Pete's Blog

15 May 2013

AUTUMN UPDATE FROM PETE

Well it’s that time of the year again, the hectic period of harvest is over and it is time to reflect, go on holiday or simply to catch up on life away from the vineyards & winery. For me it’s time to thank all those at Yealands who have contributed to a fantastic harvest, they don’t come any better than this one, well not since I’ve been involved in wine anyway.

1 May 2013

PETE’S GIANT PUMPKIN

Check out this giant pumpkin that has grown in our community garden at Yealands Seaview Vineyard.

giant pumpkin in garden pumpkin punt

We have a sweepstake going at the moment with Yealands staff to guess the weight of the pumpkin with all proceeds going to the Awatere Early Learning Centre.

12 April 2013

2013 Vintage is underway

Yealands Estate Wines Awatere Valley Marlborough Gareth Seaview Vineyard Manager

The first grapes came in on 2nd April, and to date we are approximately 45% of our way through vintage 2013, and boy is Gareth our vineyard Manager pleased! Perfect conditions for harvesting, we couldn't be any happier.

31 January 2013

Summer update from Pete

What a great end to a terrific month in many respects - roaring sales, the best weather we’ve had for years for holidaying, fishing and of course perfect for our vines. They, along with all our staff, are lapping up the sunshine and it looks like there is still plenty more to come.

16 October 2012

Spring Update From Pete

Bud burst occurred about two weeks early this year, so the team have been keeping a watchful eye on frosts over the past few weeks. A couple of recent light frosts don’t appear to have affected the vines – so fingers crossed for the coming weeks.

An extremely busy time for the crew on the vineyard with the planting over 30,000 native trees and flaxes on the property in addition to the regular maintenance on the vineyard, (replacing broken posts, fertiliser and compost application).

9 July 2012

Our New Addition – Kunekune Pigs

Our miniature Babydoll sheep have received a lot of attention since I first introduced them to the country a couple of years back.

Introduced to help reduce our diesel emissions by eliminating mowing, they continue to do well with stock numbers reaching in excess of 1,500. To eliminate all mowing from the vineyard, I estimate that we need about 10,000, so we are still a couple of years off.

13 June 2012

What's Been Going On

I’ve always believed that sustainability has no end point and we need to keep reviewing our processes to find better ways of doing things.

Recently we have introduced a couple of initiatives to control grass grub on our vineyard. The grubs are a nuisance as they feed on the roots of grass and vines. Whilst most of their life is spend in the soil, they take to the air during various phases of the moon, meaning they can cause widespread damage.