Construction is progressing on a planned function hall, to sit on a hilltop in the lakeside vineyard - the first building in a three-stage $1 million project to expand facilities.
Rippon artisan winemaker Nick Mills said once the function hall was complete it would provide another revenue stream to the family-run business operation, allowing them to push ahead with a planned wine production plant.
The wine-tasting and function hall was on schedule to be built by this Christmas, Mr Mills said.
The three-stage project to construct a future winemaking facility and vineyard utility shed is not a priority for Mr Mill as he focuses on the immediate task of harvesting fruit from Rippon's 15ha of grapevines.
The Mills family are one of the pioneers of Central Otago's wine industry and have won acclaim for their dedication to biodynamic viticulture.
The 2010 harvest had started on Monday, although wind and rain during the week had set the grape picking operation back slightly, he said.
The vines had "naturally produced" an "exceptionally balanced" yield of about five or six tonnes of grapes per hectare.
Typically, the vines would grow about seven tonnes per hectare and staff would "bunch-thin" grapes back to the desired five-tonne benchmark six weeks out from harvest, allowing the remaining fruit to develop better, Mr Mills said.
The mature vines had grown grapes to the desired tonnage per hectare amount without much need to be thinned, he said.
"Honestly, I don't like to get too excited before the grapes are in the bottle, but this year the fruit is absolutely beautiful," he said.
He called the fruit picked so far, "some of the best he had seen".
