Biodynamic and Organic Wine Making

Welcome back to Wine, Travel, and Food(WTF) with Ross

I had a request to write something on biodynamic winemaking. Biodynamics has much in common with other organic approaches – it emphasizes the use of manures and composts and excludes the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include its treatment of animals, crops, and soil as a single system, an emphasis from its beginnings on local production and distribution systems, its use of traditional and development of new local breeds and varieties. Some methods use an astrological sowing and planting calendar. Biodynamic agriculture uses various herbal and mineral additives for compost additives and field sprays; these are prepared using methods that are more akin to sympathetic magic than agronomy, such as burying ground quartz stuffed into the horn of a cow, which are said to harvest "cosmic forces in the soil."Biodynamic was the first modern organic agriculture. Its development began in 1924 with a series of eight lectures on agriculture given by philosopher Rudolf Steiner at Schloss Koberwitz in Silesia, Germany (now Kobierzyce in Poland). These lectures, the first known presentation of organic agriculture, were held in response to a request by farmers who noticed degraded soil conditions and a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers. 

It has always been my understanding that the main underpinning of biodynamic was the minimization of artificial chemicals in the growing of plants. As mentioned the movement started when farmers noted degraded soil conditions. Ever since agriculture was invented even common everyday people understand the need to rotate crops and give some plots a year or two of rest. I visit Georgia farm country to hunt every year and every year the farmers have a different crop planted. Soybeans this year, corn next year. The whole purpose is if you grow large numbers of plants year after year any natural minerals and nutrients in the ground will eventually be depleted so that no more plants can grow there. Just makes sense. One big problem with vineyards is that grape vines cannot be rotated and many vineyards have vines over 50 years old which many consider an asset. When a vineyard is no longer producing as it should most vineyards pull up the old vines and plant new ones. Chemicals were invented to increase crop yields by stimulating crop growth, controlling insects that destroyed crops, and in some cases actually replenish the soil. Fertilizer and manure simply replace nitrogen into the soil which is one of the main nutrients needed to grow stuff. Throw some nitrogen on a yard and see what happens. The problem as I see it over the years those chemicals were no longer pure. When you buy an artificial bag of fertilizer today it probably has over 100 different chemicals in it for preservatives and other reasons some of which can be harmful and some that have been related to cancer development in humans. So you are not putting a pure compound on the ground and to me biodynamic was invented to get away from that. 

In the end, I am a scientist which means to prove something scientific results and facts have to be demonstrated reproducibly by multiple researchers prior to it being fact. The problem is No difference in beneficial outcomes has been scientifically established between certified biodynamic agricultural techniques and similar organic and integrated farming practices. Biodynamic agriculture lacks strong scientific evidence for its efficacy and has been labeled a pseudoscience because of it's over-reliance upon esoteric knowledge and mystical beliefs(translation, snake oil). Research into biodynamic farming has been complicated by the difficulty of isolating the distinctively biodynamic aspects when conducting comparative trials. Consequently, there is no strong body of material that provides evidence of any specific effect. Since biodynamic farming is a form of organic farming, it can be generally assumed to share its characteristics, including "less stressed soils and thus diverse and highly interrelated soil communities".  A 2009/2011 review found that biodynamically cultivated fields had lower absolute yields than conventional farms, but achieved better efficiency of production relative to the amount of energy used and had greater earthworm populations and biomass than conventional farms. But both factors were similar to the result in organically cultivated fields. 

I understand that nature has its own biorhythms that you cannot ignore. As a hunter I have known for years you don't hunt deer after a full moon. It's not science but it's common sense the deer ate at night because they could see so they are not hungry the next day and are taking a nap and not moving around and you should take a nap as opposed to sitting in a tree stand all day looking at the grass. But to say you are going to make better wine and a 100 point wine because you planted or harvested based on some astrological calendar as an example is baloney to me. I am convinced that the number one factor that determines the greatness of wine is basically one-word "drainage". The worlds greatest vineyards sit on a moderate slope halfway up a hill. That way when it rains just the right amount of water gets to the roots. If the incline is too steep the water runs off. If there is no slope the water pools and the roots are saturated diluting the wine. The roots need to struggle a little. When they struggle they concentrate the flavors in the wine. You want to see vines struggle go to the Rhone. You have to see it to believe it but the Rhone vineyards have NO soil. The vines grow out of ROCK pebbles. The soil is 15 feet deep and the roots go down 15 feet. 

With organic and biodynamic farming GMO seeds and chemicals are not supposed to be used. Organic is supposedly better because it is more "natural" hence good for you. But consider this. Many medicines we use today are just carefully formulated and "pure" forms of herbs and spices that were used by Shaman's and Witch Doctors eons ago and man has just refined them. Nightshade contains digoxin which is used to treat heart disease. The difference between Nightshade and Digoxin is when you take a Digoxin pill you are getting an exact dose that has been determined to be therapeutic and safe. When you chew on a bunch of Nightshade who knows what dose you get. Let's face it science help improve nature. I agree one problem is chemical makers add a bunch of additives for long term preservation but do we really need all of those additives in our chemicals and drugs and fertilizers? 

Winemakers like all farmers have used fertilizers and chemicals since the beginning of time for one purpose, increased yield and production to make more money. In farming, we have increased the yields where famine, at least in industrialized countries, is nonexistent. Winemakers need increased production to offset lower yield years so they can stay in business. So using science helps winemaking and going back to using less science to me may not be in the best interests in the wine world. And the main problem with Biodynamic is that it depends too much on those esoteric ideas like astrology to be a determining factor in wine production. I accept there are biorhythms of the earth that we should be sensitive to, but when it comes to wine as far as I am concerned wines struggling mid-slope with an ideal amount of water and good weather to enhance the best maturation are what is important and biodynamic is just another word for witchcraft and snake oil.