Images: Poonawatta Wines
This season took an unexpected and devastating turn for family-run Poonawatta Wines, as they have revealed the honest, harsh reality behind what’s out of their control in the winemaking industry.
For generations, local growers have leaned on the old wisdom that once November 11th rolls around, the risk of spring frost is over. But as the date passed, Mother Nature had other plans.
In the early hours of November 12th, the vineyard’s frost fan started up as temperatures slipped to two degrees. The fan ran until sunrise, but instead of stabilising, the temperature kept falling. The cold air settled low and deep across the property, too heavy, too severe, and simply beyond what the fan could buffer. By the morning, it was clear that every block had been hit.
Losses ranged from 50 to 90 per cent, with the treasured 1880 Shiraz block, the oldest and most historic vines on the property, almost entirely wiped out for the 2026 vintage. The Riesling block was also heavily affected.
For a small family business, the blow is significant. A whole season’s work has essentially vanished overnight.
“There was a comment made on one of the social posts, someone said, ‘Well, if they get frost there, maybe it’s the wrong place to grow grapes,’ and the poor fella got absolutely pilloried for it,” shared Andrew Holt from Poonawatta Wines. “But the reality is that the world’s great wine-growing regions are prone to frost. It’s what makes their climates ideal for high-quality fruit.
“Our flagship vineyards were planted in 1880, and they sit at the lowest point of the Poonawatta property. That’s the area we’ve always had to manage closely for frost. About 20 years ago, we put in a specially designed sprinkler system for frost protection, and it did a magnificent job, even when the temperature dropped to around minus five.”
Over the last decade, Andrew and the team found that what has changed is the rain. “We’ve really lost those late-winter and spring rains. The creeks have stopped running, the dams have stopped filling, and we can no longer use the water-based sprinkler frost system because the dam simply doesn’t hold enough water anymore.”
Due to this change, they transitioned to frost fans, which work well as long as the fan head can access warmer air and move it around. But if the air above the fan is sub-zero, then the fans can’t help.
Andrew says the areas now affected by frost have changed dramatically. Where it used to be just their old vineyard at risk, now every vineyard on the property has been hit in the last two years. And these are vineyards that, in 50 years, had never once been touched by frost.
While facing these ongoing issues, the winery isn’t looking for sympathy, just sharing a truth that is a constant in the agricultural world. Each year becomes its own chapter, and while some chapters are bright and generous, others are challenging. Losing a season hurts, it’s disappointing, and it’s a reminder of how quickly Mother Nature can rewrite the script.
But it’s also not the end.
“I actually used this in our social post, ‘as we contemplate this over a glass of wine, we acknowledge that nature is our greatest business partner and she gives more than she takes’.
“We don’t want to put ourselves out there as victims. Plenty of others were hit by frost, some are grape growers who are selling fruit to other wineries, some are small and medium producers like us. We’ve heard from people in places like Pikes in the Clare Valley who were hit pretty hard, and we certainly had comments on our socials of people sharing their own frost damage,” said Andrew.
“We don’t want to put out a specific call to support Poonawatta because of this. The best result we will see from this is for people to support South Australian wines. The key thing is to buy direct. Buy direct from the wine producer.
“When you walk into a retailer, you are buying wines at discounted prices that the wineries have sold at a very, very low return. In some cases, those wines have been sold by the producer at extremely low margins, sometimes almost nothing, just to get cash flow. Wines worth $150 selling for $30, that producer is essentially giving them away.
“So buy direct from cellar doors, or online through their websites. Support South Australian wine producers, whether they’ve been frost-affected or not, because everyone is doing it tough.”
For Poonawatta, 2026 may look different. But resilience, tradition and a deep respect for the land remain at the heart of every bottle they make. So get out there and support your local producers, there’s no better time than now!
For more information on Poonawatta and to shop their wines, click here.
More News
