Sustaining the Vine: Biodynamic Wines

It’s easy to label something “green” simply because it purports to create less waste, use fewer chemicals or contain recycled content. It seems everyone these days believes they are acting “sustainably,” but few seem to understand the actual concept.

Many wineries are grappling with their identity as it relates to the green movement and how best to produce ecologically sensitive wines from a sustainable vineyard. Beyond packaging, transportation and carbon footprint issues, winemaking is, first and foremost, a matter of farming. Conventional farming uses pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals to control and eradicate unwanted pests. Several California Central Coast wineries have accepted the mantle of being sustainable quite seriously.

AmByth Estate, Presidio, Melville, and Beckmen wineries, all in Santa Barbara County, are using biodynamic farming methods and some have gone to the extreme of becoming Demeter certified, the only certification in the United States that involves a multi-year set up and yearly renewals. Beyond organic, biodynamics is often misunderstood and misrepresented in the media as an airy-fairy approach to farming. “Biodynamics is a religious fervor that has nothing to do with growing grapes,” charged one skeptical Napa winery owner. A November 2006 poll by the British wine magazine, Decanter, showed that over 50 percent of respondents thought biodynamics was, “a load of horse manure.” It may sound like horse manure—and manure is used liberally in biodynamic farming—but it’s far from spooky. It is, in fact, the most logical approach to farming, one that was widely used prior to the industrial revolution and the subsequent erosion of our planet.

Firstly, biodynamic is not synonymous with organic. “It’s about being in touch with your vineyard,” said Chad Melville, vineyard manager for Melville Winery in Santa Barbara. “Biodynamics connects you more strongly to your environment.” Where organic practices don’t include pesticides and reduce the chemical makeup of wine, biodynamics goes beyond that. It requires you to be intimately involved with your land and to respect the natural cycles inherent in farming and in life. The modern iteration was first promoted by Rudolph Steiner in 1924, a native of Austria, and states that the farm (vineyard or otherwise) is managed as a living organism, in its entirety. This means that a farm should be re-generative rather than degenerative and that any farm, including its unique weather, micro-climate, water source and sun exposure, is treated as a self-sustaining entity.

Simply put, it’s a closed loop system. Fertilizer for your crops would come from the cows on your property, and the grain they eat would be fertilized from those very cows. Tractors would not be permitted because they are not intrinsic to the property. Horses would do the work instead. It’s not that tractors are bad, mind you, but that they would interfere with the natural way of doing things and perhaps bring to the farm unwanted pests, ground compaction and diesel fuel, all elements that do not promote the health of the land.

In practical terms, that doesn’t always work, but it is the goal. Phillip and Mary Hart of AmByth Estate in Templeton toyed with the idea of making their 42-acre ranch organic. “We knew we didn’t want to be ‘regular’ farmers,” Phillip said. “We live in our land; the vineyard surrounds us. There was no way we were going to spray something our children couldn’t breathe. We looked into organic,” he said. Instead, through acquaintances, they discovered biodynamics and read Steiner’s work on agricultural practices. “It’s a slippery slope,” Phillip confessed. “Once you become aware of what’s going on, you become a little fanatical. That’s not always good, but that’s what happened.”

Biodynamics also takes into account harvesting during lunar cycles, using what are known as preparations and teas (all-natural ingredients buried in the soil or sprayed on the plants), and no chemicals whatsoever. “Last season was really hot: 105 degrees,” Phillip said. “I hand-sprayed the vineyard with preparations using an oak bark, chamomile and nettle tea that I’d made. I was dripping sweat and I put the wand in my mouth and drank it. It was delicious. And I thought, how many farmers who apply things to their land can do that?” Aside from drinking your own spray, biodynamics physically works. “Not only are the teas applied to the vineyards, but to the olive orchards, family garden and all landscaping areas,” Mary pointed out. “It assists the plants and keeps their roots in balance with the earth, and that’s what this is all about. It’s not just an end product,” she added. Ultimately, biodynamics is reading the language of nature and responding, not by using shortcuts, but by respecting the land as a living entity. “The wine makes itself. I’m not allowed to do anything. I’m merely a caretaker, not a winemaker,” Phillip said.

Many winemakers are realizing that greater attention to a consummate approach to managing their land produces better wines. Biodynamics also includes harvesting during evening hours so the fruit won’t degrade in the hot sun (and neither will anyone who harvests it). A nighttime harvest also takes into account the gravitational pulls of the earth when the fruit is most ripe. “If there’s balance in the vineyard, there will be balance in the wine,” explained Doug Braun of Presidio Winery in Santa Barbara. “Our vineyard has never looked healthier,” said Steve Beckmen of Beckmen Winery in Santa Ynez. “Modern farming, with its emphasis on a cycle of chemicals, from pesticides to fertilizers, doesn’t promote uniqueness and biodiversity. In fact, it strips away these qualities in favor of a more homogenized approach to winegrowing,” he declared.

Biodynamics aims for the ultimate expression of each piece of land as a unique and original property. One technique Beckmen uses is a preparation called 501, which is pulverized quartz. Rainwater is then added creating “a sort of dough,” he described. The preparation is then packed into a cow horn, buried in the ground and harvested in the fall. It is then mixed with water and sprayed on the vines, which, as Beckmen explains, aids with photosynthesis. Is this crazy, a marketing ploy, or does it really work? Well, his biodynamic wines have garnered 94 points in the national wine press. “While it certainly feels good to earn great scores, it’s even better to feel we’re getting the most out of our vineyard,” Beckmen said.

The idea of treating the farm as a holistic entity dates back hundreds of years to the rural farmers of Europe. Since there were no modern chemicals, beneficial insects ate the intrusive ones, owls hunted small rodents who would eat your crop, and you knew intrinsically when the best time to harvest was because you could read the language of nature. People were in tune with their surroundings—they had to be or else they wouldn’t be able to eat.

These days we can purchase prepackaged food laced with chemical additives that give food an unnatural shelf life. Back then, a wrong move and you could lose your crop. Now we can order home delivery on a BlackBerry while listening to iTunes. Back in the day, a farmer would grow cover crops, which are grown in between rows of vines to reduce soil erosion, protect water evaporation, and provide vegetables to feed their families. All farms benefited, because all farms considered the greater good. And ultimately, this is the sincerest expression of biodynamics. Be good to your land, your neighbor and yourself. As Chad Melville says, “the best fertilizer is your own footprint on the land.”