Downy mildew and flooded vines affecting Riverina winegrape growers

Jeremy Cass, CEO of Riverina Winegrape Growers, said minor flooding had meant many growers have had to pump water out of their vineyards.

Mr Cass said so far for most growers it should not be a problem but if there was too much water not drained in a timely fashion there was the possibility some growers in lower areas could lose vines to root rot.

He said the biggest problem now was an outbreak of downy mildew.

He added some growers would have to make tough decisions about whether to move forward with their crop.

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Conditions were similar last year, which meant wineries in the area bought diseased grapes for concentrate, however, that won't be the case this year.

"All our growers have been told that anything that is not up to scratch will not be taken," he said.

Mr Cass said high chemical prices are a consideration for growers along with low grape prices, particularly for red varieties.

"You've got to make up your mind if you spend that money and not get it back and try and get a crop out of there or not," he said.

"If you do manage to get through it, it's probably going to cost you more to grow the grapes, especially with regard to red, but you could actually spend an awful lot of money and still get disease at the end of the day and not be taken in which would be even more disastrous.

"It's a bit of a perfect storm for us at the moment."

Grower Bruno Altin, Griffith, has made the decision to spray his vines and has managed to clean them up.

"Our farm looks pretty good at the moment but we're one of the lucky ones," he said.

Mr Altin said he started off spraying the white varieties with better chemicals and the reds with cheaper chemicals with the result of downy mildew appearing on the reds.

"We've made the decision to use the expensive stuff on the reds as well in case there's a wipeout. It doesn't mean that we're going to recoup those costs - we don't know, we probably won't but what can you do," he said.