(Stuff) - Wairarapa winemakers are breathing a sigh of relief after a sunny Easter finally allowed the harvest to get under way. Many Martinborough and Gladstone vineyards started picking grapes this week, much later than usual after a cool, wet summer meant the fruit was slow to ripen. But while the lack of sunshine will make for lower yields – and higher prices – winemakers are confident they can still produce a top-quality drop. "It's not going to be a blockbuster year like we had in 2003, where we had a really hot summer," said Kai Schubert, of Schubert Wines. "But I remember the 2004 vintage was a very cold summer with a late harvest, and that summer, while not going down in the history books as a top year, we made some fantastic, elegant pinots." Workers had hand-picked white wine varieties, including chardonnay, at Mr Schubert's Martinborough vineyard on Tuesday, and yesterday started picking pinot noir grapes at a Gladstone plot.