At Vinifera wines, co-owner, Debbie McKendry said for the first weekend, the numbers and sales were up, but the middle weekends were average.

“The long weekend was by far the busiest and I put variations over the middle weekends to the larger number of cellar doors and the fact that it is a popular time of the year for weddings.”

Carol Cook at Secret Garden wines said this year she had noticed the numbers of people were good but the spend was down.

“People are visiting Mudgee for other reasons apart from the wine.

“The town might be busy but this is not necessarily translating into sales at wineries.

“Petrol prices may have impacted on the amount people can afford to spend once they are here,” she said.

Owner of Frog Rock wines, Rick Turner said numbers were noticeably down on previous years but sales had held their own.

“Overall we had a lot of case sales and we had lunch and music at weekends, which tends to attract more people and encourage sales,” he said.

Cellar door manager at Abercorn, Nadine Cumming said the winery had recorded an overall increase in sales of 48 per cent over last year.

“We had a lot of repeat customers and mid-week traffic was definitely up.

“The best weekend for sales was the long weekend and the shorter format of the overall festival seemed to work well,” she said.

Farmers Daughter wines cellar door manager, Vicki Smith said she would like to see the festival run right through September.

“I had some complaints that the festival had not officially started on the first weekend of the month.

“Wine sales were about on par with last year, but I am happy with the outcome of the festival.

“We had BBQs and music at weekends which attracts locals and visitors alike.

“Particularly with the visitors, it helps attract sales,” she said.