Harvest time's a family concern

It's time for young and old to roll up their sleeves at Vilagrad Winery as the great harvest comes around again.

Matriarch of the family Vesna Milicich is celebrating her 70th year at the Ohaupo property and looked on proudly as two-year-old great-grandson Niko Nooyen helped pick the grapes... and eat a few.

"It couldn't be any better," she said. "We've got a marvellous crop.

"I'm so happy with family here and proud of them working so hard."

After dipping his hands in the wine tank Niko is now the fifth generation of winemaker involved in the process.

And his uncle and chief winemaker Jacob Nooyen said that was what it was all about.

"The harvest used to be celebrated by the whole family, who would pick grapes over Easter weekend and each evening put a lamb on the spit," he said.

"They'd bring out the tamburitza (traditional Croatian string instrument) and sing Croatian songs and we still do it today."

Mr Nooyen said this year yielded a fantastic crop. "It's not good for farmers but when the Waikato has a drought we have the best grapes ever," he said.

The grape-picking began recently and will continue for the next six weeks, with the pinot noir and pinot gris crop coming in now, followed by chardonnay, gewurtztraminer and the reds.

But he said although he had been involved in wine-making for years and had a masters degree in viticulture, he was still learning and improving.

"We're always trying different grape varieties and seeing what works in the Waikato climate," Mr Nooyen said.

The most important thing, according to Mr Nooyen, was keeping it in the family.

"I'm going to have about five kids, Kristian's (Jacob's brother) going to have three and they'll carry on the tradition," he said, laughing.

"Hopefully we'll keep it in the family another century."

The Great Harvest Festival is open to the public to experience a night of food, wine, music and even grape-stomping on either April 24, May 1 or May 8.