Part One: What are the benefits of biodynamics, and why should you care?

Biodynamics (BD) offers a radically different approach and attitude to farming. Where wine is concerned, this of course means viticulture, the farming of grapes. For me, biodynamics offers potentially three advantages:

• Firstly, and for me most importantly, is the ability of BD to make great wine. Many of the world’s best are now made from biodynamically grown grapes. BD is growing rapidly, more and more leading wine makers are adopting it as the route by which they make the best possible quality wine, and one which clearly reflects its origins. Not surprisingly then, some BD wines are expensive. But the good news is that an increasing number of BD wines are sold at everyday prices and can even be found in supermarkets!

• Secondly there is ecology. Vineyards and wineries occupy some of the world’s most beautiful places and it can be hard to imagine them damaging the environment. But many do. BD represents the ultimate form of sustainable agriculture, one that works in harmony with natural ecosystems. As well as preserving life’s diversity and species for future generations, BD can actually revitalise land previously damaged by human actions.

• The third reason is our health. Wine is perceived as healthy and life affirming. It’s great to know that there are many beneficial effects from drinking wine in moderation. Yet many producers use man-made chemical pesticides and fertilisers on a huge and profligate scale. These endanger the user, the environment and the consumer. It has been found that some wines contain over 200 different man-made chemicals and residues. Remember DDT? While it was finally banned 20-30 years ago by many countries it still persists in soils, food chains and in human beings to this day. There are many more insidious modern products in use with just as much potential for harm.

Other forms of agriculture may offer some of these advantages, but in my view only BD has the potential to offer all three consistently. It’s this combination that I find compelling.

Biodynamics means Saving the Planet Never Tasted So Good. ™

But what does BD involve? Before describing BD methods let’s round-up (pardon the pun) some of the other ways that grapes are farmed.

Conventional viticulture. Agrochemicals-to-go

Since the 1950’s, vineyards have employed ever increasing amounts of sophisticated agrochemicals. As with most food production, agribusiness has developed an extensive man-made chemical armoury. This is designed to maximise yields, produce disease-free fruit and minimise the employment of costly labour, all increasing profitability. Sounds appealing? These chemicals are used in two main ways:

• To eradicate pests and diseases. There are systemic fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, soil fumigants, rodenticides and synthetic insect growth regulators. You name it, there’s a potion for it.

• To overcome deficiencies in soil nutrients by adding manufactured fertilisers. Vines tolerate poor soils and are often grown where no other agriculture is feasible, but adding fertiliser inevitably produces bigger crops.

The extravagant and indiscriminate use of these lethal chemicals over the last 50 years on a global scale has produced the following results:

• Degradation and pollution of the vineyard environment, with a vicious circle of ever increasing chemical use, especially where pest species such as weeds and insects have developed resistance.

• Chemical eradication is often “non-specific”, so beneficial species are destroyed along with the pests. This has destroyed diverse ecosystems of flora and fauna and created monocultures. Claude Bourguignon, a French wine analyst, famously said that the soils in many of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or vineyards are more devoid of microbial life than the Sahara desert.

• Then there is water pollution of aquifers and fertiliser run off into rivers. I recall standing in a famous Napa Valley vineyard where all was silent - there was no birdsong. Nada. Soil erosion happens when bare vineyard soils are vulnerable to wind and water erosion.

• Vineyard workers can suffer poisoning when applying these chemicals. Ever seen them dressed up in NBC protective suits? This is wine as warfare.

• Tests show chemical residues can still be present in the final wine. Although legislation may cover maximum “safe” levels how much confidence can you personally take from that? What is “safe” in a world of BSE, Foot-and-mouth, GMO and bird-flu?

• Big yields invariably produce poor quality wines and gluts. There are plenty of examples of both in the global wine economy. Yet over-cropping has been rewarded at the expense of quality. Obtaining these large yields is also dependent upon ever bigger chemical inputs. And so the cycle continues.

These days we’re all familiar with this situation, it is a common theme with our food production. Wine is an industry on a global scale where efficiency and profit reign. There is nothing inherently wrong with large scale, efficiency or profit. But the desire for growth and ever more profit is detrimental to taste and health when wine makes a dubious pact with the chemical giants.

The result on our ecology from over fifty years of this is Koyaanisqatsi, a life out of balance. We think we are above nature, not part of it. We even call this type of agriculture “conventional” because this is how most grapes are now grown.

From a consumer perspective the consequences are many: an increasing number of food phobias, food scares and just poor quality food. Witness the globalisation of junk food. You are what you eat and we don’t know all the possible side-effects. We consume in the knowledge that these practices are unsustainable. Some would still argue there are no viable alternatives.

Thankfully, there are. The first steps away from wine’s reliance on chemicals are the various “sustainable methods” of grape growing.

“Sustainable” viticulture. Chemical-Lite

Sustainable agriculture began in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Now there is a range of better farming responses to vineyard pests, disease, and weed control that uses an environmentally conscious approach. The French call this “la Lutte Raisonée”, or the rational struggle. While specific programmes differ in their detail, crucially they all still allow the use of chemicals, albeit in a more pragmatic and limited way. Here are a few examples:

Instead of eradicating pests, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tries to keep their populations below a harmful level. By monitoring the weather, local ecology and pest-predator life cycles, growers aim for minimal chemical usage.

Integrated Production (IP) is similar and also includes the sowing of cover crops and improving vine management.

In 1999 South Africa introduced the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) scheme.This also incorporates winemaking and the recycling of waste.

New Zealand introduced Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand (SWNZ) in 1997,adding a winery component in 2002. It recognises that a lack of sustainability will eventually damage their image of “the riches of a clean, green land” and become a barrier to vital exports. There is now a national membership of some 400 vineyards.

Sustainable viticulture is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and is to be applauded as adapting to new methods needs new attitudes, time and energy.

But, with apologies to these more enlightened producers, ultimately this is still just Chemical-Lite. You can go further.

Organic viticulture

Organics has grown in popularity since the 1980’s, but still it represents only a minority of producers. Its philosophy regards the vineyard as a complex living ecosystem. Farmers are custodians who must ensure a viable inheritance for future generations. Chemicals are forbidden in order to protect ecology and human health.

In some ways organics can be seen as a return to a time before man-made chemicals were available. But that time was no “golden age” of agriculture and to imagine it existed is a fiction. However organic methods can now be complemented by the very latest vine management techniques and technologies.

Organic viticulture has various confusing and contradictory definitions but in practice organics means:

• A concern for the soil and soil microbial activity. Natural compost and farm manure replace poisonous agrochemicals and concentrated fertiliser.

• Biodiversity. Cover crops provide a natural source of nitrogen fertiliser and may also discourage pests. Beneficial insects are encouraged, including bees as pollinators and lacewing as predators.

• Polyculture. Other crops are grown, such as fruit and olives, or animals raised, which brings more complexity and diversity to the ecology and prevents soil erosion.

• Methods are used to avoid polluting the natural environment with polluted water and other waste products.

A big barrier to the adoption of organic methods is risk. These risks take a number of forms.

In practice, the viability of organic grape growing is greatly helped if there is a warm, dry climate where diseases tend to be less prevalent in the first place. For example, organics are much trickier in cool, wet climates that encourage fungal diseases. Risk can be lessened if the organic grower also practices the latest vine management techniques such as canopy management, which for example can also reduce outbreaks of fungal diseases.

Organics also has its flaws. Poisonous preparations like copper sulphate or “Bordeaux mixture” are still allowed in order to control fungal outbreaks. Even the best vineyard management cannot always prevent a fungal outbreak that can devastate a crop overnight if left unchecked. There is even evidence put forward that organics have encouraged the spread of certain vineyard diseases such as viruses.

Natural methods also mean that the organic vineyard will tend to be more labour intensive and lower yielding. Organic certification also means increased cost, time and bureaucracy. All these factors risk reducing profits. Some producers compensate by asking for higher prices. That is then compounded by retailers also demanding higher margins for organic produce.

When it comes to wine quality, I’m proud to say that there are some great organic wines at prices no higher than those asked for their non-organic counterparts. But I have encountered some overpriced shockers too.

If organically grown wines don’t taste better than their non-organic counterparts, especially when sold at premium prices then consumers will be disappointed and not purchase again. One consumer survey concluded that organic wines were in some way “dirty” and “more expensive”. Saving the planet has to taste good too!

Some organic wine producers won’t say they are organic, for fear it will turn customers off, or won’t go for organic certification because of the increased cost, time and bureaucracy involved. There are even growers that have proclaimed organic credentials but quietly resort to chemicals at the first sign of problems.

Despite these risks organic wines are increasing in availability, improving in quality and frequently no more expensive. There are plenty of great examples.

I believe there is an even better way. Finally then, there is Biodynamics.

Biodynamic (BD) viticulture

BD is nothing if not controversial. It originated from the spiritualist theories of Rudolf Steiner, who wrote extensively on a wide range of topics in the 1920’s. Indeed many of us will have seen Steiner Schools, which are gaining in popularity in the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia.

BD methods were initially developed by other types of farming. In the world of wine BD started in European vineyards in the 1980’s and has become increasingly influential. Adopted by some of the world’s very best producers, it continues to grow rapidly, albeit the total number of producers and vineyard acreage is still relatively small.

Call it extreme-organics, call it super-organics, call it mumbo-jumbo or voodoo, the starting point is that BD builds on organic methods.

Firstly, just like organics, it emphasises the health and balance of the soil and forbids man-made agrochemicals and fertilisers. All biodynamic farms are organic. But then BD goes much, much further. Below is the abridged version which covers the two main components of BD practice. More detail is contained in Part Two.

BD interventions

In Biodynamics there is active intervention in the vineyard using naturally occurring preventative treatments. The idea is to promote the health of the vineyard environment and the plant itself to prevent problems occurring. The preparations are used in highly diluted homeopathic quantities.

There are two main preparations used, one is cow manure and the other is silica. These are collected and buried separately in cow horns in the vineyard, usually over winter. They are then dug up, diluted with fresh water and then “dynamised” (stirred for up to an hour) before being sprayed in the vineyard.

Natural composting is also a vital activity. This is added to the soil to build soil structure and encourage microbial life. The compost can then be augmented by other natural BD preparations, which include yarrow, camomile, nettle, oak, dandelion, and valerian.

It is claimed that healthier plants are produced that are more able to withstand pests and diseases and ultimately produce the best quality grapes.

I have frequently stood in BD vineyards and observed the robust health of the vines and the diversity of plant and animal life. This is particularly apparent when compared to non-BD neighbours. Indeed many winemakers have told me that the grapes produced are so pure that the subsequent winemaking is also made much easier.

As with organics, poisonous copper sulphate or “Bordeaux mixture” is allowed and used. However many BD growers claim that very many fewer applications are needed and in much reduced concentrations because of BD practices. Even then the health of the plants makes them naturally more disease resistant.

BD and the Cosmos

Most controversially, biodynamism claims that the universe contains “life forces” which influence all living things, in different ways. It is said that the four main parts of the vine, (the leaves, roots, flowers and grapes) each have particularly auspicious days in the calendar year when specific treatments are at their most effective. These days are calculated according to the position of the Earth in relation to the Moon, planets and constellations.

Oh dear! It’s astrology. Why not dance naked in the vineyard? Or it’s magic. Or Voodoo. Or anti-rational. Or is it?

Could there be life forces we do not yet understand or cannot yet detect and measure? Our culture is based upon factual “rational” hard science, so this seems an unlikely prospect.

But consider some examples from science. Newton discovered gravity but he could not envisage relativity and quantum physics; it took Einstein to do that. We believe that black holes exist but we have yet to encounter one. And there is no “theory of everything” in physics yet though it has long been sought. There may be many different dimensions in space and even parallel universes. These ideas may be controversial but are not ridiculed. Many believe in a God or a deity, the existence of which is a matter of faith, not empirical proof.

We may not understand fully what is going on. Certainly the Moon influences life on Earth, witness the tides. However, intangible cosmic “life forces” may never submit to rigorous scientific examination and not all biodynamic growers accept or adopt these cosmic aspects, relying instead on the preparations and intervention.

What claims are made for BD?

• BD produces the highest quality grapes that, with skilful winemaking, can make the best wine on the planet. Wine can ultimately only ever be as good as the grapes that are the raw materials.

• BD is the best environmental approach to viticulture. In particular it actively promotes the life in the soil, the health of the vines and species diversity. It can also repair previous damage wrought by chemicals.

• BD can produce a healthier product with a naturally occurring chemical composition that is without risk to producers and consumers.

Does it work?

It might just be that those practising BD are just obsessed with quality. They spend so much time in the vineyard that this attention to detail combined with a total passion and low yields are enough to produce something special. That is a rational argument that does not need to attribute anything to homeopathic sprays and cosmic influences.

There is hard evidence though that BD methods increase soil microbial life enormously and it is highly likely that this can make a great deal of difference to the plant.

Is it special?

For me all the evidence I need is in my wineglass. Time after time BD wines are in the very top-drawer, confirmed by numerous blind tastings. The good news for us all is that as BD is spreading and it is not confined to just expensive icon wines.

That means that not all BD wines are expensive, and they are accessible in the UK. You can even find them in supermarkets and the high street if you know where to look!

Part Two tries to explain BD methods in a little more detail.