Biodynamic Wines: California and Beyond

Biodynamics: Hyper Organic?
Pam Strayer
For Fundamentals of Wine Studies I: Wines of California and Europe class
U.C. Berkeley Extension

Organically vs. Biodynamically Grown
Prohibits: synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers
Often use cover crops
May be irrigated or dry farmed
Vines last 200-300% longer than “conventional”
Growers say grapes have more flavor
Note: All forms (org, biodynamic, and conventional) permit use of copper and/or sulphur
Prohibits: synthetic fertilizers
Promotes: system approach to farm
Cover cropping
80-100 year vine lifecycle
Animals living on the land (to eat cover crops and control pests, fertilize soil)
Application of Compost Teas
Timing of farming events to astronomical calendar
Dry farmed or deeper rooted - Plants able to withstand drought, heat spikes better
Growers say grapes have more flavor

Definition (from Demeter)
Self-contained, self- sustaining ecosystem
Responsible for creating and maintaining its individual health and vitality without any external or unnatural additions
An integrated farming system that addresses the health of the entire property and maximizes the unique characteristics of each farm

Sheep at Joseph Phelps

Demeter History
1924 – Rudolf Steiner
“farm as organism” or system
students named it biodynamic
1940s – Lord Northbourne coins term “organic farming” inspired by Steiner’s writings
45 countries worldwide have biodynamic certifications

Organically vs. Biodynamically Grown

Steiner
Wasn’t a farmer
Gave the Agriculture lecture by request
Was a mystic
Grew up among peasant farming practices
Codified those practices in the lecture series

Australian Winery
‘We reckon once we’re on top of it, even though it’s labour intensive, it’s going to cost us less than working along the chemical path.’
David Paxton, a large-scale McLaren Vale grower and winemaker who has converted all his vineyards to BD

Demeter Certified Worldwide
360 certified vineyards and/or wineries
20,000 certified vineyard acres
Top countries
France
138 certified operations
United States
70 certified operations
Increased from 5 to 60 (from 2005 and 2009)
2010: approximately 20 new growers/wineries added

Biodynamics’ Burgundy Hotbed
“Oddly enough, Burgundy, one of France's most tradition-bound regions, is the hotbed of the movement.”
“That may be because several decades ago--after centuries of intensive farming followed by years of heavy pesticide and herbicide use --the soil in Burgundy vineyards had become exhausted.”
Wineries began looking around for solutions. Two of the top estates, Domaine Leroy and DomaineLeflaive--whose wines sell for as much as $1,000 per bottle--took up biodynamic methods, and others followed.

529+ Practicing Wineries Worldwide

France – Not Pesticide Free
More than a quarter of the roughly 220,000 tons of pesticide used in Europe per year is sprayed on to French soil
15,000 tons
20% of all fertilizer in France used on 5% of crop acreage (wine grapes)

France – Infamous Case
YannickChenet - first farmer in France whose death was officially linked to pesticides sprayed on to his crops

Famous French Winemakers

Jancis Robinson
“Seem wilder and more intense”
Burgundy
LalouBize-Leroy most famously in her great vineyard holdings that make up the Domaine Leroy
Jean-Louis Trapet of Gevrey-Chambertin
Anne-Claude Leflaive of DomaineLeflaive in Puligny-Montrachet
Dominique Lafon of DomaineComtesLafon of Meursault
Alsace
Olivier Humbrecht of Zind-Humbrecht
Faller of DomaineWeinbach,
Kreydenweiss
Josmeyer
Champagne
Jacques Selosse of Champagne
Rhone
Chapoutier
Vourvray
Gaston Huet
Loire
Nicolas Joly of Savennières

Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator
The key to biodynamic winegrowing or some similar devotion to intensely self-sustaining agriculture and naturalistic winemaking is that its practitioners give us wines that are somehow luminous in their flavors and purity.
They allow us, in a technological era of reverse osmosis, spinning cones and vacuum concentrators, to know what is, in the immortal words of Smokey Robinson, "really, really real."

A Guru of Biodynamics: Nicolas Joly

Nicolas Joly Books

Best book

U.S. - A Growing Movement
Until six years ago, just a few wineries
Now close to 70 certified and in-transition vineyards and wineries
Two major consultants locally in Sonoma

Alan York’s Most Famous Clients

Alan York
Clients (+ many more)
Benziger
Montemaggiore
Sister Moon

PhillippeArmenier
Former Chateauneuf de Pape producer
Domaine de Marcoux
Went biodynamic in 1980s
100 points from Parker
30+ Clients:
Ambyth
Archery Summit
Beaux Frere
Beckman
Cayuse
Demetria Estate
Grace Family
GrgichHills
Opus One
Peter Michael
Randall Grahm/Bonny Doon
Sullivan Vineyards
Winderlea

California Pioneers
Benziger (certified 2000)
45 acres
Grgich Hills (formerly organic; biodynamically certified 2006)
Following replanting of 1959 vines
366 acres
“Biodynamics could be considered homeopathic agriculture. It has the ability to rebuild the land. We put more in than we take out. Conventional agriculture is the opposite. To say it is a Ponzi scheme is not too much of an exaggeration. Biodynamics individualizes a piece of property, the terroir. It’s living technology versus power technology. We use life to create more life. We use manure vs. fertilizer.”
Mike Benziger

Often the French areinvolved
Napa Examples
Araujo – Francoise Peschon of Bordeaux

Napa Examples
Ehlers Estate (owned by a French Foundation)

Napa Examples
Joseph Phelps
French vineyard director Philip Pessereau convinced Phelps to try biodynamic

Napa Examples: The Crystal Cellar Party
Raymond (French owner – John-Charles Boisset)

Boisset-Owned Raymond and DeLoach

And there may be more French involvement
Boisset and Gina Gallo married (2009)
Each is an owner in a family wine dynasty

Napa
Super Premium
Araujo
Joseph Phelps
Premium
Ehlers Estate
Grgich Hills
Quintessa
Robert Sinskey
Raymond (conversion)

Robert Sinskey

Sonoma/Dry Creek
Premium
Benziger
Coturri
DeLoach (converting)
Montemaggiore
Porter Bass
Porter Creek
Quivira
Radio-Coteau
Truett Hurst (converting)

Lake County/North Coast
Super Premium
Hawk and Horse
Premium
Ceago (Fetzer clan)
Dark Horse
Golden Vineyards
Paul Dolan (former Fetzer)
Other
Frey Vineyards
Patianna (Fetzer clan)

Central Coast
Ambyth
Bonny Doon
Chequera Vineyards
Qupe
Rhys

Oregon
Oregon
339 acres
Premium
Bergstrom (& de Lancelotti)
Brick House
Cooper Mountain
Cowhorn
Domaine Danielle Laurent/Solena
Domino IV
Maysara
Montinore

Forthcoming Book

Jancis Robinson
“It sounds better in French - tisanes et purins – but the principle is the same: administering homeopathic doses of natural products according to the phases of the moon and sun and working the soil by old-fashioned methods such as ploughing and tilling to restore health, life and natural rhythms to the soil and what is grown in it after decades of using agrochemicals and heavy tractors that compact the soil.”

Bergstrom – Clover Cover Cropping

measuring compost tempBrick House in Oregon

List of Compost Teas

Cowhorn – Silica Tea Component

Dynamization

Calendar

More to come: Rutherford Grange Event
Dec. 2010 educational event in Napa Valley
190 people attended
More info at www.demeter-usa.org

Biodynamic Wines: California and Beyond

by Strayer & Co., Inc. (Consulting and Speaking), U.C. Berkeley Extension, More

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