THE Riverina's massive 280,000 tonne wine grape harvest is deteriorating by the day in flood water.
Riverina Winegrape Growers chairman Bruno Brombal expects losses to total up to 30,000 tonnes in the region.
Mr Brombal said many grape varieties were infected with botrytis, rendering them useless for wine making.
He said growers in the Yenda district, near Griffith, had lost entire crops in the midst of harvest.
"Crops are going backwards by the day," Mr Brombal said.
"We are having a heavy dew each morning and that is like a small rain on the grapes."
Even so, Mr Brombal said, mechanical harvesters have been working flat out to pick the remainder of the crop while the weather was fine.
"I spent two to three days harvesting at Tabbita (near Griffith) on sandy soil and the machine wasn't even making a track," he said.
"Yields were around 14 tonnes a hectare.
"But there are some varieties that are just gone – shiraz, ruby cabernet – some merlot is still okay.
"Anything worth saving is being picked but the prices are no better than last year.
"Growers need some income – banks are tightening up but hopefully they will give growers another year's grace.
"There are a lot of grapes still hanging out there."
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