In the wine business, age is often valued. But this may be an extreme. University of California grape experts are searching for California's very old Zinfandel vineyards -- some 100 years old -- for traits to introduce into modern wine grape vineyards. "This is the good ol' Zinfandel club," says Jim Wolpert, Cooperative Extension viticulturist at UC Davis. For years, UC viticulturists selected virus-free Zinfandel vines to improve the certified planting stock for Zinfandel vineyards, Wolpert says. But vintners found that these selections had large, tight clusters that were prone to rot and undesirable for quality red wine. Since the exact European home of the original Zinfandel is unknown, researchers must backtrack to California's very old vineyards to find the best, small-berry selections. Wolpert and Rhonda Smith, UC viticulture farm advisor in Sonoma County, are coordinating the effort to locate the old vineyards before they fall victim to replanting or development. They are taking bud wood from these "heritage" vines to be budded into grape rootstock at UC's Oakville Experimental Vineyard in the Napa Valley.