The Old Vine, the oldest vine in the world

Old Vine, the oldest vine in the world, is the oldest living specimen on our planet of a noble grape vine that still bears grapes! With an age of over 400 years it is registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world.
You don't believe it?

• Old Vine symbolises the rich wine culture of Maribor, Štajerska and Slovenia.
• Old Vine`s scions grow on almost all continents and in numerous places in Slovenia.

What sort, how much grape?

• Old Vine`s grape, the sort Žametovka or Modra kavčina is one of the oldest domesticated noble wine sorts in Slovenia.
• The 35 to 55 kg symbolic annual grape harvest is bottled in 2,5 dcl glass bottles, designed by the famous artist Oskar Kogoj, that represent a precious protocol gift - annually more than 100 bottles are filled.

Visit events in honour of the Old Vine

• Pruning of the Old Vine – ceremonious event with the bestowal of scions to selected cities
• St Martin's Day – the biggest one-day St Martin’s Day celebrations in Slovenia
• Ceremonial grape harvest of the Old Vine – the highlight of the Old Vine Festival that shows the rich wine, as well as fruit, culinary and ethnological culture of Štajerska

What to see? What to experience?
The wine-cultural highlights of Maribor and its surroundings

• Take a walk along the river Drava embankment: visit the Old Vine, the queen of all vines, and the Old Vine House, on the frontage of which grows the Old Vine
• The Old Vine House, a temple of wine tradition and culture: exhibition and wine tasting room, selling point and tourist information centre
• Maribor's wine underworld, wine cellars, bars, and museums: Vinag Wine Cellar, wine cellar Dveri-Pax, Meranovo Estate, Rožmarin Wine Bar, Maribor Wine Bar in Water Tower, Viticultural Museum Kebl
• Wine roads: Maribor, Podpohorska, and Upper Slovenske Gorice wine-tourist road and The Trail of Archduke Johann intertwine over the hilly, wine growing surroundings of Maribor. Numerous wine shops and tourist farms offer excellent white sorts and Štajerska delights,
• excellent, traditional wine and food of Štajerska.

Listen to the Old Vine Anthem!
(Performed by Neuvirtovi Štajerci and Mariborski oktet; recorded by Radio Maribor.)
Text of the Old Vine Anthem.

Is the Old Vine in Maribor really the oldest vine in the world?
Vine genetics experts in Paris also confirmed the authenticity of the age of the Old Vine, along with precise professional measurements by Slovene experts. The vine was planted at least 400 years ago, probably somewhat earlier. Its Methuselah state is also confirmed in paintings of Maribor dating from the years 1657 and 1681, which are kept in the Štajerska Provincial Museum in Graz. In the pictures the frontage of the house at Vojašniška ulica 8, built in the 16th century, can be clearly seen, and even then it was already lushly overgrown with today’s venerated Old Vine. Just as in those days the Old Vine still today clings to the trelliswork or “brajda”, as the wooden support is called in Štajerska.

Historical points of interest about viticulture in Štajerska