Baby Doll Sauvignon Blanc

Having sheep graze in the vineyard cuts down on energy intensive mowing, but has its pitfalls once the vines grow and the grapes emerge.

Yealands Estate, a Marlborough based winery that’s renowned for environmentally sustainable initiatives, has come up with an all-season solution….

Our flock of Babydoll miniature sheep stand barely two feet tall. Too short to reach the fruit, these pint-sized organic weeders provide year round mowing and pest control, plus a handy dose of fertiliser.

Nurtured from the ground up with sustainable practises and produced in a carboNZero certified winery, the pure and intense flavours of Babydoll reflect the winery’s innovative thinking in tune with the environment.

Peter Yealands first introduced Babydoll miniature sheep to his vineyards in 2009. Since then, the flock has grown to over 1500.

Diesel emissions from tractors are the source of some of the largest carbon emissions on a vineyard. The conversion of our tractors to run on bio fuel and building our numbers of Babydoll sheep will markedly reduce carbon emissions from our mowing.

Plans are afoot to cross-breed the Babydoll sheep with Saxon merino and grow the flock to 10,000, plus possibly harvest the wool.

BABYDOLL FACTS:

• Unadulterated genetics for over 400 years
• The original Southdown breed from the U.K
• Small in stature when compared to ‘normal’ sheep standing at 65-75cm, mature
• Babydoll sheep only reach 45-60cm in height
• As “scarce as hens teeth” – there are only a few thousand in the world!