And consumers won’t always pay more for old-vine wines. Most of California’s old vines are Zinfandel, not big-buck designer grapes like Cabernet or Chardonnay. Can you charge enough for a bottle of old-vine Zin to recoup the farming costs? Shebl thinks not: “I think for most people, the upper level for Zin is about $35 a bottle.” Martinelli Winery charges $125 for its Jackass Hill Zinfandel, planted in the 1890s, and “that probably still doesn’t reflect the cost of farming,” says Julianna Martinelli.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Do-old-vines-really-produce-better-wine-6824260.php