The last 10 years were spent learning to farm the drought and doing that very well. Now it is time to learn to manage rain. The area has experienced record rain. Old timers say they have seen nothing like it in at least a generation. In the vineyard, new rivers and creeks and swamps have appeared. The equipment is constantly being bogged up to the axles. Spraying is very difficult. The decision is not to make any wine this vintage. We are only interested in producing premium wines and this is not the year for that.
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At Ambar Hill earth moving machinery is installing new agricultural drains at the lower end of the main vineyard to get rid of the water that is saturating the ground. Unfortunately, they got bogged as well.
But, when finished, flood or drought Ambar Hill is good.
In Brisbane, our apartment was flooded in the basement and we were without power for several days. But our Brisbane warehouse near the river was fortunately spared the flood despite of the forecast that it would go under.
Ambar Hill has had a long relationship with the farmed seafood industry, and some producers we know well in Cardwell and Innisfail have taken hard hits. Ambar Hill is sponsoring some recovery events with wines for raffles and functions to help raise money. The Australian wine industry has organised a major fundraiser with Ambar Hill amongst the many industry donors. See the notice at the end of this news letter for how to buy a ticket.
