Dale Bradshaw of Old Inn Road Wine said in order to make great wine it was crucial that the grapes were picked at just the right time.

"There are some scientific measurments to check things like sugar and acid levels but mostly it is about taste," Mr Bradshaw said.

"If the juice tastes right for the style of wine you are making then the grapes are ready."

"For our Verdelho we look for citrus and tropical flavours like passionfruit and melon."

Grape picking usually begins early in the morning when it's cool. Pickers fill plastic buckets which are then emptied into half tonne grape bins, these bins are then loaded onto a truck ready for dispatch to the winery.

At the winery the grapes will be crushed, destemmed then pressed to extract the juice.

"We decided to whole bunch press and use only free run juice because this produces a finer wine," Mr Bradshaw said.

Winemaker for Old Inn Road Wine, Matt Burton said he was pretty impressed with Bulahdelah's first vintage.