Bushfire Damage to Wine Industry
Australia is still recovering from the worst bushfire damage – in terms of loss of human life – in its history. Over 200 lives lost in Victoria as heatwave conditions erupted into fiery blazes that were beyond imagination in their intensity and speed, not to mention their devastating effects.
One of the industries that has been affected by the bushfires has been the Victorian wine industry with 29 wineries in the Yarra Valley district affected. According to Yarra Valley Wine Growers’ Association vice president Graham Van der Meulen aroudn 350 acres of vineyards have been affected. The Yarra Yarra and Roundstone wineries were destroyed and other wineries lost warehouse, storage or machinery to the fires.
It was first thought that quite a large number of vines were completely lost though to the blazes but there are now hopes that they will recover to regrow within a couple of years.
The fruit from the wineries that were hit, though, was unsalvageable with the smoke damage affecting the juice. The grapes from these vines won’t be able to be harvested this year and the Australian wine industry will have to cope with the loss of around 5% of the annual production for the year.
The fires happened to coincide with harvest and many of the wineries have gone ahead with their picking, a good sign that they believe their grapes are not smoke affected.