Shaw Wines has made the difficult decision not to harvest its 2020 grape crop.
The Murrumbateman winemaker has announced that recent testing of grapes and the carrying out of mini ferments had provided the vineyard with the tools to make an informed decision about the harvest.
With the results of this robust testing now in, the winery has revealed that it detected smoke taint in its grapes at levels that would be obvious to the consumer.
"It certainly has been a challenging season for winemakers in NSW, and Shaw Wines is no exception," the vineyard said.
"But us winemakers are a resilient and innovative bunch, and we have also received so much support from our industry, the government, customers and the public during the last few months, for which we are very grateful.
"We take our responsibility to lovers of Shaw Wines very seriously and we have taken steps to ensure we only produce the highest standards of quality and integrity in our wines."
Despite the loss of its 2020 vintage, Shaw Wines said it still has lots of amazing wines to share.
"We have not altered our trading, which is still seven days per week," the vineyard said.
"We currently have 14 wines on tasting at cellar door - the medal haul just for these wines totals 104 - and we are very much looking forward to our 2018 and 2019 red vintages still to be released. The 2018 vintage in our view is shaping up to be a genuine rival to the great 2015 vintage."
Clonakilla cancels NSW vintage
Fellow Murrumbateman winemaker Clonakilla has also announced that it will not make wine this year.
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