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.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 19 minutes 42 seconds 19 m South Australian wine grape growers talk about their expectations for the 2016 vintage ( Brett Worthington ) Download 36.1 MB

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.

Listen Duration: 3 minutes 58 seconds 3 m 58 s Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Contract harvester Tony Richards says he will begin picking grapes within the week. ( Carmen Brown ) Download 7.3 MB

"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."

Renmark contract harvester Tony Richards expects to begin picking later this week. ( Carmen Brown )

Adelaide Hills: A beautiful crop ready to pick

The 2016 vintage is going to be fantastic.

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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.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 2 minutes 24 seconds 2 m 24 s Adelaide Hills winemaker Tom Keelan is gearing up for a 'fantastic' vintage ( Caroline Winter ) Download 1.1 MB

"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."

Adelaide Hills winemaker Tom Keelan stands amid wine barrels ahead of the 2016 vintage ( Caroline Winter )

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."

Di Giorgio winemaker Bryan Tonkin at the vineyard in Coonawarra. ( Cassandra Steeth )

Clare Valley: On-track for an early harvest start

Winemakers in the Clare Valley have also seen their season shift forward because of hot and dry conditions across the valley.

Vineyard manager with Taylors Wines in the Clare Valley, Colin Hinze, said low rainfall during winter and spring had also contributed to the grapes ripening sooner than expected.

"If we start our rainfall accumulation from May, the winter and spring accumulation has been a bit low and I think that's contributing to the season being quite early," Mr Hinze said.

Access to supplementary water from the Murray River under a three year trial with SA Water has given the company a cheaper and cleaner irrigation source this year.

Mr Hinze said the grapes have been through the veraison period, where the berries become softer and start to develop more sugar before producing full bodies wine grapes.

Based on that growing schedule, the grapes will be ready for harvest by the end of January, uncharacteristically early for the Clare Valley.

Winemakers expect to start harvesting grapes by the end of January in the Clare Valley after a hot and dry finish to the year ( James Jooste )

What consumers want in 2016

Geoff Luke has been running a bottle shop in the mining town of Broken Hill for nearly 40 years.

He's seen trends twist and turn over the decades and says the weather has a strong influence on the types of wine consumers buy in regional areas.

"Currently it seems to be white wine," he said.

"Our buying group range from right across South Australia, the Clare Valley in particular, and we're trying a few wines from the Adelaide Hills."

But it seems when the weather is hot, locals turn to New Zealand wild white. Listen Duration: 5 minutes 6 seconds 5 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Beer more popular than wine at Broken Hill bottle shop ( Cherie von Hörchner ) Download 2.3 MB

"Straight sauvignon blanc is on the top of the list," Mr Luke said.

He said during the winter months, consumers turn their attention to red varieties from the Barossa Valley and other South Australian wine regions.

"Shiraz is the best seller, cabernet sauvignon is a close second and then you get into your straight merlots."

But despite South Australia producing some of the country's most notable wines, Mr Luke said wine's popularity couldn't compete with the outback town's thirst for golden ale.

"The bulk of people who come through our bottle shop buy beer, by a long stretch," he said.