KEY POINTS:
Sheep are to be trained not to graze on the grapevines at New Zealand's biggest privately owned vineyard in an environmentally friendly effort to cut back on grass mowing and weed spray.
The 1000ha Yealands Estate, on the foothills of the seaward Kaikoura ranges, was opened on Friday and is using environmentally sustainable practices from the grass up.
Founder and principal Peter Yealands said his efforts to make the estate sustainable were not just token despite his "ratbag past".
"Years ago I harvested native forest and exported rimu ... now I'm a born-again environmentalist - it's a thing you get with a bit of maturity."
Mr Yealands said everything he was doing on the estate had to be sustainably driven, including holding off buying tractors until low-emission models came on to the market.
"Even if it costs more - as long as it's not ridiculous."
Mr Yealands said he was experimenting with sheep to train them not to eat the grapevines, so he could cut back on the use of mowers and weed spraying, which accounted for 40 per cent of operational costs.
He was setting aside an area of the property where the vines would be sacrificed for educational purposes for the sheep.
"People think sheep are dumb but they are not."
Mr Yealands will use a foul-tasting organic spray on the greenery to train the sheep not to eat the buds.
The expectation was that not only would the sheep become averse to eating the buds, they would remember their bad taste experience and not let their lambs do the same. Such methods had proven successful overseas but had not been used in New Zealand before, he said.
There were already 2500 sheep in the vineyard, which would keep the grass down, but the vines had not started budding yet. Within the first year the estate should become the first large scale vineyard in the world to generate its own power through wind generators.
"In fact, it will be carbon-negative and sell power back to the grid ... we are deliberately trying to target a few firsts - we don't like to come second."
The $45 million winery had been developed to forge new ways to reduce the environmental impact of the energy-intensive wine business.
It was aiming to achieve a 6-Green Star Rating under the industrial building rating system, making it the first winery in New Zealand to be developed in compliance with those requirements, Mr Yealands said.
The new certification code would signify world leadership status in green building design and operation.
The vineyard had been sited to minimise the distance fruit had to be transported for winemaking, and the winery operation aimed to ensure that resources such as energy, water and materials were used efficiently.
The 7100sq m winery was encapsulated in a highly insulated, solar reflective cladding.
Around the perimeter, stormwater collection swales harvested the water that was used to irrigate the grapevines.
Inside temperature monitoring probes, energy management software and advanced heat recovery technology ensured maximum energy efficiency throughout the building.
During construction recycling resulted in less than 10 per cent of the total volume of construction waste heading to the landfill, Mr Yealands said.
Throughout the estate more than 20 wetland areas had been developed to preserve the indigenous native species, including a wetland within the winery's stormwater disposal area.
All winery wastewater was treated on site and reused within the vineyard, using a textile filtering system that filtered and recirculated the effluent.
Rainwater was harvested from the winery roof in swales around the perimeter of the building, transferred to settling ponds and then used for irrigation.
Paul Lloyd, managing director of Apollo Projects, said it was one of the most technologically advanced wineries in the world.
"It is very efficient energy consumption per litre of wine produced."
