Smoke clears grape crops

Fears that smoke from bushfires would smite Tasmania’s bumper winegrape harvest have eased. While Meadowbank Vineyard was ruined as a blaze whipped through the Upper Derwent Valley on Sunday, the winds which fuelled the blaze also carried most of the smoke away and prevented it lingering to cause widespread damage. It is understood the state’s wine industry is now rallying to help Meadowbank bounce back from disaster, reports The Mercury.