While the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a hot week coming up, both Lillypilly Estate Wines and Toorak Winery are hopeful of a fruitful harvest this year. 

Conditions have been perfect so far this year, according to Lillypilly Estate winemaker Robert Fiumara. 

“We are very pleased with how things are looking this year,” Mr Fiumara said. 

“Everything seems to be on track.

“We’ve had milder conditions in the second half of January, which has been great for the quality of the grapes. 

“Because we are a boutique winery and mostly use our own grapes we might have one week off and one week on (for vintage).

“It’s always a hectic time of year for us though. 

“We’re probably going to be starting next week.”

It’s a similar scenario at Toorak Winery, where winemaker Robert Bruno is feeling positive about this year’s harvest. 

The 2015 vintage also marks a special milestone for the winery. 

“It’s our 50^th commercial vintage this year, which is very exciting for us,” Mr Bruno said. 

“Considering it’s a family business and we’re still running it today, it’s great.”

Mr Bruno was looking forward to seeing what this year’s crop would bring.

Toorak Winery has already commenced its vintage.  

“It’s looking like a very good year for us,” he said. 

“The last couple of years haven’t been the best.

“Last year there were frost issues and the two years before that weren’t that great either.

“The weather has been perfect, which has allowed for steady ripening of the grapes.

“That means great flavour. 

“With the little bit of rain we’ve had there were concerns about powdery mildew in the region, but we’ve managed to miss most of that. 

“We know it’s expected to get quite hot next week, which is why we’ll be making sure the vines are getting plenty of moisture in the soil. 

“That will be important in the coming week, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on it.”