Yarra Ranges mayor Len Cox accepts the rare wine from Old Vine Project co-ordinator Vinko Rizmal.
By Casey Neill
YARRA Ranges Council will put a rare top drop on community display.
The bottle was one of only 100 made each year using grapes from the world’s oldest vine.
The 400-year-old plant is located in Maribor, Slovenia.
Each year the city gifts bottles of the red, called Modra Kavcina, to some of the world’s most important people.
Pope John Paul II, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Bill Clinton are among famous past recipients.
The hills’ Old Vine Project co-ordinator Vinko Rizmal presented the wine to mayor Len Cox on behalf of the Maribor mayor.
Mr Rizmal visited the Old Vine Wine and Cultural Festival in Maribor in September.
“It is an honour to receive this gift as a further confirmation of the friendship between our two cities,” Cr Cox said.
Each year Maribor presents a graft from the vine to another town or community as a sign of friendship and co-operation.
Yarra Ranges received a cutting in 1999 and planted it in McWilliam’s Lilydale Vineyards in September 2001 following two years in quarantine.
“This established the connection between the region of Stajerska, the association of winegrowers of the Yarra Valley and the Shire of Yarra Ranges,” Mr Rizmal said.
