IN BRIEF
- The world’s oldest vine is located in the Lent district and is over 450 years old.
- This plant has survived countless challenges, including natural disasters and world conflicts.
- The Museum of the Oldest Vine houses exhibitions exploring the impact of viticulture on local culture.
- The annual harvest produces a limited quantity of grapes, sufficient for an exclusive wine.
- The genetic heritage of this vine has been disseminated across 27 countries worldwide.
In the heart of the historic Lent district, nestled along the banks of the Drava River, stands a living witness to European history. The plant rises at the entrance to the House of the Old Vine, which today houses the Museum of the World’s Oldest Vine (Oldest Vine Museum). Officially entered in the Guinness Book of Records in 2004 and protected as one of Slovenia’s most precious natural assets, this specimen of the Modra kavčina variety is over 450 years old, as evidenced by the earliest historical paintings dating to 1657.
A Profile of Extraordinary Resilience
What makes this specimen extraordinary is not only its venerable age, but its remarkable capacity to survive the darkest and most dramatic periods of recent centuries.
The plant has in fact survived devastating frosts and natural disasters, resisting major river floods, fierce fires, and even the phylloxera epidemic that brought Continental viticulture to its knees in the nineteenth century. Even world conflicts spared its trunk: during the bombings of the Second World War, though the adjacent building suffered severe collapse, the vine remained incredibly intact.
A Centre of Excellence and Cultural Stewardship
Today the building is not only the support on which the historic vine’s shoots climb, but has become the nerve centre of Slovenian Styria’s food-and-wine culture. Managed by the Maribor Regional Museum (Pokrajinski muzej Maribor), the museum route offers a sensory and multimedia experience.
Animated projections, historical artefacts, and guided tastings allow visitors to understand how viticulture has shaped the city’s identity since the Middle Ages, set within a territory that also boasts one of Europe’s largest underground ageing cellars.
A Rare Nectar for International Diplomacy
The plant still yields a very small but precious annual harvest, ranging between 35 and 55 kilograms of grapes. From this exceptional crop, barely a hundred two-decilitre bottles are produced, encased in exclusive collector’s bottles designed by artist and designer Oscar Kogoj.
This is a wine impossible to purchase through commercial channels. The municipality guards it jealously as a ceremonial gift for official visits and world leaders.
Over the decades, prestigious recipients of this symbolic gift of the city have included Popes such as John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Moreover, the vine’s genetic heritage lives on around the world: its cuttings and shoots have been donated and planted in 27 countries, spreading a global message of tradition and longevity.
