Our driver was Simon, who’s about our age and said that we’d be tasting 60 wines before the end of the day. I suspected that while that group wouldn’t sing “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” in the morning, if they sampled that much they would by the time the bus was coming home. Turned out that it wasn’t meant to be.
5 wineries burned down in the last 2 days. The heat wave of 4 days over 100 degrees the week before had pretty well destroyed the grape crops already. What was left is now damaged by the smoke and is not useable. There won’t be an Australian wine crop for 2009.
Someone rush to the grocery store and corner the market. I make light of it, but it really is tragic. 65 people have died in the last 2 days because of the fires. Hundreds of homes and businesses have gone up in flames.
Simon taught us that “Cleanskin” wines are essentially overproduction that’s sold under a number of generic labels. Clothing manufacturers do it, it’s not surprising that winemakers do, too. You can get some great wines for about $5 a bottle. You also get a lot of crappy ones, too, he said, so when you find a good one you immediately return and buy all of it up.
These pictures show the Yarra Valley wine country.....some of them show the smoldering fires in the background.
