After the fires

In the wake of Australia’s unprecedented bushfires and other extreme conditions, we check in on some of those affected in the wine community and hear how we can help.

Checking in on the wine industry post-fires and how we can help

ON THE FRIDAY before Christmas, devasting bushfires swept through South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, affecting more than 60 grape growers and producers. While parts of New South Wales had been burning since September, the ferocity of the Adelaide Hills fire was a sign of things to come, with Tumbarumba and the south coast of New South Wales next in line.

Fires continued to rage around the country well into the new year, causing an unprecedented scale of destruction. At the time of print, 31 people had lost their lives, some 2000 homes had been destroyed, and estimates put animal losses at more than half a billion.

So many in the wine community have been directly impacted, with some vineyards and wineries burnt in the Adelaide Hills and Tumbarumba. Gippsland, North East Victoria, the Canberra District and Kangaroo Island were just some of the regions that spent extended periods on high alert due to surrounding fires, although vineyards remained largely unscathed at the time of print.

Adelaide Hills Wine Region executive officer Kerry Treuel confirmed that 30 per cent of the region’s vineyards were in the fire area. “Unfortunately some vineyards are completely wiped out, but there are other areas where vines are still intact with no fire damage, and we are hopeful that these will be harvestable.”

James Tilbrook of Tilbrook Estate was among the wineries hardest hit in the Adelaide Hills. “Our winery is gone and everything in there – we lost all of our stock in bottle, in tank and in barrel,” he says. James had initially thought they had lost almost all of their vines, but he soon reported a glimmer of hope.

Following extensive work in the vines, such as cutting them back and installing temporary irrigation, James reported that about

70 per cent of them were shooting less than one month after the fire. “We’ve still got all the trellis to repair and there’s a lot to be done, but there’s hope that some of the vines are still alive,” he says.

If this growth continues, he says they could have a crop again in two to three years.

Like many in the region, James and his team have been overwhelmed with support, with more than 200 volunteers assisting

in the vineyard, as well as receiving offers of bulk wine that he plans to blend and sell for the 2020 vintage, plus the use of winemaking facilities in the community. “That sort of stuff is invaluable,” James says.

Australian Grape & Wine chief executive Tony Battaglene says the assocation is working closely with various government bodies and other authorities to develop a response plan. “This is the new normal and we know we have to be better prepared,” he says. Tony adds that smoke taint is now the other major concern.

Once veraison hits – when the grapes begin to ripen – the fruit exposed to smoke in the air risks absorbing smoky characters. This can show in the resulting wines, and these traits can often worsen in the bottle as the wine develops. There is a lot still unknown about smoke and how it affects grapes, with each instance needed to be assessed individually, taking into account the length of time grapes are exposed to smoke, the vineyard’s proximity to fire and smoke, wind directions, and many other variables.

Smoke had not been a major concern for Canberra District producers over the Christmas period, despite experiencing incredibly poor air quality, because the grapes had been weeks away from ripening at that time. In the Hunter Valley, smoke taint had been front of mind for its producers, with the wider region subjected to smoke for months prior to vintage.

Always one of the first Australian wine regions to begin harvesting, some producers started a little earlier this year due to a range of factors. Angus Barnes, executive officer of the NSW Wine Industry Association, says the warmer weather and drought conditions had played a role in this timing, as well as concerns over smoke. He says the NSW association is working closely with the likes of the Australian Wine Research Institute and other authorities to ensure they are doing everything they can.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR 2020

For most producers, it’s too early to tell exactly what effects – if any – there will be on this year’s vintage. For the majority of growers and winemakers around the country, it’s business as usual, even in fireaffected regions. Still, most wineries in various states and regions have been sending off grapes and trial batch samples for testing in order to determine whether smoke taint is present.

Tyrrell’s in the Hunter Valley of NSW was one of the first to publicly announce their decision to drastically reduce the 2020 vintage due to smoke taint. The family is estimating crop losses of about 80 per cent this year, adding that the issue was not universal to their fellow Hunter Valley producers.

It’s not just fires that have impacted this vintage, with other extreme climatic challenges causing issues as well. For Ray Costanzo of Queensland’s Golden Grove Estate, drought conditions had already dramatically reduced yields in their Granite Belt vineyard before a January hailstorm wiped out the remaining fruit. But with a substantial amount of wines in stock, Ray says they are luckier than most. The priority now is to keep their wine club members happy, as well as their supporting venues, and work with fruit sourced from other regions. Ray never expected they would need to buy in water to keep the vines alive, as they did for this growing season, but February rain brought some relief. “Our tanks are full and our dams are filling up, and it means we have a chance of having a vintage next year.”