Yealands Estate Gruner Veltliner 2016 (6 x 750mL), Marlborough, NZ

Yealands Estate is based in the Awatere Valley to the south east of Marlborough's Wairau Plains. Their vineyard stretches from the foothills of the Seaward Kaikoura ranges to the bluffs overlooking Cook Strait on the east coast of Marlborough.

Back when Marlborough's wine industry started to gather momentum in the Awatere everyone thought the steep contours of these foothills were too challenging for viticulture. Everyone that is except Peter Yealand. He recognised that with careful development and clever thinking this terroir would produce great wine. In 2002 he began consolidating his vineyards here, extending his existing interests on the Wairau Plains with the development of some 950 hectares of rolling Awatere country which he terraced into vineyard blocks to create New Zealand's single largest privately-owned vineyard.