Three Orange vineyards have abandoned their 2018 harvests after smoke from February’s Mount Canobolas fire tainted the grapes.
David and Carolyn Gartrell’s Wattleview vineyard, De Salis Wines and the boutique Habitat Vineyard have lost their entire crops.
A fourth winery is understood to be awaiting test results on two of their varietals but the others have been cleared of any damage.
Orange Region Vignerons Association president Justin Jarrett said that while the losses were regretted it had been an excellent harvest.
“It’s maybe 15-20 hectares out of 700 hectares,” he said.
“We’ve been very lucky.
“It is lucky because you can’t control smoke.”
Mr Gartrell said grape samples were sent to the Australian Wine Research Institute [AWRI] in Adelaide.
“Ours came back with a fairly high level,” he said.
“There is no point in any of the firms making wine from it.
“It just actually infiltrated the leaves and the grapes and it affects the chemical structure of the grapes.
“They taste quite sweet and beautiful but if you taste a few then you start to get this strange, smoky, lingering taste in your mouth.”
Mr Gartrell said it was his first grape harvest loss though he had lost two apple harvests due to hail.
“Three in 50 years is not too bad,” he said.
Mr Gartrell said the rest of the region’s harvest would be strong.
“It is going to be an excellent harvest,” he said.
De Salis owner and winemaker Charlie Svenson said they had lost all of the crop on two vineyards.
Mr Svenson said the financial loss would be balanced against the savings in not having to process the crop.
“There is a real loss but it is amortised over a longer time,” he said.
“There is a ying and yang to it.”
He said they would be donating 1.5 tonnes of fruit to the AWRI for testing so the industry could learn more about marginally tainted grapes.
Mr Svenson said instead of harvesting he and wife Loretta had gone on holidays to the NSW south coast only to be forced to evacuate their campsite after fires hit Tathra on Sunday.
Habitat Vineyard owner Marko Berndt said all of the two hectare crop was damaged.
“It is very disappointing,” he said.
However he said they had reserve stock of previous harvests to continue the cellar door operation.