Harrison Davies

With south-east Queensland still reeling from massive flooding, the heavy rains that caused the high water levels have now made their way toward New South Wales wine regions like the Hunter Valley.

Winegrowers in the region, currently in the midst of the 2022 vintage, are racing to get fruit off the vine before the weather no longer permits.

Many producers are now forced to hand-pick grapes, as heavy rains have prevented heavy machinery from being operated in the vineyards.

Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association CEO Amy Cooper said the region had experienced challenging weather before and was prepared to withstand the storm.

“We have experienced flooding in the Hunter before and of course that is quite concerning and creates many difficulties for our wine industry,” Cooper said.

“We are obviously experiencing quite a heavy rain event and we know that parts of South Queensland and northern New South Wales have already been quite badly flood affected.

“We are in the process of finalising vintage so it is unfortunate timing industry with the weather forecast, we’re working really hard last week to try and to finalise vintage as much as possible.

“I think we’re fortunate in the Hunter that we do have an early an early vintage being a warmer climate – obviously most of our vintage happens in January [and] February.”

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