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Self-made man of the vines

Huon Hooke
Huon Hooke

Peter Yealands planted 1000 hectares of vines in the Awatere Valley.
Peter Yealands planted 1000 hectares of vines in the Awatere Valley.Supplied

The Awatere was the second valley in the Marlborough region to be planted to grapevines, after the original Wairau Valley. It is a half-hour drive from Blenheim, over the Wither Hills, and has a cooler climate than the Wairau, with later ripening thanks to its more southerly orientation, which admits colder winds. Land in the Awatere is slightly cheaper, as are grape prices, and growing conditions less predictable; less secure. But already it is New Zealand's second-biggest region if you separate it from the Wairau: bigger than Hawkes Bay, Waipara and Central Otago.

Where the Wairau has a multitude of small wineries as well as large, the Awatere is dominated by big companies, including Constellation, Treasury, and Yealands.

The big companies were able to buy large tracts of land at attractive prices.

The most controversial is Peter Yealands, who planted no fewer than 1000 hectares of vineyards, mostly sauvignon blanc. Then, reasoning that selling grapes was an unreliable business, he built a huge $40 million winery and minted his own Yealands Estate label. The wines sell for relatively modest prices. The most recent sauvignon blanc I tasted was $15; a riesling was $19; gruner veltliner, $22; and pinot noir $27 (undiscounted Sydney retail prices). None of them rated highly in my tastings, although all were clean and competently made.

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But the sheer scale of Yealands's project is impressive. To stand among his vines and be able to see nothing but undulating vineyards for three kilometres in every direction and be told they are all one man's vineyard, is gob-smacking. They are neat and well-tended; the winery looks very smart indeed, and is state of the art. Yealands makes a marketing point of sustainability and zero-carbon status.

But apart from about 100 hectares of organically grown sauvignon blanc, the rest of the vineyard is not organic or biodynamic.

Nevertheless, Yealands Estate has taken out the award for "sustainable wine tourism practices" at the global Great Wine Capitals Awards for three years running.

Yealands was raised in Marlborough and is a former Marlborough Sounds mussel farmer. He is a classic self-made man who had only basic education and has ruffled a few feathers, including during the takeover fight for Oyster Bay Wines – which he lost to Delegat's Wine.

His story is well told in a biography published in late 2012: A Bloke for All Seasons – the Peter Yealands Story by Tom Percy (Wily Publications). It's early days for Yealands wines, but the man himself is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.

Huon HookeHuon Hooke is a wine writer.

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