THEY are the earliest and some of the best chardonnay grapes that Red Cliffs wine grape grower Paul Freckleton has produced in his 20 years on the block.
But they will also be some of the most costly, with this year's prices falling to half the cost of production, thanks to a national oversupply.
Mr Freckleton sent in the machine harvesters to pick 240 tonnes of chardonnay, which will be used as a base for sparkling wines, as soon as the agreement with Qualia Wine Services was signed last week.
"We don't normally pick champagne base until January 22 to 25, so it's the earliest I've picked for 20 years," Mr Freckleton said.
"Last night's quality was fantastic. We were getting baume readings of 11 and 10.9 which is fairly high for champagne base."
Sadly, the quality will not be reflected in the price.
Mr Freckleton expects to receive just $150 a tonne for the chardonnay - $100-$150 a tonne below the cost of production.
He said prices - now at their lowest since they began falling five years ago - were forcing growers to look seriously at leaving the industry.
"We have been through some good times," he said.
"The shock now is the downturn in prices has been longer than expected, which is really hurting.
"You can put money away for a rainy day when the times are good, but you can only carry yourself for so long before you're in trouble and I think this is the fourth year running that prices are on (par with) production costs or less."
Mr Freckleton has deferred any new plantings because of the downturn, while neighbouring growers have removed their vines, sold their irrigation water and found paying jobs to put food on the table.
Qualia Wine Services is owned by a consortium of seven Victorian and NSW investors who acquired the Irymple and Merbein assets of the former Neqtar Wines, after it collapsed last June with debts estimated at $65 million.
