"Really it has been an excellent growing season for us," Mr Dachs said.

"We were lucky enough to get the right rain at the right time.

"It was very dry before Christmas but we had the stored water to carry the crop through.

"We were also lucky enough to miss the hail that hit some of the Granite Belt."

When Queensland Country Life last week called into the Ballandean vineyard alongside the New England Highway, harvest of a 2ha block of Chardonnay variety grapes from seven-year-old vines was well under way.

The balance of the 28ha of vines will be harvested using a French-built Alma grape harvesting machine.

"Sometimes the wine makers ask for hand-picked grapes to produce a particular style wine," Mr Dachs said.

"The difference is with handpicking a person can do about half a tonne a day while the machine can do four tonnes an hour."

The block was hand picked by a team of nine about two weeks earlier than would have occurred mechanically to take advantage of sugar and acid levels.