These days in wine, the bees have the buzzword. The word is “organic,” the buzz being “let the bees be.”
Organic farming eschews the use of synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that kill weeds, insects or fungi. People advocate for organic grape farming primarily because it leaves little or no chemical residue in the soil, atmosphere or groundwater — or in the resulting wine itself.
Organic farmers aim to achieve balance in the vineyard: Leave the bees alone, and they’ll pollinate the flowers of weeds that attract ladybugs that eat the larvae of pests such as red spiders. Farming organically keeps favorable cycles alive — all in service of nature and our wine.
In truth, wines made from organically farmed grapes have been around for a long time. In areas of the world where pests or weeds aren’t an issue — most of southern France, say, or central Spain, because both regions are so dry — grapes grow well without need of pesticides or herbicides. In short, they’re farmed organically. Always have been.
Elsewhere in the wine world, however, the marquee “made with organic grapes” is relatively novel. Note that a wine made from organic grapes is not consequentially an “organic wine.”
That latter is a wine made of organic grapes, of course, but also one to which the winemaker has added nothing ancillary to winemaking (such as sulfur dioxide, an antioxidant and anti-microbial agent).
Also note that many wine drinkers falsely assume that an “organic wine” contains no sulfites. While it’s true that organic wines suffer no added sulfur, sulfites themselves are a natural, albeit minor, byproduct of fermentation.
Thus, all winemaking produces them, in anywhere from trace amounts to 100 parts per million. No completely “sulfite-free” wine exists, organic or otherwise.
But the buzziest of all wine words is “biodynamics.”
Rooted in a 1924 set of lectures on gardening by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, biodynamic theory views the farm in its entirety as a living, self-enclosed, self-sustaining ecosystem and, further, as ensouled by both lunar and cosmic rhythms.
It’s a mistake to think of biodynamic farming as merely supercharged organics. To a biodynamic farmer, organic farming takes baby steps.
To proponents of biodynamics, the soil is not just a medium in which living things grow; the soil is itself a living organism. So, instead of trucking in (even) organic fertilizers, biodynamic farmers mix their own fertilizers, preparations and concoctions with which, at particular times, they treat the soil and the plants living with it.
Biodynamic growers also attend to the influence of the moon on the vineyard. For example, according to biodynamic principles, a rising moon heightens vitality; a lowering moon helps push the plant’s sap back toward the ground as it descends.
Certain vineyard practices follow. For instance, growers will prune during the moon’s lowering, or apply compost only in the afternoon, as the sun descends and the globe’s gravitational force pulls the vine’s roots downward, deeper into the soil where they better can reach nutrients.
Many consider biodynamics outright hocus-pocus. To put the practice into perspective, I find it helpful to see how it resembles something for which we already have grudging respect: the medicine of China and other Asian cultures. In Chinese medicine, isolating and treating a sick organ isn’t enough. Rather, doctors see all the organs as parts of a whole, and treat them as such.
Likewise with biodynamics, as it views all living organisms in and around a vineyard as but parts of a totality. And that includes those who work the vines, harvest its grapes and drink of its wine.
Recommended
I find that wines made from organic grapes or from vines that benefit from biodynamics achieve a certain purity or focus of flavor. Oftentimes, too, the wines are — not surprisingly — earthier, even “dirtier” (in the “clean dirt” way) than wines made from conventionally farmed grapes. Some finds, listed alphabetically by winemaker:
2007 Barra Pinot Noir, Mendocino:
Liquid fruitcake; superplush; pair with stinky cheese. Organic. $20
2007 Les Vignerons de Estezargues Cotes du Rhone Villages Rouge Granacha, Rhone, France:
From a co-op? Wow factor high; 85-year-old vines; rich, earthy; superlong flavors. Match with grilled steak. Organic. $15
2009 Girasole Pinot Noir, Mendocino:
Superstrawberry; delicate, smooth; enjoy with sandwiches, burgers. Organic. $16
2009 La Biancara di Angiolinio Maule Sassaia, Veneto, Italy:
Apple-y, juicy, zesty edge; wisps of elderflower and anise; drink with fish, smoked or cooked. Organic. $19
2008 Tenuta Lageder Beta Delta Lagrein-Merlot Vigneti delle Dolomiti, Italy:
Red and black fruits; notes of spice and mineral; plush tannin; perfect for roasted meats. Biodynamic. $25
If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for ones similar in style and price.
Bill St. John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 30 years.
