Only a week ago they were looking forward to enjoying one of their best vintages in years but now with this week’s deluge the picture is quite the opposite.

With falls totalling more than 100mm in the past 10 days around the Pokolbin and Broke districts, some white grapes are beyond salvage. The reds are in for the same fate unless the sun is able to dry the fruit over the next week or two.

Fungal diseases just love these conditions and spraying for the disease is problematic because the tractors can not get onto the vineyards due to saturated soils.

It’s the same problem facing harvest contractors whose heavy mechanical grape harvesters can get along the rows until the soils dry out completely.

Hunter Vineyard Management Services, managing director, Ken Bray said dry weather was needed immediately to save this year’s harvest.

“At this stage it’s a mixed bag out in the vineyards some growers have got their whites in and others have yet to get many grapes in the winery, ”Mr Bray said.

“I picked some reds late last week and they looked good – it’s really all over the place with the weather but everyone wants sunshine and wants it now.”

Mr Bray said some growers may have to compromise on maturity taking clean green grapes rather than ripe and dirty grapes.

As to the mechanical harvesters Mr Bray said if the weather continued as predicted with showers in the coming days then hand picking may have to be considered.

But it is costly in comparison to the machine harvesting – mechanical harvesting costs between $735 and $980/hectare while handpicking costs $860 to $1960/ha.