A beautiful thing!  These are what Old Vine Zin grape vines look like in winter.  Knarled and older than you, these vines and many like them, are some of the first vines planted in California.  They still go to work every day soaking in the sun, drawing up water, and making world class grapes 100 years later.  That's cool. 

Wine made from these old vines is often called Old Vine Zin or Ancient Vine Zin.  Is the wine any better... sometimes, but not necessarily.  It is actually more difficult to make wine from these old vines.  They are grown in a style called Head Pruning where there were no trellis systems installed and the plant morphed into these great shapes over time.  The grapes are more difficult to harvest and the bunches do not ripen as evenly, partly because of the old cranky vines, partly because grape bunches can be hidden under leaves and do not all see the same sunlight. and also because these old orchards are never on irrigation.  That means one while one bunch is perfect, another is underipe, and another could be raisened.  

In 2010 we will release 125 cases or so of Old Vine Zinfandel from the Dry Creek area in Sonoma County.  When we made our Zin we had to throw out 15% during the first sort because of raisined bunches.  Not many people hand sort like that because it is time consuming and a financial ouch. However if you leave that many raisens in the fermentation you can taste the overipe, prune like flavors.  The vines that we made our wine from are estimated at over 100 years old.  The wine is spicy, yet pretty.  Not a fat fruit bomb.  I am liking the development.

Anyways... the moment I saw this picture I fell in love with it and though it represented the brand well. 

Cheers,

Olin