Arguably as important as the grape grower and the wine maker is the winery dog. Meet seven of Queensland's top dogs.

Barney. Ridgemill Estate. "During vintage he'll wander through the vineyard, and say g'day to all the pickers," says Jacob Veness. "He's got heaps of grass to run around in." Barney is a "playful" dog according to Veness, but "sometimes he'll sleep all day!" (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

JS Bark. Robert Channon Wines. "JS has a rigorous routine of going to the carpark to meet and greet, but as soon as she is done with that job she collapses," Robert Channon says. "She was an RSPCA puppy described as a 'Labrador Mix'. The various other ingredients are not quite known. But she's a delightful blend. She's so gentle she tends to hide from children. She is happy as long as there's enough grapes on the ground to eat when we're picking." (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Betty. Whiskey Gully Wines. "She's a Jack Russell, but she's almost pure black, which is weird isn't it? John Arlidge says. "She keeps the snakes away. She's fearsome, but I think in every aspect of wine making she is totally uncooperative and useless!" Arlidge laughs. "But when you drop grapes on the ground they are hers! Every dog we've had has loved grapes. I think they think of them as dessert." Arlidge says Betty has a real sense of humour, "because she's black, if I'm wandering around at night, she'll creep up at me, leap up, and scare the living daylights out of me. She's good fun." (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Toohey. Riversands Winery. "When I'm not around he's my unofficial manager," says David Blacket. "If he's not greeting guests he's down the paddock on the back of the bike, or with the backpackers picking. He knows exactly what's going on. He's got his bed in the shed, so he sleeps with the wine around him. He gets lots of attention, and if he decides he's not getting enough he'll feign a limp, and someone will pick him up and give him a pat!" (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Shadow. Moonrise Estate. "He's named Shadow because he likes to be with me all the time, even to the point of sitting in the tractor with me," Trevor Sharp explains. "His official job is to meet and greet all the guests, but he also likes to wee on the car tyres!" Sharp warns. "As a wine dog he's fantastic. If people sit down inside, they'll get a dog in their lap. He tries to make sure everyone is comfortable. I'm not sure if it's because he's missing a leg, but he gets a lot of cuddles. We don't know how he lost his leg as we adopted him from the RSPCA." (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Bill. Heritage Wines. "He's head of security," says Paddy Kassulke. "He has a good life. He's 14. He belonged to my daughter. As a youngster he was a rogue. With his brother they spent a lot of time in the back seat of the police car being taken back home. We decided it was wise to split the dogs up, so Bill came to live at the winery. And both dogs have behaved themselves ever since. He loves apples and grapes. He certainly lives in the right town for those two fruits! The visitors love him. He gets his photo taken often. I think he thinks he's a star!" (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Muscat. Lucas Estate Wines. "He was an abandoned dog that turned up at the end of our road nearly six years ago," explains Louise Samuel. "I was a pretty sad person when I lost my husband, and people said 'get a dog', and Muscat turned up not long after. He works hard at the winery. He's a grape grader! He used to catch rats and mice, but the cats do that now. He always tells me when there's customers coming, and he's even on a label of mine. We made a pretty rough wine we named 'hair of the dog', but I think the dog was embarrassed, so we put a painting of him on a Liquor Muscat! I'm pretty sure he thinks the grape variety was named after him!" (ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders)

Visit a Queensland winery and there's a good chance you'll be first greeted by a four legged 'employee'.

"A lot of our wineries are small family owned wineries, so it's all part of the atmosphere having a dog or two around the place," Trevor Sharp from Moonrise Estate says. "I think the dogs have the top job here. They don't have to work too hard, and they get a lot of attention."

Unlike other working dogs, no one breed stands out at the wineries. But they do share one trait, the love of grapes.

"Apparently grapes are meant to be bad for dogs, but our dogs have always eaten them and they've survived pretty well," says Robert Channon. "But we did have a drunk cow the other week. We sometimes leave the stalks and pressings in a nearby paddock. One cow wandered in where she shouldn't have, found the pressings and had a good drink. She had quite a hangover the next day!"