Rutherglen Wine region marketing manager Damien Adams said the tourism district’s second biggest annual event was largely unaffected by the storms that dumped up to 50mm on other parts of the North East.

“The weather hasn’t put anyone off,” he said.

“Many have travelled to Rutherglen for the long weekend so the rain is no deterrent.

“The reports from the wineries are that sales are strong.

“And on Saturday at the information centre, we sold more food and wine packs in one day than we did in the two weekends last year.

“We will take weather like this every day — it was perfect on Saturday and then the rain stopped at 10am this morning (Sunday).”

Mr Adams said the weekend’s crowd was vastly different from June’s Winery Walkabout.

“These people are food and wine lovers,” he said.

“We have been doing surveys over the weekend to assess what attracts people.

“What it tells us is that there are a large number of people from Canberra and Melbourne, as well as the Border, and it is a vastly different demographic to Walkabout.

“About 60 per cent of this crowd is over 40, whereas in June two-thirds of the crowd are between 20 and 30.”

The Tastes of Rutherglen will continue this weekend.