Natives from end to end

Strands of natives, olive groves and rolling green space sit harmoniously alongside rows of vines at the Dog Point Vineyard, in Fairhall.

The boutique Marlborough wine company is an entrant in the landscape and habitat enhancement category at the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards.

Founded by Ivan and Margaret Sutherland and James and Wendy Healy in the early 2000s, the company is known for its organic, sustainable approach.

Viticulturist Nigel Sowman says the diverse plantings on the property, bought by Ivan and Margaret in 1990, stem from a restoration project launched in 2004 to improve the habitat around Mill Stream. The small waterway, which runs through the 150-hectare site, was choked with weeds and willow trees. These were taken out and thousands of natives, cabbage trees, totara and flax were planted in their place.

‘‘The goal is to extend our native planting from one side of the property to the other. Over 10 years into the project, we could stop now and call it finished, but Ivan and Margaret won’t do that,’’ Nigel says.

They want to leave it in a better state for the next generation, he says, an environmental ethos that also includes the use of 2500 sheep to graze the vineyard, as well as other non-native plantings.

Nigel says the company makes olive oil from trees on the property, harvests pine nuts from the pines, and it has an organic veg- etable garden onsite.

Two fulltime gardners tend the grounds, and it takes more than a day to mow all the ‘parks and reserves’ - what Nigel calls all the lawns dotted around the property.

‘‘It was a vision over a very long period of time to get it to this point. When ideas pop into Ivan’s head, the staff make them happen,’’ Nigel says.

‘‘It was a vision over a very long period of time.’’

- Oliver Lewis

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Nigel Sowman, viticulturist Dog Point Vineyard viticulturist Nigel Sowman with Anna Dunne, Ivan and Margaret Sutherland’s daughter, in front of some of the native plantings.