These vines should be struggling to survive. Instead, they’re clearly flourishing.
I’m in Merbein, near Mildura, in the hot, flat north-western corner of Victoria. It’s early March, towards the end of this year’s harvest. The sun glares down from a cloudless sky, radiating off the bright-red sand underfoot.
This vast inland region, the Murray Darling, along with the Riverina in New South Wales and the Riverland in South...