Do you Care How Sustainable Your Wine Is? Peter Yealands does.

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Green is the New Red & White

Owner Peter Yealands prides himself on creating wetlands at his Awatere winery, Tim Pawsey photo

How sustainable is the wine in your glass?

Do you care?

You should.

If we value the notion of terroir, and being able to enjoy distinctive tastes and styles of wine from regions half way around the world, we’re going to have to work harder at how those wines are grown and shipped.

Many folks are doing just that already, using techniques such as computerized irrigation patterns, or waste water treatment and even developing ultra lightweight wine bottles.  Even the once much maligned bag-in-box is making a respectable comeback.

Wine-producing countries such as South Africa and New Zealand have aggressive certification programs in place to make their industries sustainable.

Recently, we caught up with Peter Yealands (above) at his remarkable Yealands Estate, Awatere Valley winery in Marlborough, New Zealand.  He’s addressed every conceivable aspect of producing a greener wine, right down to ‘employing’ Babydoll miniature sheep to keep the grass mown.

Miniature? Yes, they’re too short to eat the grapes, which is a good thing.

You can meet up with Peter and a whole bunch of green Kiwis at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.

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Tagged as: Awatere, Environment, Green, Marlborough, New Zealand wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Sustainable