Old Vine Registry launches ancient vine seal

The Old Vine Registry has launched a new seal allowing wineries to highlight wines made from registered old vineyards, giving consumers an easier way to spot wines from historic vines.

Called the OVR Seal, it will enable producers to identify qualifying old-vine wines on both labels and in their digital marketing.

The seal is not a guarantee of quality, sustainability or farming methods. Instead, wines qualify when at least 85% of their grapes come from vineyards registered with the OVR in one of five age categories: 35+, 50+, 75+, 100+ or 150+ years.

Producers pay a one-off US$300 registration fee, making the scheme accessible to smaller wineries. Ten producers across seven countries are among the first adopters, with bottle labels expected to carry the seal as new vintages are released.

The OVR says its database contains more than 12,500 vineyards across 43 countries, making it the world's largest public database of vineyards with vines over 35 years old.