Visitors learn about winery

Nothing beats a hearty meal after a hard day's work – especially when washing it down with the fruits of your labour.

Sommeliers, hotel owners and wine lovers met Herzog Winery owners Hans and Therese Herzog at 8am on Saturday to experience the work and celebration of harvest.

Wrapped up warmly and armed with secateurs, each of the 30 people were paired off to pick sauvignon blanc grapes.

Mrs Herzog said the Harvest Weekend is about sharing the excitement after a year of hard work in the Jeffries Rd vineyard and winery.

"There is lots of manual labour that goes into the vineyard the whole year through, so by the time vintage comes around, the fruit is perfect. It's always a very exciting time for us."

All the fruit is handpicked, and there are only small parcels of each, so they only have to pick two or three mornings a week as the fruit ripens, she said.

"After picking, we always have a very big, long lunch, with wine of course. Usually we try the same wine as the variety of grapes we pick."

Among those joining the harvest this year are friends Vivian Lam and Evelyn Tang, who came down from Auckland with their families.

Mrs Tang said she is a big fan of the winemaker. "We had to see all the hard work that goes into the bottle, we love Hans' [Herzog] wine," she said.

Holidaymakers Leoni Sonnenberg and Sarah Duncan from Melbourne walked the Queen Charlotte Track this week and wanted to spoil themselves.

"We love wine in a casual sort of way, and this seems to be a good way to learn more about it."

After the grapes were picked they sat down to a two hour workers' lunch accompanied by sauvignon blanc.

They spent the afternoon learning about the wine making process from Mr Herzog, including de-stemming, crushing and plunging the grapes and taking sugar measurements.

After the day's work was complete, the group sat down to a five-course dinner.