My house is in Mount Riverview, Blue Mountains, Australia and to be more exact it is the blue dot in the picture and the dark patch is bushfire.
Just a few days ago the fires were way too close to my house as you will see in the video clip below. Of course it was a surprise and fortunately we received warning, so I grabbed the kids, dog and rushed for safety… but as I drove away I thought ‘AAGGHHHH, WHAT ABOUT MY WINE CELLAR!!!! Fortunately that fire didn’t reach us and we went back to the house.
However, high winds and high temperatures means ‘RIGHT NOW’ there is a very severe bushfire threat and AGAIN my house is in danger… I know this as the bushfire brigade are not coming around asking for donations but to tell me ‘please leave now if you don’t need to be here’.
My neighbours have either gone already or desperately clearing their gardens, filling their gutters with water or trying to fit temporary sprinkler systems to the roofs of their houses.
My BUSH FIRE PLAN
- Wife – check
- Kids x3 – check
- Dog – check
- Invite from The Queen – check
- Best wines from cellar – check
- Car & running shoes – check
My wife’s BUSH FIRE PLAN
- Fill the car with as many sentimental objects as possible until the axles give way!
Now please note, I do not expect that the fire will come back to my house, not today at least (touch wood). But I am looking out of my window a lot and I do have the ‘fires near me’ App on my iPhone which is constantly updated. BUT in all this confusion I have a dilemma.. I can’t save my whole wine cellar so what do I save? What would you save and why?
I did not have time to grab anything last time, but this time I have had time to think about it and have decided to grab six wines (plus one for the road), based on emotional reasons, cost and what I feel I should keep. All have less than 10 years bottle age.
- Cold Stream Hills – Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
- Tatachilla Foundation – McLarean Vale Shiraz
- Charles Menton ‘Nine Popes’ – Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre
- Kreglinger ‘Pipers Brook upper slopes’ – Tasmania Riesling
- Mount Pleasant Elisabeth – Hunter Valley Semillon
- Penfolds bin 8 – Cabernet Shiraz
- Penfolds Grange – No need to state anything 🙂
Interestingly all of the wines will go into building a new wine cellar, puzzlingly strange but true. The rest of my wine cellar is either easily replaced or I don’t want to move them in case they get damaged from moving ‘back and forth’, plus if they survive it will make for an ‘epic drinking story’.
My wife joked last night on ‘Facebook’ with our friends:
… AND just to pack more danger into the day I’m expecting a wine delivery TODAY from a recent wine auction… what I am going to tell the wife? Oops, I did it again, sorry… I best go hide the rolling-pin, again!
As I write this post I am trying to make light of the situation for my own sanity, so I hope I do not offend. I know people who have already lost their homes and I fear many more will too… for me as important as wine or other material items can be, if you have the opportunity to leave early, please please do.
Please ‘stay safe’…
The Wine Wankers 
sorry this is happening to you but you made me laugh- and thats your fault 🙂 hope you’re ok so far though.
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glad you laughed.. things seem to be all clear now
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Hope everything turns out to be intact when you return…then you can party!
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for sure!
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Too funny but please be safe (and sober) out there. You can’t save the lot of things if you’re all wobbly 😉
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sober definitely.. fires controlled and air is clear today, temperature has dropped and no wind… its safe to open wine today 🙂
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That is scary and it tends to be a yearly issue in California also.
So glad that things are better today…
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Thank you… we see the fires in California too! I hate to see homes lost.
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You’re in our thoughts and prayers, may the fires miss you, and the wind become calm.
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Cheers mate!
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Please be safe! Veraiconica
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Thank you.. we will 🙂
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Very funny blog! My advice is…don’t save the wines that can’t travel!
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I concur… the risk of spoiling the wine is outweighed b the risk of losing it.
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I love your perspective. If you can’t laugh when nothing is certain, you certainly never will when there is no uncertainty remaining…
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thank you
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I think you should dig a bunker… an underground vault!! That way all will be well…
On a more serious note… I hope you’re all OK! Good luck and lots of rain!
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Thank you… I like the idea of a deep underground wine cellar with a big comfy chair
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I am sorry about the fire and hope you are safe now. But this post, and especially your wife’s FB post made me laugh (sorry!!). However, why don’t I see a lot of French wines!?
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Because I struggle to find good french wine that does not break the bank… but you will see more!!!! I am glad it made you laugh, that was the aim.
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Which one is for the road??
🙂
Good luck.
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Lol… hard choice
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Well written under trying conditions. After ensuring the safety of family and pets I see nothing wrong with also loading a few bottles of preferred choice. Good luck and I hope the fire stays away from your neck of the woods.
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thanks mate… we are all clear now… time to up the insurance for the wine cellar!
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Glad they’ve sounded the ‘all clear’. Great post under what must have been stressful conditions. Your wife’s Facebook post was hilarious. Stay safe.
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thank, she is a comedian..
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Wow. I didnt know about bush fires there. Im sorry for anyones loss and am glad, as of now, you and your family are unscathed. Your post tickled me though. I love wine also. Thats kinda how Id feel about my book and movie collection….
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Such a hard decision in the face of adversity. Here’s hopin the rest of unmet is kinder to you. Is that blaze still smouldering?
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I believe its out now
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I guess that explains the heavy smoke brought over to the coast by the winds….left behind after the flames are extinguished.Glad you could read my ipad’s interpretation of what I thought I typed ” hope the rest of summer is kind to you” Controlled by a machine hahaha
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thanks
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Oh dear-that time again in Australia. Stay safe.
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It’s certainly been an horrific time but I’m glad to hear your house is safe. Don’t apologise for having a laugh.. if we didn’t laugh at times like this, we’d go crazy. I’d be out trying to save Dan Murphy’s in Katoomba if it went close lol.
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Lol,.. I would cry if it Leura wine cellar!!! I will never for get the first time I went downstairs into a real cellar, awesome
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It is a talent to create humor out of an extremely serious situation. I’m not sure which is scarier fire or flooding. Why don’t you follow your wife’s lead and grab the one or two that are dearest to your heart. Thank you for the like of my post “Eerie” and “Stump Growth”. Stay safe!
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thank you!
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Happy to hear all is OK and you are now safe and sound and still have your wines !
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Humor is the best medicine in times of chaos/stress … and glad things seem to have settled down. Best wishes to you and yours! ( Loved your wife’s FB post! :D)
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thank you
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someday I would love to share a bottle or three with you… I volunteer to cook. I enjoy your writing and wish I commented more but my professional life, 2.5 year old son and wife take up most of my life… thanks for being! I tip a glass in your general direction and to your health… p.s. My uncle lost his entire cellar due to a gas leak. The gas permeated all the corks. I will never forget the trip to France where we had legendary bottles of Petrus, Haut Brion, Margaux, Palmer, etc that were opened and all undrinkable… We had to hide sharp implements from him for a while after…
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I think you’re in Palm Springs from memory yeah? If, well actually hopefully when, we are over that way one day we’ll put a shout out to you to take you up on that offer! Cheers!!
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Now losing those wines would really make me cry!
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Reblogged this on Sheshe and Camilla's Text Messages From The Edge (or, How To Manage Middle Age) and commented:
I can’t believe you have the where with all to blog so eloquently when so much is at stake. It must be terrifying! Hope you are all ok and that your property (and wine) survive the fires.
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