They're old, stumpy and gnarled – but many wine enthusiasts consider them national treasures. We're talking about Australia's ancient vineyards and they're the source of the latest fashionable dinner-table accessory - old-vine wine.

Barossa winemaker Marco Cirillo (pictured below) presides over one of the oldest Grenache vineyards left in the world and spends every spare moment pruning and nurturing the 150-year-old vines. The gap-toothed vines, which stand up to six feet high, were first planted in the Cirillo family vineyard at Light Pass in 1850 and produce a subtle and beguiling Grenache that's been commended as "one of the finest this country has ever produced."

This rare and beautiful old antique possesses a depth of flavour and complexity that its younger counterparts just can't match, elegant and multifaceted as the old vines' roots reach deep down into the earth to express different parts of the soil's profile. Marco hand prunes all 5500 vines himself. At about 12 minutes per vine, that's over 1000 hours work. "I aim to make Grenache that tastes like Grenache, not like Shiraz," Cirillo said, and it was this that clearly set his wines apart from sweeter and more confected Barossa versions. Low on oak and structured by integrated acidity,

To sample the immense Cirillo Estate 1850s Grenache, with a palate full of dark varietal characters, is to wrap your mouth around a little parcel of history. - Megan Lehmann

Marco Cirillo