CONTRACTORS have been instructed to tear up a 45.5 hectare vineyard in the heart of the Yarra Valley.
They began removing the vines, which were grown on a large parcel of land parallel to the Maroondah Highway between Healesville and Coldstream (opposite Oakridge Estate), earlier this month.
The vines, which are ten years old, are owned by Tarrawarra Estate.
The sizeable vineyard removal, or ‘pull’ as it is known in the wine industry, is highly unusual but wine drinkers and grape growers are being told they should not be concerned.
Simon Napthine, Tarrawarra Estate general manager, described the vineyard removal as “housekeeping”.
“Tarrawarra has leased the land the vines are on for the past decade and that commercial lease has now expired,” he said.
“While we had hoped to remain there, we weren’t able to come to appropriate terms for a new lease.”
Mr Napthine said concerns that the vines were being removed because of a glut of wine world-wide, or environmental problems on site, were incorrect.
“The removal of these vines has nothing to do with the health of the wine industry or the health of the local environment,” he said.
“We thought it was a particularly good vineyard but the owner of the land has requested we remove the vines and revert the land to pasture and that’s what we are doing.”
Mr Napthine said the loss of the vines would have little effect on the production of Tarrawarra Estate wines.
“The grapes grown on the site have been used to supply a larger wine company and we should see only a marginal impact on the production of our Tarrawarra Estate Reserve range and Tin Cows labels,” he said.
– Dion Teasdale
