Biodynamics - Earth (and Sky) Calling
Biodynamics goes a step further than organic farming although it shares many of the practical approaches. It assumes philosophical holism, articulating almost animistic and Gaian values and allies to it its own scientific analysis and observation. I think science is too often confused with technology: its applications might be represented in the metaphor of a pill. What the pill contains is a chemical solution to a problem that tends, by definition, to be a short term one. There may be alternative therapies such as acupuncture or homeopathic remedies which may achieve the same effect as the pill. Faith-healing and hypnosis can alleviate certain illnesses because they can stimulate the brain to send out signals to create antibodies. Biodynamics starts from a different perspective and posits a unified methodology insofar as it is not treating the vine as a patient but creating a healthy environment for the vine to exist in. Rather than being a reactive form of farming, it is prescient, intuitive and intelligent.
Incorporated within this philosophy are such diverse matters as the importance of a planting calendar, seasonal tasks, epedaphic conditions, the waxing of the moon (and how it corresponds to high pressure) and the role of wild yeasts. The dynamic of the vineyard mirrors all the cycles. The seasons are a necessary part of the great natural balance, the constant process of decomposition, dormancy and recomposition. Nature is about a series of transformations, and biodynamics analyses the different states and exchanges of matter and energy that operate in the growth of the vine: between the mineral and the roots; the water and the leaf; light and the flower; heat and the fruit, a series of metamorphoses which can be seen not as different states, but ascendant and descendant ones. This is a radical way of looking at plants (although it was proposed by Goethe as early as the 1800s before being elaborated by Rudolph Steiner and Maria Thun.)
The vineyard then is worked through the cycles of natural peaks and troughs. Autumn, the time of decomposition, the sun in its descendant phase, is marked by the use of compost and diverse animal and vegetable preparations to nourish the soil. Spring witnesses the time of regeneration, photosynthesis, the ascendant sun, and crystalline formation. All activities in the vineyard will mirror these rhythms. The lunar calendar meanwhile is used as a timetable indicating when is the best time to prune vines or to rack the wine from barrel to barrel.
Is biodynamic wine better? Perhaps this is not the question we should be asking. Andrew Jefford quotes Nicolas Joly’s credo: “Avant d’etre bon, un vin doit etre vrai”; in other words a wine should ultimately be true to itself - this is the “morality of terroir.” Biodynamic viticulture is the ultimate endeavour to realise terroir.
For an in-depth analysis of the philosophy and methodology of biodynamics Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic Wines published by Mitchell Beazley is an invaluable guide.
As a postscript to this recently there was a veritable ding-dong argument between various protagonists on the World of Fine Wine Website with some professional scoffers seeking to disprove biodynamics as valid scientific philosophy.
I thought most of the contributions lacked intellectual rigour albeit they were couched in the contrarian language of pseudo-academia. There was an extraordinary amount of hobbyhorse-riding, quoting out of context and second guessing. And some snide comments to boot. It reminded me of those conferences where carefully researched papers are given, opinions are ventilated and no-one is any the wiser. Rudolf Steiner was set up as some kind of straw man; the fact that he had some way-out views has little to do with modern biodynamic viticulture which is not some quasi-religious cult (but nor do its proponents claim that it is an exact science). It made me wonder whether any of these opinionated people had actually worked in a vineyard or whether perhaps they gleaned all their information from reading scientific journals. Truly the life of the Petri dish is an admirable substitute for the natural world.
Of course, no-one actually defined their terms. This reminded me of Rabelais’ phrase about a chimera bombinating in a vacuum. Ask most growers and they will say that biodynamics is simply about enabling the vines to be healthy and to do that you need to understand the natural relationship between every active element in the vineyard. A healthy vine is one in balance with its environment. The fringe stuff about cow horns and crystals is evidently what exercises the scientists (why?); the reality is wholesome common sense. Rather than subjecting vines to the chemical will of man, rather than destroying the biodiversity of a region, biodynamics posits an integrated view of viticulture and the planet. It is no coincidence that so many leading growers are now working sustainably and exploring further how biodynamics can assist the process of making wines of typicity. Ultimately, you can look at every single treatment in the vineyard and ask if it is effective, and if so, why. You can examine a holistic philosophy and question whether it is based on absolute logic. But then what sort of logic are we talking about? The logic of the chemical laboratory or the “natural logic” of the vineyard?