It may be late, but the annual wine grape harvest is underway in the Alpine Valleys, with vignerons and winemakers liking what they're seeing.

Alpine Valleys Vignerons president Stef Antonello said vines seem to be holding average yields but the quality is excellent.

"It's a very strong harvest and our valleys are again proving to be a standout in a challenging growing year for the industry," he said.

"It's probably as late a vintage as what we've ever had...a month behind last year and two weeks later than normal because of the cold start to the season.

"However, conditions have been favourable and we missed the really heavy rains and haven't had any disease issues...so quality is right up there among the best years."

Sparking varieties such as pinot noir and chardonnay grapes have been picked, with the valley's most prodigious variety of prosecco to be harvested this week.

"We haven't had any new plantings this season, with white variety grapes to again constitute the bulk of harvest," he said.

Mr Antonello said most the grapes grown in the Alpine Valleys were being done under contract and will be processed and sent away to wineries outside the region.

He expected between 1500 to 2000 tonnes of grapes to be processed at Gapsted Estate's processing facilities - which are continuing to operate as normal while a new owner is being sought, with expressions of interest closing today.

"Demand for wine grapes started off slow but has really strengthened and there won't be too much fruit, if any left, left in the Alpine Valleys because of the pretty poor year the industry has seen elsewhere across the country," Mr Antonello said.

"Wine companies are again noting our reliability to produce quantity and quality...and we're seeing pretty strong prices for the white varieties.

“A lot of major wine companies in Australia are purchasing our wine grapes to make their sparking wines...this is what most of the pinot noir and prosecco grapes are used for."

Mr Antonello said Vinarchy - established in 2025 following the merger of Accolade Wines and Pernod Ricard Winemakers to be one of the world’s largest wine companies - is among those buying fruit for its winery brands, such as Croser’s non-vintage sparkling wines.

Last year's wine grape crush in the Alpine Valleys totalled 2713 tonnes with a value of $3.489m and was substantially up in volume and value on the 2024 crush of 1913 tonnes valued at $2.497 million.

White variety grapes were again the majority of the crush, with 1827 tonnes and a value of $2.116m while red varieties totalled 839 tonnes with a value of $1.374m.

Prosecco was the dominant variety representing over 32 per cent of the crush, with 884 tonnes valued at $865,503.

However, the value of the second largest variety of pinot noir - with its 560 tonnes (20.64% of crush) - had the highest value of $982,495.

Other main grape varieties in last year’s crush were: pinot gris/grigio (328 tonnes, $417,025); chardonnay (285 tonnes, $426,191); sauvingon blanc (280 tonnes, $227,272); merlot (106 tonnes, $71,447); shiraz (30 tonnes, $74,823); sangiovese (30 tonnes, $45,519); and tempranillo (24 tonnes, $59,778).