Farmers count cost of fires, but hopes new vintage not up in smoke

This summer's savage bushfire season has burnt out over 1000 hectares of Australia's vineyards, killed hundreds of livestock and destroyed thousands of kilometres of farm fences, adding more stress and heartache for agricultural industries already battling years of drought.

Fire approaches a horse paddock at Orangeville,
north of Picton in NSW, earlier this month.

South Australia’s Adelaide Hills wine region lost about half its annual crop in fires last week, valued at $100 million, or more than 1000 hectares of vineyards.

But in hopeful signs for next year's vintages, wine growers in South Australia and NSW say the fires may have come too early for ripening fruit to be tainted by smoke flavours.

Read the story from The Age by Mike Foley - “Farmers count cost of fires, but hopes new vintage not up in smoke.”