Following the devastation caused by the recent wildfires across Australia's southern state of Victoria, the wine industry is beginning to come to grips due to the extent of damage caused to vineyards, wineries and lives.

The official death of over 200 makes this the most deadly bushfire disaster in Australia's history. A further 7,500 people were left homeless by fires that have devastated more than 1.1 million acres of land. A number of arrests have been made and at least one man has been charged with arson causing death.

The forested mountain areas north of the Yarra Valley were the hardest hit in terms of lost property and lives, but regarding the vineyard damage, it was the most severe in the northwest, affecting the St Andrews, Diamond Creek, Steels Creek, Dixons Creek, Chum Creek, Yarra Glen and Coldstream vineyard areas.

The Yarra Valley Wine Growers' Association vice president said: "We estimate that about 350 acres of vineyards have been affected. That's almost four per cent of the 9,000 acres planted across the valley.

"The impact of the fires on Yarra Valley vineyards and wineries has been far less than might have been expected," he said.

The association is currently aware of 29 wineries that suffered damage to buildings or equipment. "Thankfully, much of the valley was unaffected and most wineries are open for business again," he said.

Contrary to early fears that vines would not survive, there was now hope that vineyards will recover within the next couple of years. "I don't think the vines are dead, they've just been burnt," said one winemaker.

"It only burnt the weeds, a few posts and the vine leaves. We've been irrigating and it wouldn't surprise me if the vines start shooting green shoots again soon."

Fruit from vineyards directly hit by the fires has been unsalvageable. "Tests this week on juice samples show that there is smoke character in grapes from fire-damaged vineyards," said Tony Jordan, president of the Yarra Valley Wine Growers' Association. "These grapes won't be harvested. Similar sampling from a number of vineyards across the valley that were not damaged showed no smoke taint."

A wind change just hours after the fires started was praised for quickly clearing smoke from the valley before these grapes were affected. Dr Jordan estimated that about five per cent of the crop was lost due to heat across the whole valley.

In some vineyards the fires coincided with the start of harvest with one winemaker commenting: "Our harvest is full-steam ahead with 80 pickers and we're hand-picking the lot, if I thought it might be smoke-tainted I wouldn't go to that trouble."

But even though most fruit escaped the smoke, record heat wave conditions diminished the crop through leaf burn and grape shrivel. "We hand-sorted 50 tons of fruit but estimate that half of our crop fell victim to the heat. The fruit looks pretty good after the heat-affected grapes have been removed," he said.

For those less fortunate winemakers in the region, gestures of assistance have poured in from around Australia and the world. The Australian Red Cross has raised more than €51 million for fire victims. Wineries have lent assistance of their own, offering barrels, fermentation space, fruit and even staff to affected wineries. A fund-raising auction started by Melbourne retailer WineStar had to stop accepting prize donations after more than €23,000 worth of wine was donated.