Hunter Valley wineries bounce back after horror season of drought, fires and coronavirus

It has been a horror eight months for the wine industry of the Hunter Valley. But following the triple threat of severe drought, bushfire smoke and a coronavirus shutdown, things are finally getting back on track.

Several wineries in the region reported a bumper June long weekend and expressed optimism that the industry is primed to thrive again.

Tyrrell's Wines enjoyed its busiest June long weekend ever as tourists poured back into the region. The family-owned winery ranks second in Good Weekend magazine's list of top Australian wineries, produced in collaboration with independent wine website The Real Review.

About half of Tyrrell's revenue comes from the winery's cellar door and supplying restaurants and pubs. The lockdown meant "basically half our market was closed", managing director Bruce Tyrrell said.

But the malaise began back in 2016, when drought followed a couple of wet years. Mr Tyrrell said it became the worst drought he had seen, with large gum trees simply "dying in the bush".

Then bushfires hit the region in October last year. "We were never in any danger of fire, but the smoke chased people away," he said.

The fires came at the worst possible time, with lingering smoke also ruining most of the grapes that were about to be picked from the vine.

"We've basically picked nothing [this season]. Eighty-five per cent of our crop was either dropped on the ground or over the fence for the cattle to give the poor buggers something to eat," Mr Tyrrell said.

"It's been a long, tough seven to eight months."

But signs of recovery are starting to show, highlighted by the record June long weekend.

"Our daily sales are picking up every day," he said. "Things are better this week than they were last week, and last week was better than the week before."

A few kilometres down the road, at Brokenwood Wines, general manager Geoff Krieger said 70 per cent of his usual harvest of 1000 tonnes of grapes had gone to waste because of the smoke.

"We picked it to the ground and it just became compost," he said.

Then, in March, the lockdown forced Brokenwood to close its new $8 million cellar door.

"That was a pretty scary time."

But last weekend the region was back at its best, with Mr Krieger saying all 3500 hotel rooms were full.

"The industry breathed a collective sigh of relief to see that happen," he said. "The good news is the weekend ahead is heavily booked as well."

Mr Krieger said he was "absolutely" cheering for the Queensland border to remain closed, while the delayed start to the ski season was also helping to funnel visitors to the Hunter Valley.

A few kilometres on the other side of Tyrrell's is De Iuliis Wines, a boutique winery with 10 staff members. Owner and winemaker Mike De Iuliis said that while drought and bushfires were natural risks "as a farmer you've just got to deal with", the pandemic was "the thing we didn't see coming".

The winery sells about two-thirds of its wine direct to consumers through its cellar door and online, and the rest through Woolworths, Coles, restaurants and wine bars.

Despite losing the cellar door revenue, Mr De Iuliis said the winery's club members had picked up the slack by purchasing more wine online.

"The support has been overwhelming to the point we haven't qualified for JobKeeper," he said.

And the future looks bright, if a glance through his window is any indication.

"The valley's never been greener – from the last couple of years anyway," Mr De Iuliis said.