Reply To Blog

Tell A Friend

Grant Dodd, Jan 6 2009

Share It »

As a wine producercommitted to making wines of the highest quality, the idea of low-to-non interventionist farming really appeals. Taking chemicals and un-natural inputs out of the wine making equation makes perfect sense, especially if you are keen for your wines to express their 'sense of place'.

One of the big trends in the modern wine industry at the micro-end is towards the cult of biodynamics. Biodynamics, for want of a better description, is like organics with the volume turned up. It is a method of farming fashioned by the Austrian Rudolph Steiner in the early part of the 20th century which has at its core some rather unusual foundation principles.

We've been quite interested in learning more about the system, and by chance came upon an excellent article by Joe Eskenazi in the San Francisco Chronicle that discusses the spread of the biodynamic movement in the wine industry.

It is a comprehensive and, to my mind, objective look at the rationale behind biodynamics, and one that details the superstitious principles behind Steiner's controversial approach to farming. Of note in this respect are the burying of cows heads filled with oak bark in the vineyard, and of working the vineyard by the cycles of the moon, amongst other even more esoteric belief's.

Eskenazi's article is worth a read. Of course, if you are a believer, then he will just be another doubting Thomas looking to explain the unexplainable. But an examination of the principles behind the concept is a good place to start for those rushing headlong into the latest money making adornment in the world of wine. When looked at under a naked light, the skeleton of biodynamics starts to look a little bony.