After putting in the hard yards, and managing their way through a very wet spring and summer, it's a sign Orange's vignerons have almost made it to the finish line.

But they're not toasting their success just yet.

"From the indications I've had so far, everyone's very positive about how things are looking," said President of the Orange Region Vignerons Association (ORVA) and Swinging Bridge Wines owner Tom Ward.

"But we're not picking grapes yet, so we just have to work hard and continue to stay focused and be patient as well."

He says while it's been an expensive year of production and a lot of work in the vineyard for growers, those that've kept on top of it are going to see the benefits.

"The canopies look really good, we've had plenty of water available for the vines and there's huge potential for the season ahead.

"We're sitting really nicely at the moment, and we're very optimistic about the vintage so far."

The cool weather means the harvest is tracking about three weeks behind recent seasons, with the timing more in line with the pre-drought conditions of the early 2000s. The yield is looking good though, and growers are seeing a "return to normal" off the back of the drought years.

Mr Ward says the hope now is for continued favourable weather in the run up to and during harvest.

"An odd sharp storm is OK, we just don't need weeks and weeks of rain like we had in January. But traditionally we don't get that in March and hopefully we'll get an opportunity to pick the grapes at their optimum ripeness."

Achieving that looks like the next challenge growers will need to overcome, as labour shortages continue to impact the industry.

"Like everywhere, labour is always an issue, so we're saying to all our growers, they need to have a plan A , B and C," Mr Ward said.

"Because there's nothing worse than getting to that time and deciding to pick and you can't get the fruit off."

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