Our 2014 Old Vine Zinfandel has been selected as one of the ‘100 Best Wines of the Year’ by Wine & Spirits Magazine. This is just further proof that we are never satisfied to rest on our laurels and are committed to producing exceptional terroir-driven, varietal defining wines.
First coined by Dry Creek Vineyard in 1987, the term “Old Vine” has special meaning to our family winery. Back in the 80s, we had to combine the 1985 and 1986 vintages of Zinfandel, but didn’t want to label the wine as a ‘non-vintage’, so we wanted to come up with a name that could speak to how special these ancient vines were. Gary Emmerich (who still works for Dry Creek Vineyard!) asked, “The vines are pretty old, so why don’t we call it old vines?” The term caught on within the wine industry and the rest is history!
Although there is no legal definition, we define an old vine vineyard as having vines that average more than 50 years in age. For the 2014 bottling of our Old Vine Zinfandel, the vines are more than 95 years in age and in some cases, more than 110 years old! Old Vine Zinfandel vineyards remain the most prized and historic of all plantings in the Dry Creek Valley.