TWO years on from the Cudlee Creek fire, which burnt more than 23,000 hectares of land in the Adelaide Hills, and a number of producers are still working to rebuild their operations.
Tilbrook Estate owner James Tilbrook, accompanied by his son Edward, reflected on the road to recovery since the blaze.
"When the fire went through it was quite a shock and we thought we lost everything in the vineyards," Edward said.
"It was quite a few days after the fire before dad could come out here - he could not do it.
"A week or so on, another grapegrower said we'd have a chance to save the vines.
"That was when we got some volunteers and advice from a viticulturist and started cutting the vines back."
Despite a 90 per cent loss of the vineyard, Tilbrook Estate managed to recover 7000 heat-affected vines.
They initially had 19,000 vines before the fire. In total, 8000 vines were lost, with more dying two years on.
"Although we did not lose all the vines, all the rows were affected, with every row losing a strainer and all the irrigation," James said.
"Without the help of volunteers, we probably would have sold up - we could not have done it without them, definitely not.
"I do not know if I got post traumatic stress disorder, but I got something like it.
"I still struggle."
James said it took him at least six months to be able to walk into the vineyard.
"The psychological damage is long lasting," he said.
"I thought this would take me a couple of years to get over it, but I am not so sure now.
"Even when we got everything back to normal, it is still a reminder as you think of the infrastructure that is no longer there."
James said he had enough Pinot Noir to replant, depending on the success of the nursery, but admits he sometimes lacked the motivation to keep going.
"My wife said I am not as productive as I used to be - that is because I have lost the drive a bit, but the work still needs to be done," he said.
"I am very grateful for Edward's help."
A major positive to come out of the past two years has been them building a zero net carbon cellar door - a dream from the past decade.
"We finished it on Easter Saturday in 2021 and the new cellar door was picking up where we were lacking in operations," he said.
"I like doing cellar door, I love talking to customers about the wines.
"I cook the pizzas and do the platters and all that stuff as well, then when it's all done, I take a sparkling shiraz bottle around to the various customers and have a bit of a chat with them."
For the past two years, he has been processing red wine in his garage and white wine off-site, with the winery lost in the fire.
James said he was still deciding where he would like to put the winery and how they would like to build it, along with other plans.
"With the vineyard there is still a lot of work to be done," he said.
"We have rebuilt with strainer posts so that after the next fire, it will hopefully still be standing."
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