Local wine producers are expecting a good 2026 vintage after good conditions over the growing season.

The harvest is drawing to a close with many of the grapes being taken off the vines over the last few weeks.

James Bowman, President of Hilltops Wine and proprietor of Barwang Wines said the Hilltops region has impressed again this harvest, as it always does.

Mr Bowman said the Hilltops has impressed this season producing good yields of top quality, gradually ripened grapes that are intensely flavoured and destined to make terrific 2026 vintage wines, especially reds.

Hilltops Wine's Jane Adams said she has also received reports from local producers, including Brian Freeman, form Freeman Vineyards, it has been a standout vintage.

"The spring was cool, which meant that it was a slightly lower yield, but with the right subsequent conditions in summer and autumn the grapes have developed intense flavours and fabulous flavour balance," she said.

This sentiment was echoed by vintners from across the Hilltops with many saying the conditions were good for fruit quality and intense flavours.

"We would say overall the 2026 harvest has been lower yields but great fruit quality," Wendy Bowman of Barwang Wines said.

"We will finish picking the Barwang Cabernet next week. It has had a lovely long slow ripening which will lead to excellent flavour intensity."

For Jason Brown at Moppity Vineyards, it has been an interesting season which had a slightly slower start.

Mr Brown said the climate conditions make the Hilltops region unique and underpins the great quality of wine produced in the region.

Having good rainfall at the right times as well as the right heat at the right time means they usually get good vine growth early in the season.

"It tends to dry our through summer and warmer [conditions] so we have a pretty gentle, easy ripening period without too much rain," he said.

"That's kind of what makes Hilltops really special. We can produce fruit that's ripe year in and year out."

With a cooler start to the season, Mr Brown said they had a late bud burst, but then it warmed up quickly which really helped kick off growth and making them reassess when they might have to harvest.

With some mid season rain and cooler change slowing things down Mr Brown said they were able to bring back their harvest to be more on schedule.

"At this stage, I'm really happy with the vintage," Mr Brown said.

"It threw a couple of curveballs, but nothing too serious."

During the harvest, the region saw a hailstorm, and while it may have affected some blocks, Ms Adams said overall it has been a really good season climatically.

Brian Mullany of Grove Estate said their harvest went well with the beginning of harvest being quite dry, which allowed it to progress well.

"Towards the end of harvest, wet conditions slightly changed things. A large hailstorm on our Northern Vineyards did some late damage," he said.

Mr Mullany said the season returned to normal and had been running earlier the last few years.

"The very hot two weeks in late January really put a strain on the vines and yields were affected, however the vines that had supplementary water held on quite well considering," he said.

While yields are down throughout the whole country, Mr Mullany said this year's quality is very high in the region.

He said this year they will they will see some of the best wines for some years will come from the 2026 vintage, particularly Shiraz and Cabernet.

Harvest started in late February with the earlier white varieties like chardonnay and prosecco being the first off the vine and generally the last to be harvested are the Italian red varieties.

Ms Adams said while they also had a patch of significant heat in summer, one of the amazingly reliable characteristics of the Hilltops region, for grapes, is that autumn typically has sunny warm days, with cooler nights, which has been the case this year.

The even and reliable ripening season, Ms Adams said, also helps the development of flavour and balance in the grapes.

The Hilltops has a huge strength with it's elevation, Ms Adams said, which allows vineyards to take advantage of the cooler nights, even if the daytime gets quite warm, allowing the grapes to cool down overnight.

Ms Adams said this is quite important in producing high quality grapes.

While the challenges this year may not be weather related, Ms Adams said, the challenges come from outside costs such as the rising price of petrol.