(NVR) - California, a state with 137 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) that stretch as far north as Trinity County and as far south as Riverside County, has been producing wine for more than 150 years. Do you know where the oldest living vine in California is located? Napa? Sonoma? Keep guessing. You might be surprised by where the vine is.

The oldest living vine in California is in Southern California. The Vina Madre (mother vine), was planted at the San Gabriel Mission in the 18th century. It is unknown if the Vina Madre vine at San Gabriel is still alive. But a cutting from that vine was planted in downtown Los Angeles in the early 1800s, predating the statehood of California in 1850.

According to Wes Hagen and other winemakers and educators, the first planting of vinifera vines was in the California Missions – starting in San Diego and then San Juan and then San Gabriel. There is no proof that the vines still exist in San Diego and Hagen is investigating whether the vine planted at the San Gabriel mission is still alive and producing. But, the vine at the Avila Adobe is the oldest vine that is still producing that he has encountered.

The Avila Adobe vine

The Avila Adobe vine is located inside the courtyard of the Adobe Avila, the oldest standing structure in Los Angeles. Located on Olvera Street and part of the Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, the Avila Adobe was completed in 1818.

The vine, which would have been planted as pergola canopies to provide shade for the courtyard, is actually two trunks that were planted at the same time and are within five feet of each other. While it is two vines, the Avila Adobe vine is considered as one. There are also at least two other independent vines along Olvera Street that were possibly planted 40 to 60 years after the Adobe Avila vine.

The vine was rediscovered by L.A. city archivist Michael Holland. A home winemaker, Holland harvested the grapes from the vine in September 2015, cautiously taking whatever fruit he could find. He managed to make two to three gallons of Angelica, a macerated red wine in which fermentation is stopped, leaving 12 to 15 percent residual sugar. A neutral grape spirit is added. The result is a fresh, sweet fortified berry wine that is a bright, electric pink color like a rose of syrah.