Garden of Yealands earns accolade

One of the wetlands at Yealands Estate.

With yet another sustainability award added to a trophy cabinet groaning with international and national accolades, it's fair to say that the Yealand's Family Wine is pioneering the environmental space.

Sustainable winegrowing across New Zealand's vineyards has gained steady momentum over the past five years. Increasing numbers of wineries are adhering to carbon neutral and environmental-based certification programmes, including ISO 14001, and organic and biodynamic certification. However, the implementation of innovative practices specifically pertaining to environmental restoration and preservation has been markedly slower on the uptake. Not so for Yealands Family Wines.

Scooping up both the Supreme Award for the Greatest Contribution to a Sustainable New Zealand and the Restorative Impact category at the NZI National Sustainable Business Network Awards last Tuesday, the Marlborough family vineyard's strategy of leaving the land better than they found it is bearing fruit.

Working almost as hard on the areas surrounding its vineyard blocks as it does on the grapevines, the company has invested in the development of 25 man-made wetlands on its Seaview vineyard in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. Each wetland is specifically designed to capture any water run-off and slowly release it back into the soil. The benefits are overwhelming positive, says owner Peter Yealands.

The company has also planted over 200,000 native trees and flaxes to provide a suitable environment for wildlife and to promote biodiversity. Yealands also partners with the Department of Conservation to nuture a number of endangered shrubs.

A diverse selection of wild flowers and grasses planted between vine rows also assists in nitrogen fixing while being a visually pleasant addition to the property. "All these measures go against traditional viticulture practices that typically create a monoculture, discouraging birds and other wildlife," says Yealands.

The results are plain to see. An impressive flock of native birds including tuis, white herons and bellbirds now call the vineyard home, while the winery's production of quality grapes has only continued to improve. "We also participate in a breeding programme here for the endangered native falcon," says Yealands.

It is also clear Yealands bucks convention in other areas of the vineyard's operations in its quest to not only preserve, but enhance mother nature. The winery has invested in a poke of kunekune pigs and his well-known flock of "babydolls" - a breed of miniature sheep, which, according to Yealands, are "rare as hen's teeth." Too short to reach the fruit, these pint-sized organic weeders graze on the vineyard year-round providing energy efficiency and pesticide-free mowing and pest control. "They also assist with reducing compaction and a handy dose of fertiliser," says Yealands. Accompanying the pigs and babydolls in the company's eco-friendly lock-down on weed and pest control are chickens (whose eggs are used for fining red wines), ducks and peacocks.
The company is further leading the way in biodiversity initiatives through its use of a range of endophytic grass species planted on the vineyard which assists with non-chemical pest control and the comprehensive composting programme Yealands pioneered in 2010.

This year alone the winery will produce 50,000 tonnes of compost, referred to by Yealands as his "special brew". The majority of the compost comprises of grape marc (grape skins, pips and stalks) which accounts for approximately 25% of the total weight of the crop at harvest. But farm scraps come from all over. "We bring in grape marc from much of the Marlborough industry's producers which has either been used for livestock feed or going into landfill. Similarly we access waste streams from other industries including mussel shells from aquaculture, cattle paunch from freezing works and olive processing byproducts and sawmills."

Yealands' environmental practices are underpinned by its philosophy of "Think boldly, tread lightly, and never say it can't be done" and has created many win-win outcomes. The Yealands model is a great example of how to establish a competitive edge through dedicated landcare practices.