The world's oldest vineyards

Wine is something that has been made for over a millennium, but within that time there have been some ups and downs. One of the worst eras was in the late 1700s early 1800s when a devastating vine pest – Phylloxera invaded Europe and slowly decimated the wine industry killing off a large percentage of their vineyards. At its height the French government offered a massive reward of 300,000 gold francs to any one that could eradicate this pest – but to no avail.

Fortunately, Europe eventually discovered that some American native vines are resistant to this Phylloxera pest. They slowly began grafting their European clones onto these American vines, enabling Europe to replenish their wonderful vineyards and once again produce great wine.

In South Australia though, distance helped to ensure they were saved from Phylloxera during this period so no vineyards were destroyed, and South Australia is now believed to be home to some of the oldest and rarest vineyards in the world. In simple terms: vines that grow on their own roots.

The highly acclaimed wine region The Barossa boasts a few of these rare and Ancestral vineyards; Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard is 130+ years old, Marco Cirrillo Grenache planted some 150+ years ago and the Langmeil Freedom Shiraz vineyard which is 165+ years old.

These rare vineyards aside, the Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale still have one of the highest concentrations of old pre-Phylloxera vineyards in the world. It is also thought some of these vineyards are from clone material potentially lost to Europe during this period of Phylloxera.

I would not suggest that there is a quality difference between own roots and grafted root stock vines, but for those people who love to discover and taste history and rarity keep your eyes out for the odd bottle that manages to find its way overseas.