After decades of organic wine production, some have become really popular these days. The one which is fast rising the popularity charts is biodynamic wine, which is organically grown. For proper growth and vinification, the positions of the sun, the moon, the starts and other natural events must be taken into account.
The principles of biodynamic agriculture are important for the production of biodynamic wines, especially ones made from biodynamic grapes. Biodynamic wines are better known as BD wines these days.
From Wikipedia:
“Biodynamic agriculture is a method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing system. This belief is different from what is usually meant by a closed system, since a farm will produce and export food, which results in a constant loss of matter and nutrients from the system.
Regarded by some as the first modern ecological farming system, biodynamic farming has much in common with other organic approaches, such as emphasizing the use of manures and composts and excluding of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar.”
The employment and adoption of biodynamics in viticulture is becoming a common and popular trend these days, especially in countries like France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. The number of high-profile commercial growers investing in biodynamic practices and production is increasing steadily. Currently there are about 450 biodynamic wine producers all over the world. As an article in Fortune suggests, “Domaine Leroy in Burgundy, Chateau de la Roche-aux-Moines in the Loire, Maison Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley, and Domaine Zind Humbrecht in Alsace,” and several other top estates in France follow biodynamic viticulture.
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) can be hailed as the father of biodynamic viticulture as well as biodynamic agriculture in general. He revolutionized the organic movement by virtue of his seminal work called Agriculture Course in 1924. The spiritual/practical philosophy formulated by him, which is known as anthroposophy, stresses upon proper understanding of the ecological, spiritual and energetic forces in nature. All this has benefited and influenced biodynamic agriculture to a great extent.
Biodynamics is one of the most practical methods of farming which has taken up ever-increasing ecological self-sufficiency as its motto, besides its ethical and spiritual considerations, which is exactly the same stance adopted by modern agro-ecology.
Grape growers on a large scale have accepted the fact that the adoption of biodynamic methods has boosted the general condition of their vineyards to a great extent, specifically in relation to biodiversity, fertility of the soil, pest, weed and disease management, and proper nutrition of the crops. We can take the example of Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive estate in Burgundy, whose badly diseased vineyard has not only been saved by the incorporation of biodynamic methods into her agricultural scheme, but has now started producing some of her most precious wines. However, there are varied opinions regarding biodynamic agriculture, as an experiment carried out in different vineyard blocks at a commercial vineyard in California, showed that there is hardly any difference when it comes to biodynamic methods and general organic methods of farming, in respect of soil quality, yield per vine, clusters per vine and cluster and berry weight.
Keeping aside all the contradictory opinions, biodynamic winemakers claim that biodynamic wine not only lasts longer, but is possessed with a stronger, clearer and smoother taste. According to Spanish biodynamic vintner Perez Palacios, biodynamic wines are more “floral” in nature. Biodynamic producers are also of the opinion that biodynamic agriculture has an edge as it influences better growth balance, and also sugar production and physiological ripeness. The wine thus produced becomes one with an amazing balance of flavor and alcohol content, irrespective of how the climate changes.
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