briefs
COUNTING THE COST
IN the worst Australian bushfire season on record, fires raged across the continent and amid the horror of lost lives, lost houses and livelihoods, came losses, too, for the Australian wine industry.
One-third of grape production in the Adelaide Hills, a premium wine-producing region noted for quality chardonnay and pinot noir, was lost or damaged in catastrophic Christmas bushfires.
At the time of writing the damage bill was estimated at $100 million. Close to 60 producers were affected and a number of the region’s best-known vineyards and wineries were lost, including Henschke’s Lenswood Vineyard, Tilbrook Estate, New Era Vineyards, Golding Estate, Riposte, Barristers Block, Tomich and Vinteloper.
The Henschke Lenswood vineyard, planted to the oldest pinot noir vines in the region, is gone. It was planted in 1983 by winemaker Tim Knappstein. Fortunately, the vineyard is located away from the producer’s main vineyards, including the world-famous Hill of Grace, in the neighbouring Eden Valley wine region.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has established an emergency relief fund to help those affected by the Adelaide Hills fire.
Wine drinkers have also been encouraged to buy Adelaide Hills wines over the coming months.
The Adelaide Hills Wine Region Inc. has an official fundraising account on GoFundMe.
LENDING A HAND
HAVING lost his wife to cancer seven years ago, a prominent Mornington Peninsula wine producer is now facing a similar battle against the disease.
In late 2019, just months away from the 2020 vintage, David Lloyd, of Eldridge Estate, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of lymphoma. He lost his wife, Wendy, also to cancer.
Friends on the Peninsula have banded together, including one of the region’s pioneers, Nat White (Main Ridge founder) who has come out of retirement to assist George Mihaly, of Paradigm Hill, with winemaking, to take over the operations at the Red Hill vineyard for the 2020 harvest.
An army of volunteers will be in force to help Lloyd through this most difficult time.
Leading Melbourne-based wine distributor CellarHand has also reached out to restaurants and wine bars to support him by buying wine.
“Tis the season of goodwill, and here’s a good cause,” wrote CellarHand owner Patrick Walsh in a mass call out before Christmas.
“The reality (is) that running that beautiful vineyard as a one-man band is a precarious business at best and, well, we’ve got to help.”
With the email came a list of current release wines to buy and a link to the Eldridge Estate website (www.eldridge-estate.com. au). The company’s signature wines are gamay, a gamay/pinot noir blend, pinot noir and chardonnay.
Lloyd will undergo treatment and expects to be out of commission for much of 2020, which also happens to be the winery’s 25th birthday. Originally founded in 1985, the vineyard was bought by David and Wendy in 1995.
AN HISTORIC CONTRIBUTION
VICTORIA’S first female Governor, Linda Dessau, knows all about making history.
In late 2019 she made a little more history for women in Victoria, hosting a wine
