Simplified Biodynamics: Full Circle Winegrowing
“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” - Thomas Jefferson
As you may know, Thomas Jefferson was not only an early advocate of sustainability. He was also a devoted enthusiast and collector of fine wine, saying “In nothing have the habits of the palate more decisive influence than in our relish of wines."
Biodynamic Pinot Noir Vineyard at Burn Cottage, Central Otago, New Zealand
Without technology to help analyze the importance of biodiversity, forward-thinking people like Jefferson embraced the inherent connection between humans and Mother Earth.
We have explored the overarching umbrella encompassing sustainability in wine and unpacked the details of organics. Now, we dive into the highest level of full-circle viticulture and winemaking, Biodynamics.
The practice is based on a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1924. Steiner was an Austrian scientist, philosopher, occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant.
Well before his time he shared his beliefs that if the Western world continued to turn a blind eye to the clear relationships he recognized between mankind and nature it would surely lead to the destruction of the world as we know it.
A spiritual man, Steiner offered the world the notion of anthroposophy, or “wisdom of the human being.” The belief is based on the idea that an individual grows spiritually by “applying uniquely human abilities to develop clear thinking and a truthful perception of the world.”
While the concept applied largely to agriculture, which by the early 1900s had become highly mechanized during the Industrial Revolution. Beyond honoring the land, Steiner’s approach influenced changes in many fields including education, banking, medicine, psychology, and the arts.
Rudolf Steiner in 1905, Wikipedia
Along with new machinery, the Industrial Revolution brought forth a massive wave of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and farmers relished the resulting bounty of their land. The excitement didn’t last long as farmers soon began to notice the negative effects these new inputs were having. They saw the health of their crops, although higher yielding, was declining. They noticed less fertility in their soil and warning signs in their livestock.
Concerned farmers who had heard of Steiner’s wisdom reached out to him for help and in 1924, just one year before his death, he held an agricultural “course” consisting of eight lectures and five discussions. The course material created the basis of Steiner’s book, Agriculture, and made it possible for his insights to be more widely spread around the world.
In the book and through his course, Steiner shared the view of a farm as a single, potentially self-sustaining organism. He explained that through the use of companion crops and livestock, it is possible to create a full-circle, closed-loop ecosystem that has no need for external amendments.
Nearly one hundred years after Steiner’s death in 1924, farmers and winemakers have embraced the concepts of biodynamic farming, which were adapted for viticulture by Maria Thun. Born in 1922 in Germany, Thun spent her early years assisting her family on their farm. Growing up, Maria’s father was known to turn his eyes to the heavens, assessing the position of the sun, moon, and planets before determining the correct time to sowing.
In her twenties, Thun’s interest in agriculture only grew and she sought formal education on the practices and philosophy behind biodynamic farming. Inspired by her father’s innate ability to take guidance from the moon, stars, and planets she experimented with planting radishes on different days and cataloged the different results she observed depending on the constellation they were sown under.
Her experiments continued into the 1950s and eventually, she divided the transitions of the moon through the zodiac into four categories: root days, leaf days, fruit days, and flower days.
Bring biodynamics into your daily life
Today, modernized versions of the biodynamic calendar can be found online. If you have a home garden, it can be a great tool to assist you in planning. Check out the one I use here!
In addition to tracking the best days for each stage of plant development, the biodynamic calendar also tracks the most optimal days for tasting wine! You can download the When Wine Tastes Best app here!
Biodynamic Farming Practices
As you now know, biodynamic farming and winemaking track the cycles of the moon and planets to help determine when planting, harvesting, winemaking, and even tasting should occur. Viticulture, however, is just one piece of the biodynamic puzzle.
The practice uses a series of ‘preparations’ applied to soil and plants in homeopathic doses and utilizes estate farm-generated outputs like composted manure.
The concepts developed by Steiner and Thun, "root, shoot, flower, and fruit" are linked to the elements earth, water, air, and fire. So, treatments that affect various parts of the plants are performed in conjunction with zodiac signs as they relate to each element.
On the farm, elemental sulfur and Bordeaux mixture are permissible, while agrochemicals and fertilizers are not, just as in organic farming.
So does it work?
There is objective proof of increased microbial life in farms that adhere to biodynamic standards! Thicker, longer, stronger roots and higher organic matter in soils are apparent. Higher microbial biomass and earthworm populations and other key indicators tell us that farms treated this way truly thrive.
Biodynamic Pyramid — this visual provides an overview of the philosophy of biodynamics and how it applies in practice to farming and the connection between humans and Mother Earth.
Biodynamic Certification
Biodynamic wines are certified by an organization called Demeter which allows a maximum of 100 parts per million sulfites for dry wines and 150 parts per million for sweet wines.
Biodyvin is a well-known organization of European Biodynamic producers.
Certified wines meet the organic standards (prohibition of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides) but take the commitment even further. A farm is viewed as a holistic system and living organism that can be self-sustained.
An entire farm must be certified, not just a segment of the land or vineyard, and 10% of the total farm acreage must be set aside as a biodiversity preserve.
Wines can be fully certified biodynamic or made with biodynamic grapes if the wines are not made in a Demeter-certified winery.
Farms are inspected annually to make sure they adhere to the stringent standards of certification.
Farms transitioning from certified organic to biodynamic must practice one year of biodynamic cultivation before biodynamic certification can be considered.
Want to learn more about Biodynamic Gardening? Check out this book from Amazon!
The Wine Ship Podcast
Join Montana for an intro to the world of sustainable, organic, and biodynamic wine production! In this episode, she covers the big picture and need-to-know info on these categories.
Explore outstanding biodynamic wines
Becker Family Pinot Gris is a wine that changes minds and perceptions about everything from Germany to Pinot Gris to orange wine to rosé. It’s wonderfully fresh and easy to drink at just 12.9% alcohol. In addition to its gorgeous hue, the time spent with the skins also imparts a subtle but marvelous tannin structure to the wine reminiscent of freshly brewed sun tea. Organically and biodynamically farmed.