Organically Focused Winemakers: A Recurring Cycle in Man’s History
We’re in the full swing of summer and my thoughts are fully engaged on the outdoors and gardening. This is my favorite time of year, when terms such as farm-to-table and hyperlocal have a special meaning for me. This requires a focused caring for the needs of my crops and plantings, protecting them from insects and disease, nourishing them with plant food.
Some of us will be purchasing chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Others will seek closer ties to nature, purchasing organic fertilizers and employing natural methods of pest and weed control. These same decisions and practices are employed in vineyards around the world. And increasingly, the decision to employ “natural” farming – be it green farming, organic or biodynamic – is influencing the end product.
More and more winemakers believe that living in harmony with nature produces better wines. But what are better wines? Wines that are more representative of the land on which the grapes are grown. Wines that bring out the purest expression of both the land and the grapevines.
Increasingly, organic practices are being employed. But some winemakers are going one step further and are employing another philosophy to farming: biodynamic farming.
What makes biodynamic farming unique? It is an expression of all of the intertwined components that influence the vineyard, resulting in a self-sustaining environment. Whereas organic farming focuses mainly on agriculture, using natural fertilizers and no petrochemical additives to control pests and weeds, biodynamics goes one step further. It’s a farming philosophy, not a farming practice. It incorporates elements of astronomy and benevolent co-existence with pests, all in an effort to be in a symbiotic relationship with Mother Earth.
For example, some practitioners will plant vines and harvest grapes by the phases of the moon in order to be in harmony with the earth’s natural cycles; others will bury a cow’s horn filled with cow manure in the vineyards on the autumnal equinox, believing that this will enrich the soil over the winter in preparation for spring growth. Still others will burn insects and weeds and spread the ashes in the vineyard to ward off other pests.
A short history of vineyard management may help here. In western Europe, grapes have been grown for thousands of years, well before the modern-day influences of the chemical industry. Twentieth century descendants of French families who had toiled in the vineyards for five or more generations noticed a change in the flavors, aromas and the balance of fruit and acid in their wines. It seemed as if the wines were losing their natural characteristics. The winemakers decided this was caused by the chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides applied in the vineyards. Thus, an organic movement reemerged in the late 1970s.
By the mid-1990s, many of these French winemakers decided that organic products still fell short of creating the truest expression of their wines. So they decided to employ the ancient biodynamic philosophy that had served their forefathers so well.
How to test this premise and the results of this philosophy? The proprietors of Domaine Leflaive, a famous French winery in the Burgundy region, held a tasting at their winery. Two of their wines were blind-tasted. Unbeknownst to the tasters, both wines sampled were from the same vineyard and the same vintage, but from different plots in the vineyard; one had been farmed organically and the other biodynamically.
The tasters stated that one wine had much better balance and acidity and lacked the extraneous aromas and flavors of the other wine; it was a purer expression of the fruit. Which wine was the overwhelming favorite? The biodynamically produced wine. Numerous other winemakers have followed Domaine Leflaive’s lead.
I encourage you to seek out these wines and to urge your local wine merchant to stock them. Very few are labeled biodynamic, but a question to your wine merchant or a quick Google search will help you identify them. You can be the first on your block to enjoy the ultimate green product. Spread the word.
Nick Antonaccio is a 40-year Pleasantville resident. For over 20 years he has conducted wine tastings and lectures. Nick is a member of the Wine Media Guild of wine writers. He also offers personalized wine tastings and wine travel services. Nick’s credo: continuous experimenting results in instinctive behavior. You can reach him at nantonaccio@theexaminernews.com or on Twitter @sharingwine.
