A 416-year-old wild grapevine in the mountains of eastern Tibet was recently acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living vine.
Deep in the mountains of eastern Tibet, in Zuoba Village of Rojin Township, Zogang County, stands an ancient vine that has weathered four centuries of wind and frost.
Its roots grip the rocky soil of the plateau, and its branches are entwined with the very rings of time.
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On 21 September, this silent witness of history was officially certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest wild living vine – now 416 years old.
Reaching about eight metres high, with a ground girth of 209 centimetres and a trunk diameter of 67 centimetres, the new world’s oldest vine is an impressive-looking specimen.
བོད་ནས་རྙེད་པའི་ལོ་416ལ་སླེབས་པའི་རྒུན་འབྲུམ་རྒུན་འབྲུམ་ནི་བསམ་ཡུལ་ལས་འདས་པའི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ལྡན་པའི་འཛམ་གླིང་ཐོག་ཆེས་གནའ་བོའི་རྒུན་འབྲུམ་ཡིན། | ཀུའེ་ནེ་སི་འཛམ་གླིང་ཟིན་ཐོ་https://t.co/nP4EXAScCd@ByronDonalds @HawleyMO @GreggJarrett @ABlinken @KenRoth #Tibet #GuinnesWorldRecords pic.twitter.com/MfA9F1hUBW
— Tenzin (@Tenzin__Tibet) November 11, 2025
More impressive still is the fact that, while most vines rarely live beyond 50 years, 64 vines over a hundred years old have been identified in Zogang County. The region’s winemaking tradition stretches back more than 1,000 years, and there is something about the local environment that helps the plants thrive.
This is more than a world record – it is a living archive of time itself.
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