Biodynamics

In my liking for acid and weird, funky wine, I am sympathetic to the proclamations of the Natural Wine Movement (capitalized) and their sometimes strange wines. I would even grant that biodynamic wines are often interesting to me...and there are quite a few biodynamic wineries who I love. Not sure why I love many (not all, of course. I still remember the rancid peanut butter Gamay from the Loire)

BUT....BUT...BUT....the WOO is strong in this one.

Biodynamics – we applied the Biodynamic preparation 500 and barrel compost in late February. BD 500 is the original soil spray made from fresh biodynamic cow manure stuffed in a cow horn and buried in rich biodynamic topsoil for 4-6 months over the winter. In winter the soil is filled with Sun-life-forces. These forces cause seed germination, root development and growth of the plant as well as humus formation in the soil. These forces described by Steiner as “an immense Ethereal and Astral force” are preserved in the cow manure in the horn and transform it to horn manure. To unlock these preserved forces, the horn manure is placed into a rhythmical Sun movement created in water. We create this rhythmical movement by hand or using a stirring machine or flow forms. The stirring is a spiraling in and out, by creating a vortex in the water first in one direction then in the opposite direction. The water becomes infused with these immense forces after an hour of stirring. We are then able to spray these forces out with the water onto our soil.

Well, Brian....you should make the distinction between wines made from biodynamic-farmed grapes but made
conventionally and those "natural" wines that are sometimes made by biodynamic techniques in the cellar.
There are many in the first category (Qupe Sawyer-LindquistVnyd and Ampelos) that are hardly ones that you'd
lump into the "natural" wines movement. And there are plenty of "natural" (finessing around what that term actually
means) that are made from non-biodynamic grapes.
That's a distinction worth noting.
Tom

[Robin Garr]

Brian, I've always caught a strong sent of WOO in Steiner's theories and hard-core biodynamics.

But I've also found that most biodynamic producers make really good wines. I suspect there's a cause-effect disconnect here, and success stems not from the WOO but from a deep, serious and passionate approach to vine growing and wine making in general that just happens to manifest with a little collateral WOO.

I agree 100% with your summary, Robin. As my introduction hinted at, I like too many "natural" wines and consider the (vague and undefined) concept a starting point or guide. More seriously, most of my favorite importers emphasize these wines.

But still, this email (from a certain Middletown winery with chickens roaming around) made me....chuckle...a bit and I had to share.

I've made a lot of Biodynamic preps from scratch and applied them both here and in Germany. I don't use such metaphysical language to describe the process though. in this case, I've shoveled cow-shit into horns and sealed them with powdered silica and buried them in the ground over winter. The manure turns into the richest looking compost you can imagine and it is mixed in water and sprayed into the vineyard along with all of the beneficial bacteria that is produced as the shit breaks down. If the homeopathic quantity bothers some, let it be known that you can use only 2 liters of round-up to kill the weeds in the under-row strips of a whole hectare of vines. That's 5000-10000 vines depending on density.

Another aspect of BD that people make fun of is relying on the patterns and movement of planets and stars to determine when to prune, harvest, plant etc. This is just an alternative calendar that actually coincides somewhat with our own: When planet X can be seen in a certain place, the risk of frost is over for the year and seeds can be planted or fields can be ploughed with less possibility of damage from the cold.

Personally, I try to take a thoughtful approach and there is actually science involved in the process. You can't strictly abide by all of it, but there is wisdom hidden in the witchcraft. And it's a lot of fun. Happy vigneron, hopefully better wines.

Cheers,
Bill

Thanks, Bill, for your most thoughtful comments. For me, a hard-core scientific type, it's easy to dismiss Steiner's
theology as the blabberings of an idiot. But has I've walked a number of bio-dynamic vnyds...well....the proof
is in the puddin'.
Tom

Bill, I will echo Tom (and Robin) and acknowledge that while the woo may be amusing, the basic prescriptions may indeed be based on careful observation and just plain good "traditional" farming. I will continue to buy "natural" wines because I often like them!

Just like, and you all may laugh at this (and I understand how poorly defined it is) "organic" food often tastes better.

Yes, it seems to me that one of the reasons that BD is so easily dismissed is because some practitioners continue to use 'Steiner-Speak' when trying to relate the processes, even though we now have a much better scientific understanding as to why these processes are useful than Steiner did in his time. And like I said, some processes are useful to the vineyard/farm and some are useful to the Winzer who tends the vines.

Cheers,
Bill