Call for Bordeaux Old Vines… have you registered yours yet?

The Old Vine Registry, a crowd-sourced database of worldwide old vines has surpassed the 4,000 entries mark, with vineyards from 39 countries included.

To date there are just 16 entries from Bordeaux vineyards included in this – but a wealth of others that quality and merit inclusion.

As of 2025, vineyards planted in 1990 are now eligible for inclusion, and wine growers are encouraged to submit their vineyards to ensure their precious old vines are recognised.

The movement for recognising old vines is gathering steam. Last year saw the OIV adapt a resolution recognising them under this description: ‘An old grapevine is a single plant officially documented to be 35 years or older regardless of any other factors. In the case of grafted plants, the graft connection between rootstock and scion should have been undisturbed for, at least 35 years’.

The goal for the database is 10,000 entries by 2027, so this is a call for all Bordeaux vineyards to make sure they are part of it. Single plots can be counted, not just the whole estate –  the OIV definition is a block of vineyard terrain, continuous and legally delimited, where at least 85% of the grapevines are at least 35 years old. The photo here is of pre-Phylloxera vines from Château de la Vieille Chapelle on the Ile de Carney in AOC Bordeaux.

Other Bordeaux vineyards that are already registered include:

• Cruchen Nègre, Tchacouli vines overseen by Domaine de Chevalier’s Olivier Bernard in central Bordeaux (Vin de France) that were planted it is believed between 1795 and 1805, making them around 225 years old.
• Champ de Treilles 76-year-old Sémillon in St Foy Côtes de Bordeaux, planted in 1949, owned by Corinne and Jean-Michel Comme.
• Clos Louis in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, a co-planted plot of Merlot, Malbec, Carménère, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon dating back to 1898, making them 127 years old.
• Château Haut-Bailly’s library plot of co-planted, partly ungrafted Cabernet Franc, Carménère, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon vines that date back to the late 19th century (although the date given officially in this database is 1922, still making them comfortably over one century in age).

The work that the team from the Old Vine Registry has done is really incredible in raising awareness of the beauty of old vines – not only to study, support and preserve them, but to make them financially viable.

If you have old vines in your vineyard, please make sure they are recognised by registering on www.oldvineregistry.org.

The Old Vine Registry is the world’s first and largest database cataloguing vineyards aged more than 35 years of age around the world. The registry aims to be a resource for the wine industry, academia, and consumers to discover and learn about old vineyards, as well as a conduit for the sale of wines made from these vineyards. Originally started by Jancis Robinson, the Registry launched as a crowd-sourced, public resource on the web in June of 2024, funded by a donation from Jackson Family Wines and managed by Alder Yarrow of Vinography.Com. The site is owned by The Old Vine Conference, a not-for-profit organisation led by Sarah Abbott MW dedicated to building a credible category for old vine wines and a community that sustains and communicates its value.