RECENT warm weather has been something of a life-saver for local grape growers, who began picking the first harvest of the season last week.

Gapsted Estate chief executive officer Andrew Santarossa said this year’s vintage will be quite condensed but the team is already extremely optimistic about the quality just three days into harvest.

“The golden run of weather we’ve had the last three to four weeks really set us up for a fantastic vintage, we’re very optimistic,” he said.

“The potential of this vintage leads to some real excitement within our team and the company.

“Crops are looking to be around 15 to 20 per cent down on last year but the quality is excellent.

“We had a wet winter and then a wet start to spring; the wet winter is a good thing as it sets the soil profile and vines up for a strong growing season.

“But the wet weather continued into spring so we had to be very much proactive with what we’re doing in vineyards and that continued into summer before the rain stopped and coolish days have turned into lovely mild to warm days.

“We want to get through harvest with as little rain as possible now so we can get the crops off and that’s what it's done.”

Mr Santarossa said he believes harvesting will be complete by Easter, after a six to seven week vintage.

“A lot of varieties which are normally spaced apart by a week or two are coming in the same week but they’re looking to have long-term potential,” he said.

“Age-ability is an important criteria for us and it ticks that box.

“We’ve started with sparkling based varieties such as our pinot noir, the first of Pinot Grigio picks, as well as Prosecco and that will continue for the next week depending on the block.

“We’ll then move to Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc and a bit of crossover with Pinot Noir and our other emerging varieties we’re focusing on such as Tempranillo and Sangiovese to finish off the harvest.

“We’ve got a really engaged and passionate team, one of the best I’ve come across in more than 25 years of harvest, and I’m excited by what they’re contributing with the dynamic and experience they bring.”

At the Michelini Wines vineyards, Kane Michelini said pickers were about halfway through.

"We have finished picking all our sparkling grapes and are halfway through our whites, then we will pick our Italian reds in another three to four weeks," he said.

"This year's vintage conditions have been similar to the previous two seasons which have provided a wet spring and humid start to summer.

"This provides some challenges in the vineyard but we have been fortunate as February has seen perfect weather for harvest.

"Last year was a cooler year, which meant a later harvest and wines with more natural acid.

"The timing for this year's harvest is approximately four weeks ahead of last year and two weeks ahead of a normal year.

"This year, temperature conditions have been perfect and we should expect wines with intense fruit flavour and freshly balanced acidity.

"Yields have moderate and we expect to pick 1500 tonnes for the year."