Hello, Sort of new to wines. While trying different red wines, I found many of the wines labeled as old vine to be my favorites. I guess the flavors are very full, almost sweet, with tannins and acids too balnace it out. Is this a characteristic of old vines? Can anybody recommend any more wines with these vaguely described flavors? My favorites are the Cline Ancient Vine Mouvidre? and a ??? CA old vine zinfandel.
Thanks, HugeE
Crotchety old vines have circulation problems, which is not a bad thing if the desired end result is good wine (as opposed to high yields). Everything gets concentrated, you get top quality grapes.
It is interesting how certain less noble grape varieties excel when you limit yield and make wine from old vines. Carignan is the perfect example, but the same goes for Aramon and others.
Mourvedre. When you have a noble grape, the results are even more impressive...
Mike
There's been a lot written about the subject of "old vines" and the meaning in this newgroup. You might do a Google Groups search with the term "old vines" in quotation marks. Roland Marandino
Thanks for the info. I found good things about Carigan and nothing good about Aramon wine when searching on google. Is wine from these grapes available anywhere in GA and how do they compare to the Mouvredre? ' One more question, how do you describe the flavor of Cline Mouvredre so I can try to find similiar wines at the local wine merchant?
of new to wines. While trying different red wines, I found many of
Don't know if you can get it in USA but a good example of old vine wine available in the UK is an Australian Shiraz -- "St.Haletts Old Block" It is made from vines 70-100 years old.
Try their website
I am on the 96 at the moment and it gets better each year.
Roy.
Cline makes an Ancient Vines Zin that I like a lot. St. Francis has a good one too, in '97 is made the WS top 100, which made it almost unobtainable and raised the price $15. Renwood's "Old Vines" is one of my favorites. Bogle makes an Old Vines too but I haven't had it in a while. All of these are quite good and under $20. In fact any wine from any of these producers is a good bet.
GS.
You'll be hard pressed to find either grape in GA, or much of the rest of the US, Jim. Mike's point (I think) is a more general one: that "lesser" grape varieties can show well if the yields are suppressed.
I've had a few Cline Mourvedres, but perhaps not the one you tried. I'd describe them as having tart berryish fruit and being full bodied but without much tannin. You might try some Zinfandels and Australian Shiraz as possibly related wines.
HTH Mark Lipton
Will take you up on that. Roy.
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