Phylloxera creeps through Yarra

As one of the best-ever vintages in Australia’s Yarra Valley, one of the most important fine-wine regions in the state of Victoria, draws to a close, a growing number of the region’s winemakers believe it’s time to start a serious public conversation about phylloxera, first identified in the valley back in 2006, and now creeping slowly from vineyard to vineyard.

Phylloxera first arrived in Australia in the 1870s, and while it ravaged many wine regions at the time – notably Geelong, near Melbourne, where it first appeared – it is now a problem in only a handful of districts: Rutherglen...