A new seal tied to vine age is starting to show up on wine bottles. The Old Vine Registry launched its OVR Seal on October 1, 2026, saying the mark lets wineries and other sellers show consumers that a wine comes from documented old vineyards.
For American households, the change matters less as a safety or price issue than as a labeling one. It gives shoppers one more clue when they are deciding whether a bottle marketed as “old vines” actually points to a specific, documented vineyard.
A new wine label mark launched on October 1
The Old Vine Registry said October 1 that its new OVR Seal can be used on wine labels, digital marketing materials and other packaging tied to wines from registered old vineyards. The group describes itself as the world’s largest and most authoritative public database of old vineyards, and its home page calls it the world’s first crowdsourced global database of living historic vineyard sites.
To qualify for the seal, at least 85% of a wine’s grapes must come from vineyards registered in the Old Vine Registry. The seal also carries one of five age tiers: 35+, 50+, 75+, 100+, or 150+ years, according to the launch announcement.
Alder Yarrow, architect and manager of the Old Vine Registry, said the seal is meant to help consumers connect a wine to the specific vineyard behind it. The group also said the seal does not certify wine quality, sustainability or farming practices. Instead, it confirms that a vineyard of a specific age has been recorded in the registry and that the wine meets the sourcing and age threshold shown on the seal.
The seal is available now for permitted uses, including wine packaging, and registration requires a one time fee of $300, according to the registry announcement.
Early bottles and labels will roll out gradually
The first users are a small group, not a broad national rollout across U.S. grocery shelves. The Old Vine Registry said 10 producers across seven countries are among the first to use the seal, and named Seghesio Family Vineyards, Bedrock Wine Company, Sown Estate and Woolridge Creek Winery among the early adopters with U.S. ties.
The group said some producers were already showing the seal on websites and technical sheets ahead of the October 1 launch, while bottle labels would come later as new vintages are released. That means shoppers may spot the symbol online or in tasting room materials before they see it widely in stores.
MyWineNews reported that AYA Estate’s 2024 Melnik, produced by Seewines Spirit in Bulgaria and about to be released, will be the first commercially available bottle to bear the OVR seal. The same report said Bedrock plans to put the seal on its 2026 wines, with releases beginning in 2027.
What is not yet known is how quickly the seal will spread to mainstream retail, or how many U.S. supermarkets and wine shops will stock bottles carrying it. The Old Vine Registry has not published a store list or a national retail timeline.
The seal aims to clarify a claim shoppers already see
The main reason for the new seal is that “old vines” has often been a loose claim on wine labels. MyWineNews said that, outside some regions in Spain and Greece, the term is generally not officially regulated or defined, leaving producers free to use it without a consistent age standard.
The Old Vine Registry bases its work on a 2024 benchmark adopted by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, or OIV. The Old Vine Project, a South African certification group, says the OIV formally adopted the 35 year benchmark in 2024, recognizing grape plants over 35 years old as “old vine” on a global scale. The registry’s own information page says vineyards must meet that 2024 OIV definition to be included, with at least 85% of vines in a plot at least 35 years old.
For shoppers, that means the seal is trying to do something simple at the shelf: replace a broad marketing phrase with a documented age category and a traceable vineyard record. U.S. regulators still review mandatory wine label information through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, but the OVR Seal is an added voluntary mark, not a replacement for required federal labeling.