Hope Vineyard from Beaumont Wine Estate became the 10,000th vineyard on the Old Vine Registry, reaching the 2027 goal more than a year ahead of schedule. 

The news comes three years after the first effort to document the world’s oldest vineyards and now spans 42 countries, representing more than 40,900ha of historic plantings and 1,144 grape varieties. 

According to the registry, the project first began with one premise: “We cannot protect what we do not first identify.” 

Since then, the registry has been built up through a crowdsourced effort from interested parties across the world. 

The registry grows through contributions from growers, researchers, importers and regional wine organisations. 

Some of the regional bodies involved include Wines of Moldova, the Armenian Wine and Vine Foundation and the Empordà Denomination of Origin.  

Alder Yarrow, architect and manager of the Old Vine Registry, said: “When we launched the registry, I thought there might be tens of thousands of old-vine vineyards worth cataloguing around the world. 

“As the data has come in, it’s become clear that the real number may be in the hundreds of thousands. Reaching 10,000 vineyards this quickly shows how much momentum there is across the global wine community to document and celebrate these historic plantings.” 

On the role of the project, Yarrow added: “When vineyards are identified and documented, they become visible. And when something becomes visible, it becomes something people value, celebrate, and ultimately protect.”