Old Vine Project
3 min read
with
Jim Clarke (Wines of South Africa)
Rosa Kruger (Old Vine Project) Viticulture Consultant & Old Vine Conservationist
Andre Morgenthal (Old Vine Project)
Description
The Old Vine Project (OVP) has been a game changer for South African wines. When viticulturalist Rosa Kruger began searching for old vines in remote areas of the Cape, and compiling a list of them, there was little information available; she drove herself around and wrote each vineyard down by hand. Fast forward to 2016 and the Old Vine Project was launched, Rosa was joined on her quest by Andre Morgenthal and the status of old vines in South Africa was formalised.
Jim Clarke (Wines of South Africa)
Jim Clarke is the U.S. Marketing Manager for Wines of South Africa. Prior to joining WOSA in 2013 Jim was the wine director at Armani Ristorante and Megu, both in New York City. He is also a writer, regularly contributing to a number of trade and consumer publications including World of Fine Wine, Club Oenologique, and Fortune.
In 2020 Jim received the International Louis Roederer Wine Writer Award for Feature Writing and in August of that year Wine Business Monthly named Jim as a Wine Industry Leader of the Year.
Jim is the author of The Wines of South Africa, published by Infinite Ideas as part of the Classic Wine Library in July 2020.
Rosa Kruger (Old Vine Project)
Viticulture Consultant & Old Vine Conservationist
Rosa is a vineyard manager for several clients in the Western Cape who specialise in the production of premium wines. She works in many different wine-growing regions, ranging from Sutherland in the Namakwa Karoo, at an altitude of 1500m, to Swartland, Tulbagh, Stellenbosch and Hemel and Aarde. Rosa began creating a database of old vines in 2001, the building blocks that became The Old Vine Project. This project, presently under management of Andre Morgenthal, aims to preserve the oldest vineyards in South Africa and train farmworkers and farm managers to “plant to grow old”.
Andre Morgenthal (Old Vine Project)
André studied philosophy, languages and drama at the University of Stellenbosch in the early 90s.Towards the end of his studies, André started a wine tourism business, offering specialised wine tours to discerning wine and gastronomy tourists, as well as training and consulting to restaurants, hotels and lodges. André has lectured at the Cape Wine Academy and also wrote a wine column for a Sunday business newspaper.
He has worked several vintages at Domaine Bertagna in Vougeot, Burgundy and made wine on a small Stellenbosch property, Clos du Ciel. In 2001, he joined Wines of South Africa (WoSA) as Communications Manager with a focus on media relations, as well as a mandate for wine tourism and to represent the South African wine industry in the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.
In 2016 he started his own business and among other ventures assists Rosa Kruger with the Old Vine Project (OVP).
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Wines of South Africa (WoSA) is a fully inclusive body, representing all South African producers of wine who export their products. WOSA, which was established in its current form in 1999, has over 500 producers on its database, comprising all the major South African wine exporters. It is constituted as a not-for-profit company and is totally independent of any producer or wholesaling company. It is also independent of any government department, although it is recognised by government as an Export Council.
