Despite hail and flooding tearing through the area, Hunter Valley winemakers have begun harvesting.
It hasn't been without complications though. Growers are picking this season's crop later than usual, with reds not yet off the vine.
"The cooler temperatures made the bud bursting a little slower," Ivanhoe Wines owner Stephen Dray said.
His team are still picking white grapes. In other years, the later red varieties have been off the vine by Valentine's Day.
While Mr Dray has found enough contractors to pick for him, others, such as Glandore Estate Wines, have found the staffing challenging. This stress is compounded by the temperamental weather.
"The longer the fruit is on the vine, the more sleepless nights there are because you don't know what's going to happen," Glandore Estate general manager Duane Roy said. "We've had two hail storms this year that have damaged some of the fruit in and around the valley, which is pretty devastating this close to harvest time.
"After 20 year of making wine, you learn to deal with what you're given. You can get as cranky as you want but you can't control it," he said.
The yield for Hunter growers remains smaller than previous years.
"We're down about 30 percent [of usual harvest quantity]," Mr Dray said. Glandore Estate have lost similar numbers.
But smaller harvests than usual, which Mr Roy said comes down to bunch weight rather than the amount of bunches, hasn't decreased quality. Less fruit on the vine can concentrate flavours and quality vintage will be maintained.
"These nice warm days are really bringing the quality of the fruit up," Mr Dray said. The acids are looking good. We're very pleased in that area."
"The upside is, it gives a longer growing season so it builds in really beautiful flavours into the fruit," Mr Roy said. "Your sugars are ripening, but the flavour and the phenolics of the grape are also ripening. That flavour is what we are looking for as wine makers.
"The more flavour, the better," he said.
And there's still plenty of work to be done. While some vineyards are experiencing a shortage of workers, most are making wine year-round. At Glandore Estate, wine making will continue until the end of April with fruit from other regions.
"During that time, there's lots going on in the winery with preparing stuff for barrel," Mr Roy said. "Once everything's put through fermentation [and] we've got everything cleaned up, we will put most of what we need to in the barrels. Over the year, it's making sure the barrels are completely topped up."
Following this, the team take wine out of barrels, into a tank before cleaning the barrels and returning the product.
"That freshens the wine up and gets a little bit of air into it if it needs it," Mr Roy said.
"While that's happening, things like semillon and fiano - these light aromatic wines- will be prepared to go to bottle."
Wine making will continue - whether exceptional harvests like 2009 or 2017 or more challenging ones like 2020 - Hunter growers continue to perfect their craft.
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