The Sound of Music
The impressive Yealands winery among the vineyards.
If you were to wander
around the Yealands Estate vineyards in New Zealand, you might be surprised to
hear the strains of classical music coming from loudspeakers. The music is not
for the benefit of the vineyard workers you understand, but for the vines.
Strange as it may seem, the concept is not completely new. At the vineyards of
the De Morgenzon farm in Stellenbosch, they’ve played baroque instrumental music
to the vines for several years evidently resulting in healthier leaves and
grapes.
Peter Yealands of Yealands
Wine Group told me, “Our vines enjoy a varied daily playlist, which includes
music from a range of world-class composers, and of course, a few of my personal
favourites. It’s played at roughly seventy decibels under the speaker (which is
about living-room volume) but it varies through the vineyard because of the
rolling contours of the land and the effect of wind direction. We’ve noticed
that the leaves on the vines directly under the speakers appear to hold their
colour and stay on the vines for longer. We’ve also discovered that the chickens
which live in the area where the music is played produce larger eggs. The
chickens really seem to appreciate the music.”
And so do the sheep. You
see, there are also sheep roaming among the vines. They’re an old English breed
known as Babydolls and they grow only up to about two feet high. They were
introduced by Peter Yealands because they’re the perfect answer to keeping the
grass under control without the noise and carbon emissions produced by
conventional tractors. They aren’t tall enough to reach the grapes, but they’re
content with the grass that grows between the vines. It’s been estimated that
these sheep save the equivalent of two thousand miles per year of mechanical
mowing. At one time they needed seven tractors to do the work. And of course,
the little sheep are much prettier than tractors. When they’re not mowing the
grass, the sheep apparently congregate underneath the speakers, an area they
never used to visit.
Peter Yealands is a man
who’s passionate about sustainability and he has a vision to create the world’s
most environmentally-friendly wines. Yealands Family Wines has already been
selected as the “Green Company of the Year” by the UK’s leading drinks
publisher, Drinks Business. It’s the largest privately owned vineyard in
New Zealand and home to the country’s biggest solar power installation. Even the
loudspeakers run on solar power.
The company has won
hundreds of awards and these wines represent amazingly good value. Incidentally,
their Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc claimed a Gold Medal and prestigious trophy at
the Decanter World Wine Awards held recently in London. The Peter
Yealands Sauvignon Blanc 2013 took home the Regional Trophy for the best New
Zealand Sauvignon Blanc under £15 (about Bt. 750), with judges naming it as the
“benchmark Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc”.
Peter Yealands Hawke’s
Bay Chardonnay 2013 (white), New Zealand (Bt. 759 @ Villa)
The 2013 vintage in
Hawke’s Bay (on the East Coast of the country’s North Island) provided
outstanding conditions for ripening the Chardonnay grapes and produced fruit
with a fine balance of ripeness and freshness. Under the supervision of
winemaker Tamra Washington the grapes were gently pressed and some of the juice
was fermented in French oak barriques to bring a complexity of aroma and
texture.
This very pale,
straw-coloured wine has a sumptuous honeyed aroma with rich pineapple, apricot,
melon and hints of citrus. The wine has a lovely silky mouth-feel, a couple of
degrees away from total dryness and a fine touch of acidity that helps to bring
the fruit into focus. It has a mouth-filling richness and subtle oak flavours
which continue right through to the fresh elegant finish. This is a big, bold
wine full of interest and character. It has an alcohol content of 13.5%, and the
pleasing dash of acidity would make it a good partner for many chicken dishes or
well-flavoured lemony fish. This is a classic New Zealand Chardonnay with a
touch of the Old World about it.
Peter Yealands
Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013 (red), New Zealand (Bt. 839 @ Villa)
If your geographical
knowledge of New Zealand is a bit hazy, perhaps I should remind you that
Marlborough is located at the North East tip of the South Island. It was named
after the British Duke of Marlborough, a wildly ambitious individual who, in the
early years of the 18th century,
rose to become the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces. Some historians
believe that Marlborough (whose real name was the rather more prosaic John
Churchill) was the greatest British commander in history.
This is a splendid wine.
For a start, the weather was particularly good and this helped the low-yielding
Pinot Noir grapes to produce intense fruit flavours. It’s a lovely bright red
with hints of orange and a fascinating aroma which kept me busy for quite some
time. Your first few sniffs should tell you that you’re in for something
interesting. Initial impressions are of red fruit against a background of dark
evergreen forest. There are rich fruity aromas of cherry and plum and as you
swirl the wine around, other tantalising background aromas start to come
through. You might, if you have a good nose for these things, pick up hints of
tree bark and spice.
The feeling on the palate
is magical; a soft and silky texture, with the fruit forward and well-focused by
the tiniest tang of acidity. The fruit brings the slightest impression of
sweetness though the wine itself is completely dry and there’s also a satisfying
layer of soft tannin which goes through into the long, dry finish. Wine writers
often suggest that Pinot Noir is best paired with pork or lamb, but I am going
to enjoy this on its own if you don’t mind, even though it has 14% alcohol
content which is pretty much at the top of the tree for table wines. In many
ways, it’s a text-book New Zealand Pinot Noir. And do you know? When I put my
ear to the glass and listened carefully, I’d swear that I could hear, far in the
distance, the faint sounds of classical music.