and advance a culture of planting to grow old. JS: You mentioned that initially ma

View the full article by Daléne Fourie here “Now this is the Law of the Jungle - as old and as true as the sky, And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." - Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book. One hundred-point ratings are subjective, to be sure, and who you ascribe to should really be a matter between you and God. However, there is no denying that

By Jamie Goode View the original article here. Over recent years one of the most exciting developments in the South African wine scene has been the emergence of the Old Vine Project, with its certification scheme for wines made from vineyards at least 35 years old. Viticuluralist Rosa Kruger and consultant André Morgenthal have steered this project with great skill, and have managed to bring all the various stakeholders together to create something that has added value to th

By Alder Yarrow View the original article here. Old vines make better wines. Like so many broad generalizations in the wine industry, that’s a verifiably false statement. Plenty of bad wine gets made from old vines all over the world. However, it can confidently and unequivocally be said that older vines bring something special to the wines they produce. In the hands of a competent grower and winemaker, ancient vines produce wines with qualities unattainable by younger vines,

By Britt Karlsson View origional article here. In 2016 that Rosa Kruger and André Morgenthal started The Old Vine Project (OVP) in South Africa to find and care for old, sometimes abandoned, vineyards and to draw attention to the value of old vines. Today, OVP has 130 members who each year produce over 250 different wines from Certified Heritage Vineyards (CHV). Another exciting project is now underway, namely the launch of virus-free clones, Heritage Selection clones. Viruse

By Eloise Feilden Read the origional article here. The ‘Introduction to Old Vines’ course consists of 10 modules and approximately 25 hours of study time. The online and self-paced course covers the fundamentals of each module, with a focus on how it relates to old vines. The new Old Vine Academy, as it has been named, has been designed with on-trade and retail workers in mind. Hefer, who works as head of the development team for the academy and project consultant for the Ol

By Tim Atkin. Read the full article here. Our 2022 Decanter Hall of Fame recipient’s enthusiasm for South Africa’s old vines runs deep into the nation’s heritage, and her own. The devotion of this self-styled ‘farm manager’ to her cause has set an example to the whole of the wine world. Growing up on a farm in the northern Transvaal, Rosa Kruger was surrounded by nature and the perilous immensity of the veldt. From the age of five, she’d regularly pack a bag with food and w

By Tim James View the origional article here. The breadth, depth and quality of the Cape’s serious chenin offering is remarkable. We all know this, I think, perhaps to the point of being blasé about it, but sometimes one is obliged to recall and reaffirm the conviction. As I did last Saturday evening in Stellenbosch, at a grand tasting put on by the Old Vine Project as one of the events clustered around Cape Wine 2022, the large trade show taking place this week. Wines were t