What effect does vine age have on grapes harvested for wines?

Vine age is a key component to wine quality. Generally, the older the vine, the deeper the roots, the smaller the fruit production and therefore a more "intense" wine. The French will often say that wine quality does not begin until a vine reaches 10+ years of age. A productive vine should last 40-50 years before being pulled out. Some vineyards can maintain their vines for up to 100 years, and often "advertise" old vine on their label.

Recently, however, producers in Australia and Chile have been focusing on wines from newer plantings which a fresher, fruiter, must.

The debate about the merits (or demerits) vine age is often a "hot" topic in the wine world. here is a fun blog with one such discussion that should answer most of your questions:

http://wine.blogs.com/winewhys/2004/07/v...

Good drinking!

What effect does vine age have on grapes harvested for wines?
Vine age does have an effect on the quality of wine and the general rule of thumb is that older vines produce better tasting wine. This is because older vines become less productive, so the flavor produced by the vine is shared between fewer grapes.



However -- and there is always a 'however' where wine is concerned :) -- older vines are also more likely to be suffering from viruses that may prevent grapes from fully ripening.



And many quality vineyards concentrate grape flavor by 'green harvesting'. That means they go through the vineyard removing maybe half the bunches of grapes when they are still green and discarding. This culling of 50% of the bunches has much the same effect as naturally obtained on an old vine. And young vines can be healthier.



There is also no legal definition of what 'old vines' means, so the designation 'old vines' on a wine label could mean anything.



Speaking personally, I love some old vine wines, and some of the Australina wines made from vines planted in the 1800s not only are superb but also give a real sense of history. Butthen again, there is tremendous wine made from 10 year old vines carefully grown and vinified.



A well made wine from young grapes will be better than a badly made wine from old vines
Reply:older the better,but depends on the area u live in.some grapes do better in different parts of the world.