Helping our fire-hit wineries get back on their feet
Our wine producers and growers are hurting. Country folk are resilient, but when Mother Nature rears her fiery head, they need our help. Here’s how.
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There’s heartbreak in the air. It hangs like smoke across charred land, smoulders like hay bales, burns bright like embers falling from the sky and brings tears to the eyes, no matter where in the world you’re located.
Hell has no fury like bushfires and Australia is burning. Over the Christmas break, I visited my father’s farm in New South Wales. The landscape took my breath away. Razed homes, charred vehicles, ravaged paddocks, an eerie silence, and blackened trees stood shell-shocked like battle weary soldiers.
Dad’s elderly neighbour Ray handed me a twisted piece of aluminium that used to be a ladder. Aluminium burns at 660.4C.
It’s difficult to imagine what they went through.
At night, we watched the news – dismayed by footage of the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island burning back at home. Our wine producers and growers are hurting. Country folk are resilient but when Mother Nature rears her fiery head, they need our help.
You can assist by buying wine made by producers hardest hit like Lensbrook’s Tilbrook Estate who lost pretty much everything; vineyards, winery, and wine.
A small amount of salvaged stock such as the Tilbrook Estate 2014 Reserve Chardonnaywill be auctioned off at the SA4SA Bushfire Appeal Gala Dinner on January 31 (tickets available via humanitix.com).
Growers who do not have a bottled product or brand to help pull them through find things particularly tough. Donations to the official Adelaide Hills Wine Region Fire Appeal (adelaidehillswine.com.au) will help, or splash some cash on wine with their best interests at heart.
Like the Thistledown 2018 Bowe-Lees-Lovey Vineyard Nebbiolo($200/six-pack). All profits from sales of the limited-edition red (just 800 bottles) will go directly to those impacted by the Adelaide Hills bushfires.
For winemaker Giles Cooke MW and colleague Paddy Gilhooly, it’s personal. They rely on relationships with growers and the nebbiolo was made using fruit sourced from the Bowe-Lees-Loveys vineyard in Woodside.
“I’ve worked with Ann Lees, Michael Bowe and Adam Loveys at their vineyard for a number of years,” Michael says.
“Sadly, their property was among those ravaged by the fires – most of the vines were damaged and all of their equipment is gone.”
Every little bit counts and the price of the six-pack includes delivery to anywhere in Australia. Pre-orders are now available through the Thistledown website, for delivery in mid-February.
“Wine seems so trivial when things like this happen but it is also a lifeline to help people get back on their feet,” he says.