Wineries in the Canberra region have been devastated by a late, spring frost.
Tuesday morning frost hit local Murrumbateman wineries hard. This time of the year, grapevines are sensitive to freezing temperatures and spring frost can cause severe injury to grapevines.
Helm Wines lost more than half its riesling crop, estimated at $1 million in lost income.
The frost hit its vineyards early on Tuesday and has burnt off the young shoots carrying the 2024 vintage.
Over half of the estate, or 10 hectares of vines, have been affected and it means very little wine for 2024.
Ken Helm has been making wine in the region for more than 50 years. He had been expecting a frost soon, but after four years of drought, fire, hail and COVID, the frost had put immense strain on local wineries.
The 2023 crop was an outstanding vintage according to Mr Helm, but the frost has him worried about the years ahead.
"We're worried we will have no crop after our 2023 vintage runs out; if we have no crop that means we don't have any wine," Mr Helm said.
Canberra wineries would have to source crops from other regions.
Ravensworth winery in Murrumbateman also lost more than 50 per cent of its crop.
Winemaker Byran Martin wasn't too worried about the frost wipe out because he had a successful harvest last year.
He said it wouldn't affect them in the short term and the current harvest will give plenty of time to prepare.
"It's been tough because only about four years ago we had the wipe out vintage from the smoke," Mr Martin said.
The last late frost was in 2011 but local wineries like Lark Hill and Clonakilla were also hit hard during the 2020 bushfires.
"In a business like ours, you can expect to have an issue with your crop every sort of 10 years but to have it so close in a couple of years in between hits you fair and square in the nose that you're a farmer," Mr Martin said.
Lark Hill Winery in Bungendore also reported losing 25 to 50 per cent of its crop due to the frost.
Lark Hill Winery's Chris Carpenter said his vineyard was hit in an area where he had been planting young vines.
"The area we've been hit really hard in is where the young vines are. We had been planting them for the last three to four years and we were hoping to see some of the first crop from them this year," Mr Carpenter said.
"It's been doubly frustrating because that puts the journey back a year in terms of introducing new grape vines on the market for us."
It's a tough hit on the Canberra local wine tourism industry.
Mr Helm said the wine industry was experiencing a rebound and record demand after the the 2020 bushfires and hail damage.
"The frost damage is devastating - with the demand for their quality wines at record levels. We are talking about millions of dollars lost to the local wine tourism community," he said.
