Four Winds Vineyard loses crop to hail while Clonakilla dodges storm nextdoor

Such was its impact, Four Winds Vineyard lost its entire crop to hail damage.

John and Sarah Collingwood had been home from Christmas on the coast just a few hours when the weather system that swept through Canberra's northwest reached them.

"I was actually sheltering under the shed with my dog and the ute, it was crazy," Mr Collingwood said. "At the start you've still got hope, but it just kept getting worse and worse and longer and longer. After about 10 minutes of pretty torrential rain and hail you just know that it's all over."

Mr Collingwood said once the rain subsided it was clear the vines had been defoliated, grapes littering the ground.

"Once it gets to that stage, it's 'let's line up for 2023'," he said.

Around 10 Murrumbateman wineries were damaged or wiped out during the January 3 storm, in one of the worst weather events the region has seen in half a century.

Jennie Fischer has had a neighbouring property for 40 years. She said she'd never seen anything like it.

"The wind was absolutely massive," she said. "We had trees all around us just flattened."

Out of sheer good fortune, Clonakilla winery, just a couple of kilometres up the road, emerged almost unscathed.

Vineyard Manager Greg Mader said while hail damage was minimal, they now battled disease after what had been an unseasonable amount of rain.

"Because of the season we've had, the rainfall events have just made it tough to keep things healthy," he said.

Mr Mader said many in the region were contending with the same issue, with grapes particularly susceptible to Downy Mildew after wet conditions.

The combination of just 10 millimetres of rain on a day of 10 degrees or more can produce a primary infection, which creates a sporulation for a secondary infection, Mr Mader said.

"It can grow very rapidly, affecting the leaves, the leaves affect grape ripening and it could also affect the stem that has the fruit on it," he said.

READ ALSO: Is the ACT government in denial over the January storm response?

"You just have to draw the line afterwards and know that all the effort you're going to put into it, you got something really good at the end of it."

Down the road at Four Winds, Mr Collingwood said while agriculture had always been boom or bust, it now felt riskier than ever.

"If we keep losing crops, we would have to reassess. That's the reality of it," he said.

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