The highflying Clonakilla  Winery in Australias Canberra Wine District has announced that it will not make wine from any vineyard in New South Wales this year.

The decision was announced by Tim Kirk several weeks ago and I had further confirmation of the exact circumstances on a visit to the winery last Friday.

“Analysis of ripening grapes from our estate vineyard in Murrumbateman and the vineyards of our longstanding grape suppliers in the Hilltops region around the town of Young has revealed unacceptably high levels of smoke taint across all varieties and all vineyard sites,” said Tim Kirk in his media release replicate in full below.

“It is important to the Kirk family, to our growers and to the entire Clonakilla team that anyone who purchases our wine can have confidence that the Clonakilla label on a bottle is a guarantee of high quality.”