"You never think about them until you need them, so this is our way of saying thanks," Bruce Tyrrell said.
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The man behind the famous winemaking family was explaining the reason behind their $5000 donation to the Pokolbin Rural Fire Service this week.
"We were badly affected by smoke taint last year and, with fires buring around us it could have been much worse," he said
"So Tyrrell's Winery just wanted to thank these unassuming people who do so much for the community."
The money raised came from the sale of wine that came from fruit that managed to escape smoke taint.
"Belford fruit was good and we had a little bit at our HVD vineyard in Pokolbin that we worked hard to save. We blended those together for our estate semillion which is where the money came from."
Mr Tyrrell estimated his winery production was down "about 85 per cent" due to smoke taint.
"We got the harvester out and dumped the fruit from the rest. We had some very happy cattle, I can tell you."