Head of Human Resources at De Bortoli wines, Monique Rossi says this year has seen less overall applicants for vintage, however more over all experienced staff returning.

READ MORE | De Bortoli Wines celebrate National Tree Day

"We're putting on around 80 staff around the Riverina and we have vintage cellar hands, lab assistants and some field officers and weighbridge attendants," Ms Rossi explained.

"We have a group of people who are returning from doing past vintages and they are a combination of seasonal workers who move around and backpackers who are left in the country who are returning for a second vintage."

De Bortoli received 240 applications this year which despite its impressive number is almost half of what they received last year. With increased numbers of school leavers having applied, there is concern if they are up to the tough, physical work a vintage requires.

"It's a big job to do for school leavers. To throw them into working six days a week, 12 hour shifts is quite a new experience for them," Ms Rossi said.

"So you've got to really make sure that even though they may sound enthusiastic you have to gauge whether or not they are going to be able to handle this kind of work.

"We have a challenge to ensure we hire the right people, which is sometimes hard to tell."

At Berton Vineyards however, while they have sent out job offers for their 20 positions, fewer workers and higher demand for staff is forcing a bit of inconvenient competition.

READ MORE | 2019 Metal Label Black Shiraz named Best Shiraz at Riverina Wine Show

"We thought we had filled out all our positions but we think that what is happening is workers have applied at other wineries and they may end up choosing the offer that suits them better," James Ceccato, wine making director at Berton's said.

"We had a few accept offers elsewhere which is a bit disappointing but there is just not the backpacker pool here at the moment so they can pick and choose."

MORE NEWS