Margan Wines winemaker and managing director Andrew Margan said the last time he remembers starting to pick grapes within the first week of a year was over 29 years ago.

The weather is the reason.

“We are ruled by the weather,” he explained.

The combination of wet weather with warm temperatures has produced the right sugar and acid levels in the grapes for picking.

The determination of when to begin harvesting starts by simply tasting the fruit.

“If the fruit was to be left until initially predicted harvest times of around January 20, the rainfall would cause some concerns of rot and disease,” Mr Margan said.

“Rain does also cause some dilution of the grapes.

“This is by no means an indication that wines produced from the 2010 harvest will be watery, it just means that winemakers will need to choose if they want to wait for the grapes to loose moisture before harvesting.”

According to Mr Margan, 2010 will produce good quality wines in high quantities, however those who want to know if the vintage will produce wines with robust flavours or intense characters – you’ll just have to wait until they are released.

With 280 acres of vines, eight different varieties and vineyards at various locations across the Broke Fordwich area, Mr Margan and his team have a long road ahead of them.

Chardonnary vines from the Fordwich vineyard were first to be plucked by the wineries machine harvester at five o’clock on Tuesday morning.

“That machine will now be in operation ideally for 24 hours a day until we have finished harvesting,” Mr Margan explained.

Based on the flavour of the chardonnay fruit Mr Margan expects to be using the first grapes harvested for his sparkling range.

“Last year these vines produced some great grapes that I used for our white label premium range chardonnay, so I am expecting to do the same,” he said.

Based on taste tests of the verdelho fruit, Mr Margan expects to start harvesting that crop towards the end of next week.

A crew of hand pickers will also later be brought in for the very delicate hand picking of the semillon grape.