Adelaide Hills producers looking for best ways to salvage vineyards after last month's devastasting bushfire
Wine producers in Adelaide Hills are currently seeking out the best solutions to salvage their vineyards and get them up and running again after a bushfire hit the region just before Christmas.
The fire on December 20th blazed through 25,000 hectares of land and destroyed more than 70 homes, 400 outbuildings and 200 vehicles. A third of the region’s 3000ha of vineyards are within the reach of the fire, with about 500ha of vines across 60 vineyards sustaining damage. Hundreds of volunteers began working in affected vineyards immediately after the fire to reinstate irrigation systems.
Several grower meetings have been held in the Adelaide Hills since the fires to answer questions and help build solidarity among affected growers.
Lobethal vigneron Charles Rosback grows some of the cool climate region’s most prized Chardonnay grapes for several high profile local wineries, and he said the use of GPS technology had allowed his 15ha vineyard to be quickly assessed to determine the extent of the damage which saw up to 90% of the vines sustaining canopy scorch.
This week, volunteers and GLOG Viticulture staff have used the company’s Maxicut system to cut trunks off just a few centimetres from the ground across the entire block. Rosback said the action was necessary to give new shoots the best possible chance before the end of the growing season in April. The use of the GPS technology was crucial in quickly identifying the areas needing to be cut back, he said. He is hoping that the new vines will return to around 60-80% production next year and will return to full yields in 2022.
“We knew that those vines that had been burnt on the trunks, they needed to be cut down to an inch off the ground to get rid of that dead or damaged wood so we can grow a new trunk,” Rosback told The Lead. “By cutting it down you are allowing a new trunk to grow that will be healthy and will have full sap flow. “What we’re doing is acting now with the intent of growing a crop next summer so our recovery process and our cash flow implications are minimised by taking action.”
Adelaide Hills grape growing expert and Hamilton Viticulture consultant Richard Hamilton said his advice to fire affected growers was to get irrigation back on immediately and then wait 6-8 weeks to see how vines responded.
“It’s a lot of work to cut it back, why not let the vine do its own thing and you might get the same outcome,” he said. Although sometimes overshadowed by the Barossa to the north and McLaren Vale to the south, the Adelaide Hills has emerged in recent years as one of Australia’s leading cool-climate wine regions and is home to more than 100 wine producers and almost 300 vineyards. This year’s harvest is expected to begin next month and continue into March and possibly April for growers who still have healthy fruit to pick.