would spur some interest in the area but the same turn of the 20th century events that saw decline throughout the Hunter Valley would compound to virtually extinguish all viticulture in the Upper Hunter. It wasn't until the 1960s when Penfolds purchased land near Brecht's old Wybong estate that significant viticulture interest in the Upper Hunter re-emerged. Through many years of trial and error, the viticulturalists at Penfolds were able to determine that the area was most suitable for white wine grape varieties. In comparison to the Lower Hunter, the Upper Hunter receives less overall rain ( annually to Lower Hunter's ). As the vast majority of this rainfall takes place during the late summer and early autumn, irrigation is a necessity for many vineyards during the early growing season of the spring and summer. Being further inland, the Upper Hunter receives less maritime influence from the cooling sea breezes and has a much hotter heat summation with 2170 degree days (Celsius) to the 2070 degree days generally seen by the Lower Hunter. Several small wineries operate in the region. The Upper Hunter has experienced a decline in vineyard area since the withdrawal of large wine producers Rosemount and Arrowfield from buying large quantities of Upper Hunter grapes early in the 21st century. Viticulture Like most New World wine regions, there is little to no government restrictions on the type of viticultural practices used in the Hunter Valley. Growers are free to plant whatever grape variety they wish, use any pruning or vine training system, and harvest as large or small of yields as they wish. To that extent, there is a wide range of viticultural practices seen in the Hunter Valley though some commonality does occur. As with many areas of Australia with labour shortages, viticulture in the Hunter is highly mechanised with machine harvesting the norm and experiments in mechanical pruning and leaf pulling also widely practised. Harvest usually takes place from mid-January to early March. The high humidity and propensity for harvest rains leads many growers to use open canopy management techniques and trellising as well as frequent leaf pulling in order to keep mould and rot at bay. Some examples of vine training systems found in the Hunter including the Scott Henry, Smart-Dyson and V-Trellis. In the Upper Hunter, the Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) is often used in areas that have problem with sunburn. Despite the