Hunter vineyards begin 2016 harvest hoping to avoid more wet weather

Hunter Valley vignerons are hoping the warm weather will dry out the bunches from last week’s downpour, and kill off any fungal diseases. Pokolbin winemaker John Drayton said he this week picked semillon grapes, which will be turned into verjuice. “They’re not quite ripe enough for the flavours for the typical Hunter semillon, which we’re famous for, so we need to wait a couple of weeks for that,” he said.