Monty Waldins Best Biodynamic Wines

Monty Waldin On Biodynamic Wines

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Wine for me is food. I drink wine every day. Wine is part of my diet. So for me it makes sense that wine is made — by that I mean the grapes are grown, fermented into wine and the wine bottled - in as natural a way as possible. When food is broken down in our bodies part of what we digest — starch, protein, vitamins, even alcohol - is used to build our bodies on a substantive level ie bigger bones. These forces nourish the spirit — our minds, our will. The idea was that bad farming had produced bad food, and the bad food had produced bad farmers.

Unfortunately, economic and geo-political instability the Depression, Second World War would hold back the emerging biodynamic and organic agriculture movements, firstly because post agriculture was geared to maximum production to cope with austerity; and bomb-making technology developed during the war threw up some useful sidelines in chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and weedkillers. It might be too simplisitc to say bad farming won the day — but it did.

By the mids only a few hundred of France vineyards were organic, and only a handful were biodynamic.

However in such an alien and cramped environment the cows got grumpy and in their frustration would bash into each other with their horns. So the farmers removed their horns. The cows then got weak, farmers not understanding how important an organ like horns are to a cow. So it was decided to feed cows who are naturally herbivores their own meat as protein booster. No certified biodynamic cow has ever suffered from mad cow disease or has had her horns removed or has been force fed her own meat.

Rudolf Steiner d who came up with the ideas behind biodynamics in even predicted that if cows were fed their own meat they would go mad. Does the BD approach follow through from the vineyard to impact what goes on in the cellar? Six of these go in the compost and thus ultimately out onto the soil, and the remaining three are sprayed directly on the vines or vineyard. None are intended for direct use in the winery or to be added to the wine. However, because biodynamic growers recognise that forces as well as substances are important they try to take account of the position of the sun, moon, planets and stars when performing key vineyard tasks such as winter pruning or even the date for picking the grapes.

In the winery key tasks — such as racking the wine off its sediment and bottling - can also be timed according to lunar and other celestial cycles, so yes, there can be a carry through in biodynamic practice from the vineyard to the winery. Is there a benefit to BD over what can be achieved by organics plus composting?

A good organic wine grower may well have better grapes come harvest than a bad biodynamic one. A good conventional grower may have better grapes than a bad organic grower. But a good biodynamic grower has, I think, the match-winning approach for every situation. I always say organic growers take care of what is beneath their feet ie the soil, but biodynamic growers also take care and account of what is going on above their heads by trying to work with celestial cycles.

In terms of science, the six biodynamic preparations which are made from yarrow, chamomile, dandelion and valerian flowers, oak bark and stinging nettle and which are added to compost piles do seem to affect the compost and the composting process. Biodynamically treated composts had higher temperatures, matured faster, and had higher nitrates than control compost piles inoculated with field soil instead of the preparations according to research at Washington State University by Dr. John Reganold and Ann C Kennedy. Are there elements of BD that people can adopt and see benefit from without taking on board the whole package of treatments and timings?

I think the most easily achieved and easily understood biodynamic goal is self-sufficiency. Ideally a biodynamic wine grower will find space on the vineyard for some farm animals, with cows preferred. The reason is that while a cow needs a couple of acres one hectare to live off her manure can, once composted hopefully with the six biodynamic compost preparations fertilize around double that.

Exploring Biodynamic Wine – ‘Monty Waldin’s Best Biodynamic Wines’ Book

How did you first get into BD? I used to make compost as a kid with my dad for our vegetable garden so I was always into the idea that the best veggies come come worm-rich soils and compost is the best tool to encourage worms. When I got into wine as a teenager I had a big nose and was quite good at wine tasting… I was always predisposed to organic wines.

He took me to the vineyards and asked me what I saw. I replied that I could see vines whose leaves had a very natural colour and sheen and soils which were friable and smelt of the earth. I could dig my hands in. Most of the Bordeaux vineyards I had visited up to that point had soils which resembled cement, due mainly to heavy use of weedkillers and chemical fertilizer pellets and produced wines which needed a lot of winemaking yeast, enzymes, exaggeratedly hot macerations. Why was it other Bordeaux estates with much better vineyard sites than Barre were producing banal wines that all seemed to taste as if made to a template?

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How much efficacy can people achieve with just the treatments and not the timings? The preparations rather than the moon are the key to successful biodynamic farming. I believe, get better results in your home garden simply by not ignoring completely what the moon is up to. Full moon is seen as a time of fertility — more babies statistically are born around full moon — so many old-time gardeners like to sow seeds around full moon. The lunar cycles I work to, in this order and for wine are: What do you think about Nicolas Joly's views on the effects of electrical currents on wines?

It was a vicious circle that made no sense. They were the first real Bordeaux reds I had ever tasted. So I asked Barre how his vines, which had only moderately interesting soils, made such diverting wine? He was reticent at first, shrugging his shoulders he was French But I trusted my nose and my nose said his wine smelt different. The biodynamic Littorai vineyard in Sonoma; Waldin pours one of his biodynamic wines.

His vines visibly radiated health, and the vineyard soil smelt as earthy as a forest floor.

When I asked him what this meant he said biodynamics was a bit like organics but with some vital differences. First, biodynamic vineyards try to be as self-sufficient and biodiverse as possible. Second, vineyards become biodynamic only if regularly treated with specially prepared sprays and composts using cow manure, quartz an abundant, sand-like mineral and seven medicinal plants including chamomile, stinging nettle, dandelion and oak bark.

Biodynamic wine

Third, biodynamics makes both the vineyard and the wine-growers more aware of and sensitive to lunar and other celestial rhythms. Over the next few weeks I visited every biodynamic wine-grower in Bordeaux. Bordeaux had 10, wine-growers, but only half a dozen were biodynamic. I started tracking down biodynamic wineries in other parts of France, finding small but growing clusters in Alsace, the Loire and Burgundy.

I went to work in an organic German vineyard, then in a biodynamic Californian vineyard. I knew I learnt things best when doing them first-hand. When I began writing about wine, I specialised in biodynamics. I knew many established wine critics would find this odd, but also that if my tastebuds were correct in telling me biodynamic wines actually tasted rather good and were really individual, then this movement had a chance of catching on.

Waldin's book includes recommendations for biodynamic wines from around the globe. Here are his top picks for the United States: An e-book is also available. Monty Waldin On Biodynamic Wines. In this extract from his new book, "Monty Waldin's Best Biodynamic Wines," the British writer and winemaker explains why biodynamic farming produces vines that "radiate health. To join the conversation, comment on our social media channels.

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