The third generation farmer said pulling out old grapevines that had been planted by his grandfather Joe senior and father Frank in the mid 40s was a "sad day" for his family.

"They were white shiraz and were planted for Penfold Wines at the time and used to make dry whites," he said.

"It is a piece of history gone and it's a shame. I think in Europe they try to promote the old vines, but here it's the bulk they are interested in."

As an excavator made short work of the seven acre block of vines, Mr Staltare said it had been a tough decision to make.

"This is probably one of the oldest vineyards left in Griffith," he said.

"It's very sad to see something my grand pop and dad put in go like this. My grandfather came out to Australia in 1927 and dad followed at the age of 12 in 1937.

"I texted my kids to say the grapes were coming out and they were sad too.

"These were very vigorous vines.

"They produced nice big, golden bunches even after all these years, but they've had their day, the wineries are not keen on them and handpicking is a deterrent too."

Mr Staltare said once the old vines were removed he'd look at planting citrus.

"These were the only grapes left on the farm. I will probably replace them with citrus of some kind.

"I don't really know where Australia is going the costs of production is too high to keep up.

"Labour is cheap overseas and I think farmers are being subsidised."

Garry Connors was the man behind the wheel of the excavator on Thursday.

"I've been pulling a few out around the place and these are the biggest vines I've ever pulled out," he said.

"There's no money in them.

"A lot of the wineries only want certain varieties and it's hard to keep up, people keep changing what they want to drink."