After the devastating 2019/2020 bushfires, many wineries across the ACT and NSW lost entire crops due to smoke taint.

While no vineyards in the ACT were physically damaged, smoke impacted 2020 vintages and made the grapes undrinkable. As a result most wineries chose not to harvest.

In good news, the newest vintages are set to impress despite a wet start to the year.

This comes after up to 10 Murrumbateman vineyards were damaged or wiped out by a severe thunderstorm on January 3.

Co-founder of Helm Wines, Ken Helms, previously told The Canberra Times it was the worst damage he had seen to the Canberra district wine region in 50 years.

Fran Marshall from the Canberra District Wine Association was upbeat about the current harvest.

"We have had a rough couple of years and I think this year things are looking up," she said.

"Things are looking really good, I mean if we can get clear of any rain in the next two to three weeks, we should be having a fantastic harvest."

Wineries in the Canberra region are currently picking chardonnay varieties, mainly for use in sparkling wines, collected earlier when the grapes have a lower sugar content.

Others have started harvesting riesling grapes, after an absence of sunshine put the picking several weeks behind schedule.

Harvesting of red varieties won't begin until the end of March to the start of April, dependent on the number of warm sunny days.

However, Ms Marshall said there was a shortage of people available to harvest crops with international workers not yet returning to Australia en masse.

She called on the Canberra community to lend a hand and help produce their beloved local wines.

"We've had a bit of a shortage of pickers this year, but it just means we're reaching out to Canberrans to get their hands literally dirty making the wines they want to drink," she said.

"There's nothing like getting involved in making the actual wine you pick off the shelf and drink."

Lake George Winery owner Sarah McDougall said they had been working with the same group of grape pickers for the past five years but the team was experiencing shortages.

"[We've] done a callout to the community and we've had some really positive responses from our gorgeous neighbours willing to come and pitch in for a couple of hours," Ms McDougall said.

The vineyard has invited residents to drive out, learn how to pick grapes and even have a go at grape stomping.

The winery is set to crush 60 tonnes of grapes this year, the largest amount since Mrs McDougall bought the winery four years ago.

"It's a big sigh of relief once fruit comes in looking beautiful, once it's in the winery then we let the winemakers do their thing," she said.