“THINK BOLDLY,
TREAD LIGHTLY AND NEVER SAY IT CAN’T BE DONE” (A quote by Peter Yealand).
Peter Yealand is an
extremely driven man. Yealand’s winery is only one of
many of his
business interests. He hasn’t always been in the wine industry. Early on, Peter
Yealand recognized the potential to farm Greenshell mussels commercially and in
1971 was issued with New Zealand’s first marine farming licence. In the mid
1980’s Peter established one of New Zealand’s most successful deer farm,
specializing in stud animals and embryo transplants.
On the 08/08/08
Peter shared his vision of becoming the world’s most sustainable wine producer.
Yealand’s Seaview
Vineyard is located in the Awatere Valley, at the Northern tip of the South
Island (when we drove around we could see the North Island!). For years the
Awatere Valley foothills were regarded as unsuitable for grape growing.
However, Peter Yealand thought differently! He re-contoured the land, filled in
ravines, smoothed gullies, terraced hills and planted a diverse range of grapes
using GPS alignment, he transformed rugged pastoral land into a sustainable
vineyard area. Peter developed and planted over 25 wetlands and 75,000 native
trees and flaxes. Strategically placed wetlands, capture water run-off, slowly
releasing the water back into the soil, whilst providing a safe haven for a number
of bird species.
Yealand’s Winery
is the largest privately owned vineyard in the Southern Hemisphere. It is
largely self-sustainable and as we drove around the vineyard on our self-directed
tour we saw many of these practices in place.
Our first
impression of the vineyard was wow! As far as you could see there were rows and
rows and rows of grapes! We were told, it only takes three bunches of grapes to
produce one bottle of wine! How many bottles of wine would be made from all
these acres upon acres of grapes? Unbelievable!
There were lots
of free-range chickens around, and they had found that by playing classical
music to the chickens they produced larger eggs! As mentioned above, over 25
wetland areas have been established and these have been planted out with native
trees and plants. The wetland area have attracted birdlife such as; Royal
Spoonbills, Black Swans, Teal ducks, White Herons, Banded Dotterals, and Pied
Stilts.
The pests are
controlled with methods other than chemicals, such as growing an endophytic
grass species that deter insects, but are safe for livestock to eat, such as the
Baby Doll sheep (an endangered miniature breed). These Baby Doll sheep reduce
the need to mow with tractors and also produce a natural fertilizer for the
grapes. There’s a natural breeding programme in place to increase the number of
Baby Doll sheep to 10,000.
After the grape vines
are pruned in autumn, the vines are bundled up and used as a fuel to burn and
produce heat in the winery
To minimize
irrigation and improve soil fertility, Yealand’s make their own compost using
their own grape marc and landfill waste from other companies (such as mussel
shells and seaweed).
The vineyard also
has beehives dotted around to attract bees to produce natural honey. As we
drove around we noticed there were wild flowers planted in between the rows,
which attract bees to aid in pollination. These wildflowers also act as a
natural deterrent to some insects.
Check out their
website for more information www.yealands.co.nz
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| Boo trying to escape from the back of the truck, Bernie to the rescue! |
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| One of the 25 plus wetland ponds. |
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| The hills you can see in the distance is the North Island! |
