Old Vine Cline: “Ancient” Wines from Cline Cellars

We all know that some wines are meant to age. But in the plant-based world grapes can be an outlier in that they can live for well over a century and still produce quality fruit. A few years back I was in Portugal and visited head trained vines that were 136 years old and still a workhorse. So when Cline Cellars released their Ancient Vines series it intrigued me because this allows you to literally taste history. That their wines are priced between $18-$23 also offers an incredible value for the experience you can have. In California there are very few vineyards that are truly historic properties, meaning the vines have been in the ground for over 100 years, and are own-rooted, as opposed to being grafted. The Historic Vineyard Society (HVS) group is dutifully reviving and preserving these historical vineyards. For example, in California, Sausalito Canyon Vineyard (San Luis Obispo County) was planted in 1880 and still produces fruit today. Other HVS registered and non-registered vineyards from the 1880s include Bechthold (Lodi), Cazas (Temecula), Martinelli (Russian River Valley) and the truly one of a kind Grandpere vineyard from Deaver Winery in Amador County planted in the 1860s! What this means is that you can experience fruit that still makes wine, and a wine you can drink. Maybe most of us can’t drink a wine that is 100 years old, but we can certainly drink wine that is made from 100-year-old grapes. Now, the term “ancient vines” has no real definition, but typically refers to vines that are over 75 years old. Just like us humans, vines lose their vigor (strength, vitality) as they age and many of these wines have some complexity to them, but are less powerful and robust than younger wines. The complexity often comes from roots that are 30 – 40 feet deep as most of these historic vineyards have always been dry-farmed, meaning no irrigation is provided, the vines themselves need to seek out water.

Cline offers their 2017 Zinfandel, Mourvèdre, Carignane, and their 2018 Mourvèdre Rose from Contra Costa County, the northern portion of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay area. These are uniformly lighter style wines but definitely show characteristics familiar with their grape type, and all provide that most unique of pursuits – a sense of immortality.