Two Hills Vineyard after the fire

February 15, 2009

Over the last couple of days I have read so many heartbreaking stories about the fire-storms in Victoria. They brought tears to my eyes. It is incredible what people went through and are still going through; the grief, the loss, the incomprehension, the suffering. Incredible. It takes so much courage to rebuilt and battle on.

At Two Hills we are lucky that the fire could be stopped in time. Michael sent some pictures. He says they don’t do justice to reality. How could the house and the vineyard survive?

Everything is black, he says, no grass or scrubs left. In the first picture the vineyard is to the right. The water in the dam is quite low. The second picture shows the vineyard. We will have some “toasted” grapes, I guess.

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Our dam seen from the hill

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The vineyard after the fire

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It was very close (Chardonnay block in the background)

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The pumping shed still standing

Among others (for instance the Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association), our distributor, the Old England Hotel in Heidelberg, Melbourne has already offered to buy smoke-tainted wine to support us and all other grape growers who suffered because of the fires. Tragedies have some good; they bring people closer together, to help and support each other.

For the sake of the victims, we have to battle on.