Murrumbateman wineries criticise Yass Valley Council over road signage 'confusion'

Owners are angry after the council closed a road for repairs after flooding but, as they see it, failed to put up signs which made clear that access to their businesses was still possible.

"It's been challenging," Stephanie Helm, who owns Vintner's Daughter Winery, said.

She is particularly exercised because she doesn't know what the plans for the future of the road are, how long it will be closed for and what might happen if more rains come.

"We would like some assurance about what the plan is, going into the future," she said.

"We would usually see a steady stream of visitors to the cellar door but road closures have obviously deterred people from making a trip out to Murrumbateman."

Yass Valley Council called in contractors to repair a damaged culvert at Broken Dam Creek on Murrumbateman Road at the end of October, with a forecast that the work would be done before the end of the year "weather permitting".

It does have a notification on its website saying: "A reminder to visitors and locals in the area that our wineries and local businesses on Murrumbateman Road are still open and accessible despite the road being closed at the culvert!"

But the wineries and businesses, which need passing trade, say that the actual signs for drivers on the road itself don't make clear that access to the businesses is still available.

"The diversion has been distressing. It's caused a lot of confusion but we are open," Yasmin Coe of the Murrumbateman Chocolate Co. said. "You are allowed to drive on the road. You can reach our business."

The disruption is distressing for some of the wineries because they've already had two hard years - first with the bushfires and then with hail which cut through the vineyards.

Sarah Collingwood said, in the 24 years of her Four Winds Vineyard, they had only lost the whole of a season's crop twice, and they were in the last two years - in 2020 because of the smoke in the air from the fires, and this year when the hail swept through.

In 2020, they had to buy in grapes from South Australia and this year, the winery bought them in from Gundagai and Tumbarumba.

"We haven't had a normal year in a while," she said. "I'm not sure what normal is now."

"Normality" after fires and COVID is taking some time to arrive. French oak for barrels, for example, is harder to get and much more expensive than it was before the virus struck.

So she feels that confusion over roads is the last thing her and her neighbours' businesses need.

They have come together to offer special packages to encourage people to visit the area.

The joint promotion pack (at $187) includes:

And they suggest the following itineraries to avoid the road disruption:

Yass Valley Council said: "Council have made it clear on their website and Facebook pages that although the road is closed at the culvert, all businesses trading along Murrumbateman Road are still open. Variable Message Signs at the Barton Highway and Gundaroo Road indicate the location of the closure and the detour route."

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