Vine age: Examining the impact of grapevine age on vigour, productivity and berry technological ripeness

It has long been suggested that grapevines produce wines of increasing quality as they grow older, which as a concept finds no parallel in other crops. Consumers and participants in the wine sector seem to agree on the ability of old vines to produce better wines, but the validity of this point of view remains debated and questions about the mechanisms through which old vines would result in superior wines remain numerous. To try to answer them, the impact of vine age on physiology and berry technological ripeness was studied in an experimental vineyard in Geisenheim, Germany.