Stara trta, Vine in Lent, Maribor, Slovenia

Stara trta is a grapevine of the Žametovka variety growing on the south facade of a one-storey house at Vojašniška ulica 8 in the Lent district of Maribor. Its trunk, 25 cm in diameter, forks at about two metres into horizontal shoots trained on a trellis and reaching 15 m. The house and vine are protected as a cultural monument of local importance.

The vine is about 440 years old, dated by probing the trunk and examining it under a microscope. In 2004 it entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest wine grapevine in the world. The house at Vojašniška ulica 8 and the vine are protected as a cultural monument of local importance.

The vine is a Žametovka, also called modra kavčina, one of the oldest native grape varieties in Slovenia. Each year at the start of October up to 50 kg of grapes are harvested in a ceremony and fermented into a wine drawn onto artistically designed bottles; it is exclusive for its rarity, though its quality is usually modest. Cuttings grow in the courtyard of Ptuj Castle, at Grad Castle and in a housing estate in Graz.

The vine is accessible from the outside and can be visited while walking along the river. The site sits in an easy-to-reach area of Maribor where cycling paths also lead through nearby vineyards.

Cuttings from the vine grow elsewhere: in the castle courtyard of Ptuj, at Grad Castle and in a housing estate in Graz. The annual harvest in early October yields up to 50 kilograms of grapes, pressed into a wine whose quality is modest but which is bottled in artistically designed bottles.