“JACK said when he came through the vines he’s never come across so many happy workers.”

Those words by long-time grape picker Sally McMahon about the grape harvest concluded last week at Jack and Lois Doeven’s Drumborg property said it all really about the 2021-22 season.

While the harvest was the third in a row to be affected by the weather not playing fair when needed, the atmosphere on the ground was as good as ever.

Dozens of local pickers – there was no backpacker workforce due to the coronavirus pandemic – were up and about at the property, picking Riesling, Pinot noir, chardonnay and Pinot Gris.

Mr Doeven said it had been a tough season, with the expected harvest of about 65 tonnes down on the more than 80 tonnes he thought might be achievable at one stage not so long ago.

“It was looking quite good but looking back it was easy to see what happened,” he said.

“We had a spring which was really terrible but just before flowering the weather turned beautiful.

“I thought ‘goodness, that was heaven sent’ but while the conditions were good they (grapes) had no fuel left in the tank after getting through the spring.

“What looked good at Christmas has gone backwards.”

The last straw, so to speak, was the weather that caused the devastating floods in Queensland and NSW and left this region sweltering in unseasonal weather.

“We struggled with botrytis (a fungal disease), that week of really high humidity here meant the rot started at exactly the worst time,” Mr Doeven said.

“Two weeks ago what we thought was pretty good just hasn’t held out.

“That’s three years in a row we haven’t had a good crop (due to the climate), in 30 years that’s never happened.”

 For all that, it could have been worse.

“I should be pretty thankful I’ve got an average crop,” Mr Doeven said.

“Most vineyards in Victoria have a terrible one.

“As they say in farming, it is what it is, you can’t do too much about the weather.”

But all is not lost, with less not necessarily worse when it comes to the 2022 vintage.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few trophies and gold medals in it,” he said.

Mr Doeven also paid tribute to his loyal workforce, who celebrated with the property’s traditional pick-out party after the harvest ended last Wednesday.

“We had no backpackers this year and that’s really a remarkable thing,” he said.

“We’ve always worked very hard to look after our staff, they’re our greatest asset.”

Perhaps the last word belongs to one of those workers.

“It’s been good, everyone’s like a happy family,” said Dawn Millard, another of the pickers.

“We all help each other and will go on to the next ones.”

At this stage that will be Cobboboonee, near Heywood, and Lower Crawford.