(ABC) - South Australia's multi-million dollar wine industry is gearing up for another strong vintage, with early season grapes already trickling into the state's wineries.
As the nation's largest wine producer, South Australia contributes more than half of the country's annual wine volume, a commodity worth an estimated $440 million last season.

ABC Rural takes a look at the key issues and crop predictions across four of the state's key wine growing areas.

Riverland: Mixed fortunes for bulk wine producers

Hot and dry conditions have brought on a slightly early harvest in Australia's biggest wine producing region, where crop performance has been mixed.

Small volumes of grapes are already being trucked into Riverland wineries, with picking expected to ramp up later this week.

The industry as a whole remains on track for an average season, but within individual vineyards, performance has largely been determined by access to water.

Growers who have been in a position to irrigate through the hot weather are faring well, but those who've struggled to keep the pumps going are reporting below average yields.

Despite the challenges, excitement is building as growers and wineries gear up for their busiest time of the year.

Contract harvester Tony Richards said he's expecting a condensed picking season.

"Everything seems to have ripened early this year," Mr Richards said.

"We like it to be ten weeks normally, to give us time to get through it without trying to kill ourselves too much.

"The quickest year we've done is eight weeks, and that was really hard work, so we're just worried it might be there again."

Adelaide Hills: A beautiful crop ready to pick

The 2016 vintage is going to be fantastic.

That's how president of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region and The Pawn Wine Company's Tom Keelan has summed up the season.

"This year is shaping up to be such a beautiful vintage being so dry leading into it, the ripening period has been quite nicely drawn out."

He said water was a major issue for Hills growers this year, but with good management, the season is expected to pay off for many.

"Having such a dry winter and spring is really coming home to roost I suppose, where the vines just don't have that sub surface moisture there," he said.

"So that supplementary irrigation is becoming such a critical part of making sure these grapes get across the line in the coming few weeks.

"Blocks further north in the hills are not far from being picked.

"Further south down towards Macclesfield and Kuitpo, they're probably having an average time in terms of timing, we'll probably be harvesting there in four to five weeks."

Coonawarra: Growers welcome drought-intensified flavours

In the state's south-east, drought conditions are continuing to bite throughout the Coonawarra.

While the prolonged dry has caused heartache for many primary producers, its been a different story for grape growers.

Winemaker Bryan Tonkin predicted the dry weather would help produce strong and concentrated flavours in the 2016 crop.

"This year's vintage will be characterised by the long, dry period up to fruit development, which has seen us develop some really small berries on the bunches," he said.

"I think this will give us some quite concentrated flavours.

"Chardonnay development this year will be quite intense, and that will allow us to do everything from sparkling bases through to our heavily oaked chardonnays.

"Not a lot of rain allows for good fruit set, because there's no rain to interrupt with the pollination.

"It also reduces the amount of disease pressure within the vineyards."