When Peter Yealands climbed up the crest of Seaview and looked out at the rugged,wind-blown landscape, he knew he had stumbled upon one of the best vineyard sites in New Zealand. "I immediately fell in love and never looked back," he recalls.
Inspired by a vision, he acquired the property, climbed aboard a bulldozer and worked day and night to re-contour the land, filling ravines, smoothing gullies and terracing hills. Yealands transformed the scrappy pastoral land into a 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) vineyard comprised of 133 blocks-the largest privately-owned vineyard in New Zealand. He then built one of the most eco-friendly winery operations in the world, Yealands Family Wines-the sixth largest wine producer in New Zealand and a global champion of sustainable viticulture.
Unlike the often bombastic nature of many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, Yealands wines are markedly more subtle in character, distinctly elegant and focused, distinguished by a profound purity of texture, flavor and vein of minerality-imaginecrystalized liquid subsequently melted back into wine. Yealands explains: "By working in harmony with nature, we achieve great tasting wines-wines that express terroir but don't cost the earth. At Yealands we aim to leave the land better than we found it. Hence, our motto: Think Boldly, Tread Lightly-and never say it can't be done."
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