The Old Vine Conference (OVC) and Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) are hosting an extraordinary series of events from October 31 to November 4 in Northern California: “Meeting of the Minds 2025.” The event brings together companies from around the world that produce wines from old vineyards, along with the press and trade. The annual conference will bring together an international audience of media and industry professionals to discuss the most pressing technical issues related to the agronomic management of old vines around the world, as well as the communication and marketing of the wines produced from them.
The director of Vinchio Vaglio, Marco Giordano (pictured here), has been invited to participate as a speaker at the round table discussion on November 1. The meeting, entitled “From Roots to Reputation: Cultural Heritage in Wine Marketing,” will be moderated by Honore Comfort, Vice President of the International Marketing Wine Institute California Wine, and the speakers will include, in addition to the director of Vinchio Vaglio, Marco Giordano, Dr. Laura Catena, Managing Director of Catena Zapata, Argentina, and Christian Miller of the Wine Market Council. Vinchio Vaglio’s experience is considered pioneering, given that since 1985 it has been working to identify vineyards over 50 years old from which to produce single wines.
When, in fact, the most advanced Italian wine-growing areas were mostly thinking of uprooting old vineyards and replacing them with new ones, different clones, and denser planting, Vinchio Vaglio decided to identify the best vineyards of its members that were over 50 years old and start producing a wine that has been called “Vigne vecchie” (old vines) ever since.
It was an immediate success that was confirmed over time and, in 2009, on the occasion of the winery’s 50th anniversary, it was doubled with a second wine called “Vigne vecchie 50”, which comes from the same vineyards but, while the first is aged in wood and therefore expresses the Barbera and its longevity, complexity of aromas and structure, the second chooses to express the freshness and elegance of a young Barbera.
Some of those same vineyards are now over 80 years old (while others are 50 years old or more) and require increasingly careful work, but the few grapes they produce have very special qualities and characteristics, and in order for the winegrowers to continue working them, the winery guarantees a certain yield per hectare. Over the course of almost 40 years, Vinchio Vaglio has addressed technical issues, as well as marketing and sales issues, which is why director Marco Giordano has been invited to present the history and choices that have led the company to the quality and market successes that these two wines can boast today.
Click on this link for the program of the OVC Meeting of The Minds 2025 event.
Anyone interested can register and follow the round table online on November 1 here:
Livestream 2025 — The Old Vine Conference
Info: www.vinchio.com
