June 2011 (pdf) - Port Nelson

Port Nelson Limited report. June 2011. Page 10
meet the client
Yealands Estate Winery
Few wineries in New Zealand can list plastic bottles, baby-doll sheep and
guinea pigs as part of their operating history.
These are just some of the innovations
at Marlborough’s Yealands Estate Winery,
although Marketing Assistant Hayley
McCairns says using guinea pigs to keep
the grass down between the long rows of
grapes was short-lived, as the fluffy rodents
were picked off by hawks. Undeterred,
owner and founder, Peter Yealands
imported a ancient breed of miniature
baby-doll sheep to eat the grass without
damaging the vines. Hayley says the ‘lawn
mowers’ at the estate are an example of a wider philosophy of
environmental sustainability.
Yealands Estate Winery was established by Peter and Vai Yealands
in 2002, and at over 1000 hectares is New Zealand’s largest private
family vineyard.
“Peter sees himself as a sculptor of the land - taking the ridges and
gullies and creating smooth contours,” Hayley says. “He used GPS
technology to plant grapes, in even rows stretching north to south.”
Grapes were planted in four areas: the hilly terraced Seaview
and Flaxbourne vineyards, and Grovetown and Riverland on
marshland that was drained, leaving the surrounding wetlands
and wildlife intact. The high sunshine, wind, cool nights and low
rainfall of Marlborough present challenges, but result in unique fruit
characteristics with very intense flavours.
‘An ideas man’
Peter Yealands is not your run-of-the-mill winery owner. He admits
he’s not driven by money, he’s an ideas man who is breaking new
ground on sustainability in wineries. The grass grazing sheep are
not just cute, they’re an alternative to pesticides or tractor mowing,
potentially saving over $1.3 million a year in diesel use and spraying.
There are also solar panels and wind turbines to help provide power,
recycled glass and cardboard is used in the packaging, heat energy
from refrigeration is recovered and recycled,
grape leaves and stalks are composted for
vine mulch, rainwater is harvested and
on-site wastewater is treated and reused.
As a result of these measures Yealands has
been awarded carboNZeroCert status -
one of the very first carbonzero enterprises
in New Zealand.
Export lead
Yealands export 90 percent of their branded wine. It is bottled
at Wineworks Marlborough and then transported to Port Nelson
in containers for a range of export markets. Wine is also shipped
from the winery in tanks for bottling overseas. Although Yealands
exports to about eighteen countries, wine shipped from Port
Nelson is usually bound for Australia. Last year, Yealands shipped
around 50 containers through Port Nelson, this year they are
looking to increase that to 60 to 80 containers. Hayley says
transporting their wine by sea fits well with the winery’s drive
for sustainability.
“There are only two ways to ship wine across the world, by air or by
sea. We can transport a lot more wine at one time by sea, and we can
ship to our different distributors in the country of import,” she says.
“It does take a bit of coordinating and getting the timings to match,
but the freight forwarders do a good job arranging the shipments,
and it’s a more economical way of shipping for everyone involved.”
What’s that tune?
Never short of innovative ideas, Peter Yealands told the sustainable
living website ‘Good’ that he is looking at playing music to his vines.
He’s not sure how the grapes will respond to music, but he’s been
looking in to the technology that sends sound down a laser. He also
adds that his wife thinks he’s mad and says she’ll leave him if he does
start playing music to his vines!