Vintage pandemic

Spanish Flu and Covid-19 ... War and contagion ... Consequences for wine grape harvests ... European and Australian vintages in 1919-1920 compared to  2020-2021 ... Australia's bounteous 2021 wine grape crush ... Excellent fruit all around ... First world issues ... Wine correspondent Gabriel Wendler writes 

The so-called Spanish influenza pandemic arrived in Australia in December 1918 and caused a health conflagration until July 1920. 

The COVID-19 coronavirus arrived in Australia in January 2020 and will likely remain indefinitely in various mutated forms.  

As a matter of curiosity how does the Australian and European "Spanish flu" wine vintages of 1919 and 1920 contrast and compare with the Australian and European COVID-19 vintages of 2020 and 2021?

The description "Spanish flu" is a misnomer. The flu did not originate in Spain and to this day no one has identified with precision the epicentre of the virus. There is conjecture it was avian based.

In order to maintain morale during the latter stages of World War 1, military censors did not permit publication of the deleterious effects of the highly infectious "Spanish flu" pestilence. 

However, Spain did not censor news of the virus resulting in the false idea the pandemic originated there. It is estimated 500 million people were infected world wide and 50 million died of the disease. Some epidemiologist believe genetic traces of the Spanish flu remain in existence in every strain of flu today.

In 1920 Australia's population was 5.5 million - shamefully this figure excluded 70,000 First Nations Peoples. The Spanish flu pandemic killed 12,000 Australians.

Soldiers returning in troop ships from Europe were quarantined at the North Head Quarantine Station. New South Wales was declared an infected zone. All places of public entertainment and schools were shut down. Like today, wearing protective  face masks was compulsory. 

Spanish flu in Sydney 1919 (photo SMH)

Sceptical citizens believed the Spanish flu was innocuous and could be cured by sniffing eucalyptus oil, or placing vinegar soaked paper around the chest area. 

Today's sceptics believe COVID-19 is a government conspiracy and the various vaccines available to protect against are poisonous. Quite possibly the same people are convinced the moon landing was manufactured in a Hollywood studio and Elvis is alive and living incognito.

The Spanish flu vintages of 1919 and 1920 in France were outstanding in Bordeaux, less so in  Burgundy. In Germany the vintages were uneven ultimately overshadowed by the stellar vintage of 1921. 

In Australia the vintages of 1919-1920 although of variable quality were not as generous as those of Europe. In Australia, as in Europe, the War and the flu pandemic meant less vineyard workers and wine makers. 

From 1920 onwards the trade in wine between Britain and Australia became stronger as Britain sought to give preferential tariff treatment to Australian wine. 

This was in recognition of the 60,000 dead and 160,000 wounded and missing Australian soldiers consumed by the mindless cruelty of the first European war.

According to the Australian National Vintage Report the vintages of 2020 and 2021 were disparate. The 2020 vintage was the smallest crop since 2007 whereas the 2021 vintage was, despite COVID-19, the largest wine grape crush ever recorded in Australia - 2.03 million tonnes valued at $1.56 billion.  

To give a couple of grape variety examples: in 2020, 380,000 tons of shiraz was crushed in Australia compared to almost 600,000 tons in 2021. In 2020, 280,000 tons of Chardonnay was crushed whereas in 2021 is is almost 400,000 tons crushed.

The 2020 vintage in Australia was bedevilled by drought, bushfires and smoke damage, nevertheless it has been described as:

"Not a great vintage for accountants but a beautiful vintage for winemakers." 

Burned out Adelaide Hills vineward 2020

The stunning 2021 vintage produced excellent fruit across Australia with South Australia contributing 52 percent of the national grape crush. 

The COVID-19, 2021 wines will, without doubt, rival if not surpass, the great vintages of 1990 and 2002.

In France, the 2020 COVID-19 vintage was challenging - a manifestation of climate imbalance. The 2021 vintage in Europe has just begun with picking commencing in late August going through to October. 

In France it is expected to be an outstanding vintage. In Australia and Europe COVID-19 has significantly damaged wine tourism and industries allied to it.  

Those wine States that choose to embrace  a pre-federation attitude by refusing to open their borders to the rest of Australia, even when vaccination rates are 80 percent or more,  can expect a mighty inter se brawl with the Commonwealth that will make the Tasmanian Dams case look like litigation over a parking fine. 

This will ultimately be resolved before a full bench of High Court justices all of whom, I dare say, are wine aficionados.

COVID-19 can lock down the people - but never their wine. 

Gabriel Wendler is a Sydney barrister and Justinian's wine correspondent