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If you’ve been to Europe recently, say Paris or Berlin, you might have heard a patron in a restaurant ask the sommelier if the wine in his hands was biodynamic. And then, you might also have heard that many domaines such as Leroy have always been, Romanée-Conti has been since 2008 and many others, Pontet-Canet and Yquem for example are converting. Converting to what, exactly…?

Grab a glass (of champagne), take a sip, and try to open your mind.

Father of Biodynamics

The story begins in the Austrian Empire, in the 1880’s, with a young student, freshly arrived in Vienna to study Goethe: Rudolf Steiner. At the end of the century, the Old World was already shaking with ideological waves that would eventually culminate into catastrophic wars. In every European capital, esoteric practices were en vogue, secret societies and neo-spiritualism flourished and disassociated from religious symbolism. Many of them aimed at proving themselves scientifically and almost all of them claimed one thing: power is within each of us.

Rudolf Steiner

Birth of Mystical Viticulture

Steiner, already a prolific writer on a wide range of topic, from health to education and literature, is developing his main theory, anthroposophy, or the “spiritual science” as Steiner defines it “a path of knowledge that aims at leading the spirit living in man towards the spirit that lives in the universe”. Steiner has indeed been partaking in some of the new spiritualism movements, even traveling to Pasadena, California to get the authorization to open a masonic lodge back in Germany. He then joined the theosophical movement founded by Russian adventurer and occultist Helena Blavatsky, and ultimately in 1912 he created the anthroposophic society.

This new movement establishes that modern science and rationality only explain part of the world, and that spirits and supernatural forces, imperceptible to our senses, act in that invisible world and that only through anthroposophy and its spirituality, we can access it.

In Steiner’s writing, he tells us anthroposophy is based on knowledge obtained by “traveling” to the idea world, the imperceptible world. He believes that all children have a natural “inner clairvoyance,” at least until they’re 7, but Steiner had developed methods for maintaining or recovering in; methods based on his trips to the idea world.

Legend has it that Steiner’s intersection with viticulture happened when some Austrian farmers visited him, worried about mechanization and modern science increasingly degrading the quality of their soil. Steiner took to heart their plight and his response came in the form of 8 conferences he gave in Poland during the summer of 1924, shortly before his death. These are known today as the “Lessons to Farmers,” which laid the basis for biodynamic farming.

About the same time, the Anthroposophical Society had members who had been living under Steiner’s recommendations, yet as Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, German agronomy and disciple himself, relates in his biography, he told Steiner that people were not reaching the “idea world” and were starting to question it! Steiner’s response was that the food they were eating does not feed them spiritually. After Steiner’s death 1925, Pfeiffer went on to work on composting and launched biodynamic farming into practice.

Certification

In contemporary times, these principles spawned an international certification called Demeter. There are also local certifications. For example, in France, there is Biodyvin. While most are associated with the anthroposophical society, convictions and practices differ widely within its members and winemakers may explain biodynamic farming differently: “homeopathy for the plants,” “more than organic,” or “a feeling” are just a few.

If you refer to Demeter’s website, “biodynamic farming is a regenerative and holistic approach to agricultural, gardening and food production and processing. It has higher standards than organic agriculture, because it looks at the bigger picture and tries to put back more than it extracts. Setting very high standards for organic farming since 1924. Developing from lectures given by scientist and philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, the pioneers in biodynamic farming have been developing this modern and future-oriented cultivation method ever since.”

An early adopter of biodynamic farming in the United States is virtually in Vins Rare’s backyard. Well, it’s down the hill 20 minutes in Ventura: Apricot Lane Farms. The process they went through to get certified by Demeter is lengthy, expensive and ultimately a farm needs to exhibit all the paramount principles of social and ecological responsibility. The scope is beyond this article, but we will offer a few examples.

Soil quality is arguably the most important principle to Demeter. In contrast to organic farming where avoiding synthetic chemicals is paramount, Demeter’s certification takes it to another level. Composting must be holistic, come from the farm itself and be produced by animals treated in the most ethical and responsible way.

When Apricot Lane Farms encountered a slug problem, ducks were the answer instead of Sluggo, which is allowed on organic crops. Not only did ducks eat the slugs, their poop provided valuable fertilizer, while also providing escargot enriched duck eggs, to boot! Sluggo would have provided 1 of 3 solutions, whereas ducks provided 3 solutions. This is what holistic means in the biodynamic world. A farmer must ask themselves, how can I come up with a solution to this problem naturally within my own farm without importing solutions from the outside. Biodiversity is key to a successful farm, something we could write about in length.

Preparation 500 - Bury the cowhorn

Another rather famous technique is coined “The 500,” because these techniques have been numbered and are now nomenclature within the farming community. With this technique, you take a cow horn, fill it with manure (duck, cow, etc), add some silica or perhaps quartz and then bury it in the soil for 6 months to ferment it. Upon excavating it, then “dynamize” (activate or enliven) this small bit of fermented soil by diluting it in approximately 20 liters of water, then spin it one way, then in the opposite rotation. Finally, spray this solution on your vine or field, using about 200-300 grams per hectare; homeopathic and often criticized doses.

Another colorful character in the landscape of biodynamics is Maria Thun, whose observations created the biodynamic calendar based on lunar rhythms and cosmic influences on plant growth and development. Maria Thun, a devotee of Steiner, noticed in her own garden that some days were more favorable than others in planting different root, leaf, flower and fruit plants. She cross referenced those results with astronomical positions. Ultimately, her teachings emphasized the importance of aligning agricultural activities with the natural rhythms of the cosmos and her calendar is widely used by farmers around the world as a tool to guide their planting and cultivation.

In fact, there are apps you can download to your iPhone which will guide your personal gardening….and even advise when certain wines taste best. Color me skeptical...because my wine always tastes good!

Science

Alas, what does science say, you may finally ask, while pouring yourself another glass of Champagne? To date, all recognized scientific institutions believe there are no differences between biodynamic and organic farms, yet some have observed an increase in microorganisms in the biodynamic fields. One interesting article reviewing all of the published scientific studies makes a point clear; there has been little scientific attention focused on the matter.

Biodynamic farming does bring one answer to an issue winemakers have been thinking about for decades: how do you produce a terroir wine when the soil has been stripped of nutrients and character by years of industrial farming? Biodynamic farming is organic farming plus a philosophy, quirky, yet seductive for producers and consumers who want to reshape the relationship between man and nature.

Look, its certification on the bottle will at least ensure a couple things. First, the grower or winemaker is not a capitalist, not in their winemaking anyway. In aggregate, yields from biodynamic growers are lower. This takes us to our second point that one can be assured that the grower spent a great deal of time making sure the grapes from the yields they do reap are the highest quality, most planet-sustaining representation of the piece of land where they were produced.

Stay tuned for more as well as stories about our individual producers and what truly amounts to trials and tribulations.