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Why wines made from old vines really do taste better
We all know that youth is overrated. But what are ‘old vines’, and what’s so great about them?
Complex flavours: older grape vines are worth seeking out
Credit: Benedetto Tarantino
The sun was bearing down. We had travelled and eaten and slept and arrived, on a dusty, hot day, at Alpha Estate in the Amyndeon region of mainland Greece. It was September, harvest time, and the vines were heavy with grapes. We drove around the estate, which looks across to the Voras mountains, and our host, founder and winemaker Angelos Iatridis, pulled up by some magnificent old bush vines planted in sandy soil. He picked a handful of grapes from these venerable old plants and handed them to us along with xinomavro grapes from much younger plants on the estate. “Xinomavro. The vines are 90 years old. You must try them.”