The last reds are being picked at the Shoalhaven Heads vineyard and vigneron Greg Bishop said it looked like a pretty special year.

“It is probably one of those one in 10..one in 20 year type harvests this year I would say,” Mr Bishop said.

“The reds are looking like 2014...and the whites are looking great..we are very pleased.”

Coolangatta Estate is not only the most awarded wine producer in the region it is among the most recognised in Australia.

Mr Bishop’s son-in-law and cellar door managed Ben Wallis was ecstatic recently when the prized block of its most famous variety semillon looked as good as it has ever been when it was harvested a week earlier than normal.

The semillon alone has won around 60 trophies and over 100 gold medals.

Mr Wallis said the increasingly popular tannat variety was looking equally as good as the highly prized semillon when it was picked on Monday this week.

And the wine makers at Tyrrells, where all the grapes are transported as soon as they are picked, are delighted with what they are seeing. In both cases the semillon and tannat grapes were ripe, plump and full of juice almost seeping from the fruit as they were picked.

Mr Wallis said they all looked pretty special and 2016 was shaping up to be a very good year.

But the Bishop family never talk it up too much until the wine is in the bottle and the good news is wine lovers won’t have to wait very long to taste some of this year’s harvest.

A Frizzante made from the rose grape variety will hit the cellar door within weeks and the whites will be back by June. The 2016 reds will be available in mid 2017.

 “There is some really good sugar ripeness in these ones. The heat of the last week has just brought on a little bit of shrivel as well. So that is just going to add to the colour and a little bit more structure to the wines which is something we don’t normally get the luxury of having here on the coast,” Mr Wallis said.

Mr Wallis said the chambourcin was picked on Wednesday and cabernet and tempranillo are likely to come off early next week.

The vine romance for the Bishop family started at Coolangatta Estate in 1969 when the first grapes were planted on what was previously a dairy farm surrounding the oldest European settlement on the South Coast. Some of the buildings date to the early 1820s and just like Alexander Berry was a pioneer in the region Mr Bishop is a pioneer of the South Coast wine making industry.