Interview with the 'Eco-Innovator' Peter Yealands
Peter Yealands has a passion for wine that is matched only by his enthusiasm for sustainability. Good editor Sarah Heeringa met the Eco-Innovator to find out more.
Peter Yealands pioneered mussel farming in New Zealand and has for the last decade ploughed his considerable energy and entrepreneurial flair into Yealands Wine Estate in Marlborough. He spoke to Good editor Sarah Heeringaabout his latest ideas.
Good: You seem to be interested in everything, not just wine.
Yealands: I’m a jack of all trades and a master of one! But I’m throwing all my energies into the wine business, for sure. Which doesn’t mean that I can’t help others in the business try different things. Our winery is a great opportunity for all of these clever people to come in with ideas about saving energy and sustainable production that they’d never be able to or have the scope to do it previously.
Good: But still the vision comes from you, right?
Yealands: Yes but it’s a coming-together of brains, not necessarily all mine. I want the smartest sustainable winery that I can get, with constraints – this is my budget, it has to fit into the landscape, I want natural products, resources, and to come up with a pretty good product on time and on budget. I would love to have more money and lots of other things but you’ve got to remember that we launched this winery in the start of the recession.
To read the full article visit http://good.net.nz/blog/sarah-heeringa/eco-innovator-peter-yealands