A Helping Hand

We were recently lucky enough to try an interesting wine from Adelaide Hills producer Bird In Hand. The 2010 ‘Nest Egg’ Cabernet Sauvignon was part of a small parcel of rare library vintages made available through the UK’s Majestic to raise funds for the South Australian County Fire Service (SACFS).

The Nest Egg label is reserved for the most outstanding wines of the vintage and is popular with collectors.

Just 9,696 individually numbered bottles of the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon were produced, using small, open fermenting tanks and matured for 18 months in French oak. The resulting wine is deep red in colour with intense violets, cassis, and aniseed with a long-lasting finish.

Sadly, wildfires are becoming a harrowing annual occurrence across some of the world’s leading wine-producing regions.

The Adelaide Hills region where Bird In Hand is based lost around a third of their vines with some producers suffering a total loss of their properties.

 

Andrew Nugent, Bird In Hand

 

Andrew Nugent, founder of Bird In Hand said “We were very fortunate. Our Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc have been affected, as have the grounds of the Bird In Hand Estate. We are extremely grateful for the outstanding work of our team and the heroic local firefighters. All purchases of Adelaide Hills wine will help producers to stay viable through this challenging period for our community”

In February we spoke with Barossa Valley grape grower Adrian Hoffman who gave us an insight into the devastation that South Australia has suffered and his views on the effects of global warming. “It comes down to the management of our natural resources as well, 200 years ago the Aboriginals would have lit a lot of small fires every year, clearing out different areas then you wouldn’t have these big wildfire blazes as well” said Adrian.

“I’m not a climate change sceptic but its not fair to blame one country, everyone can do their own little bit to help” he said, adding “We’d be fairly close to carbon-neutral on our property, thats a big credential for a lot of wineries – knowing when a bottle of wine arrives at your place that all the thought about the environmental impact and the carbon footprint of that product has been taken into consideration”

California’s latest battle is currently being played out with huge losses across the board. The list of affected properties grows on a daily basis and we can only hope that things are brought under control soon to stem the region’s loss of life, property and businesses and wildlife.

Majestic’s limited stocks of Nest Egg have long sold out, with all profits going to SACFS. However, if you would still like to help you could follow Andrew Nugent’s suggestion and buy any Adelaide Hills wine.

Alternatively, Adrian Hoffmann kindly suggested donating to the regional Salvation Army and Red Cross.

By Spencer Leat