Biodynamic Wine: A first look

I wish I could go back in time to ask winemakers of past, "How do you think wine making will be affected by future technology?" They surely wouldn't know about our advances in computers.They might not mention the use of modern wine making trends like steel barrels, micro oxygenation, ultra-sound, computer chips in vineyards or extreme temperature control to make cheap wines palatable. However if I were to explained the new Biodynamic Wine trends sweeping the globe, they would think we have regressed back to medieval agricultural traditions!

For those not familiar with biodynamic agriculture, let me give it to you straight from the Wikipedia article: "Biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming that has its basis in a spiritual world-view , first propounded by Rudolf Steiner treats farms as unified and individual organisms emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing system."

What this means is the vineyard is considered in it's entirety as a living thing and seen as an organism in it's own right, but one that is in consistent with lunar and cosmic patterns and rhythms and not merely a substrate for plant growth... Wheew...

Wine makers are taking weird, unconventional methods of viticulture and wine making and following a strict biodynamic calendar of harvesting, planting and etc. because they believe it will help their vines and ultimately their finished wines. These methods are broken up into several preparations that all seem a bit odd and skeptical. Such examples include Preparation 500 where cow manure is buried into the soil for a period of time, dug back up and spread over the fields. Other examples include fermenting yarrow flowers in a deer's bladder or oak bark in a skull of a domestic animal and applying them to compost or spraying the vines with horsetail tea, according to the biodynamic calendar. Weird stuff you thought you'd see on Taboo, huh?

But what definitely has the world in shock and awe is that no matter how medieval, superstitious or unreasonable these methods seem, the winemakers (all notable and renown in the wine making world) are producing outstanding wine with biodynamie. These producers include Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Zind Humbrecht, Huet, Beaux Freres , and Benziger among numerous others. (For a list of more producers check out http://www.wineanorak.com/biodynamic3.htm) I think what really has people going is because there is almost no way to prove this advantage scientifically... They just seem to be better. Here's an excerpt from wineanorak.com that sums up the whole thing:

Despite these problems, proper studies have been carried out, and generally they seem to suggest that biodynamics really does work. In 1993, Reganold and colleagues compared the performance of biodynamic and conventional farms in New Zealand, a report published in leading scientific journal Science. They found that the biodynamic farms had significantly higher soil quality, with more organic matter content and microbial activity. In 1995 Reganold published a review of the different studies that have examined biodynamics and have met basic standards for scientific credibility. The conclusion was that biodynamic systems had better soil quality, lower crop yields and equal or greater net returns per hectare than their conventional counterparts. But what could the mechanism be? A tantalizing clue is offered by some experiments carried out by a graduate student of Reganold’s, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, on the effects of biodynamic preparations on compost development. In an experimental setting, biodynamically treated composts showed higher temperatures, faster maturation and more nitrate than composts that had received a placebo inoculation. Reganold is clearly impressed: ‘Of all the farm systems that I’ve seen, biodynamics is probably the most holistic.’

As I conclude I will state that biodynamie on vineyards does work... They seem to produce greater environments, grow superior grapes and make tastier wine. The hard thing to conclude is why does this all work? Ancient civilizations have planted, harvested and celebrated with the phases of the moon and the cosmos for centuries. Perhaps there is something there? Perhaps it is some sort of spiritual, holistic reason for this all to make sense. Or perhaps it's just with biodynamic procedures, wine makers are paying close attention. They are giving their land, their resources and their environment the attention it deserves; the close attention and observation that is needed to produce superior wine. That's something this world could never have too many of; devoted, passionate and dedicated wine makers who "listen" to their vineyards. For further research on Biodynamic wine I urge you to google up on the subject and be sure to check out http://www.wineanorak.com/biodynamic1.htm for a great resource on the subject.

Cheers to you,
-Tatum
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Brunello sticks to their roots...

As many winos may have heard in the news recently, an upcoming vote on the fate of Brunello di Montalcino drew to an end today, and I have the results, thanks to a subscription to vinowire... (You should get it, it's free!)If some readers don't know what I'm saying then let me give it to you in a nutshell:Brunello di Montalcino, a prestigous wine region in Italy, must be made of 100% sangiovese grapes. Around eight months ago, fake "Brunello" blends (read: not 100% sangiovese) were being sold as BdM- This was bad for Italy and bad for brunello. Some wine makers said they wanted to change strict, Italian DOC and DOCG wine laws to allow blends; this will help tailor the taste of BdM to foreign (read: majority American public) consumers who are not used to a power palate-boxer such as brunello.

So, here are the voting results:

Proposition 1- Are you in favor of changing the ampelographic (the study of identification and classification of grapevines) basis for Brunello di Montalcino? 662 voted NO, 30 voted YES

Proposition 2- Are you in favor of changing the ampelographic basis for Rosso di Montalcino? 540 voted NO, 162 voted YES

Proposition 3- Are you in favor of changing any other appellation rules? (yields, allowing the use of concentrated rectifiede must) 474 voted NO, 278 voted YES

Proposition 4- Are you in favor of grouping all appellations into a single "Montalcino" appellation? (Except for Sant' Antimo.) 684 voted NO, 6 voted YES

Proposition 5- Are you in favor of grouping all other appellations into a single "Montalcino" appellation? (Except for Brunello di Montalcino.) 572 voted NO, 118 voted YES

So as we may see in these results, it seems that wine makers stay proud and true to their traditions. Even though changing some of these DOC/DOCG laws may help business and harvest, the prestige of Bdm and all Montalcino's wine regions are more important than financial gain.

So next time some aristocratic, wannabe flaunts some expensive bottle at you, or you take a punch to the tongue from a truly bold and powerful brunello, thank the Italian wine makers; for keeping their class, sticking by their convictions and protecting traditions.

Cheers!
-Tatum
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Wine Maker has it right: Make sure you read the last Paragraph

I just saw this news story on the NYT website and it sort of made me feel better about wine makers. So often do we forget that wine makers are grueling, working year round, night-and-day to deliver us such an awesome glass of wine. Credits always go to the critics or distributors or that LWS that finds the wine, but how often do you really think about how the wine maker feels?
Please read on to discover a wine maker who was strongly disappointed when he found out how much his wine was being sold for! Make sure you read the last paragraph!

Cheers!
-Tatum

A Winemaker Sees Red
By Nick Fox


Not long after my recent column on Paso Robles zinfandels I got a phone call from Ehren Jordan, the winemaker for Turley Wine Cellars. A phone call from Ehren is always a pleasant prospect, as he is one of the more insightful and articulate winemakers around. But this time he was indignant.


The problem was not what I had said about his wine, which precedes the usual indignant winemaker communique. In fact, I had really liked the 2006 Turley Dusi Ranch zin, and had said so in print. No, the problem was the fact that we had said the bottle cost $115. As with all wine panel tastings, our coordinator, Bernard Kirsch, buys the bottles through retail sources, and $115 was the price of the wine at Morrell & Company, a high-end New York retailer in Rockefeller Center. Really high-end, in Ehren’s view.

You see, Turley wholesales the bottle for around $20 and the suggested retail is $40 or so. Now, Ehren is not naïve about how the wine market works. He understands that Turley zinfandels, especially the single vineyard wines, are in high demand. This means that retailers must often look beyond the distributors to obtain bottles, and the extra transactions along the way drive the price of the wine up. A lot of highly sought-after wines flow through this so-called gray market. Nonetheless, he didn’t like it.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we try to sell wines reasonably,’’ Ehren said. “When I see it for $115, I think, that’s not what we intended. I don’t buy $115 bottles of wine. And the other side of it is, somebody just made a lot more money than we did, and we put all the time and energy into it.’’

I spoke with Nikos Antonakeas, the managing director at Morrell, to hear his explanation of the pricing.
“It’s very simple,’’ he told me. “I bought it from a customer who is on the mailing list who sold it to me for $85. There was nothing else out there, and our customers demand it.’’

Typically, Nikos said, Morrell would get an allocation of two mixed cases — 24 bottles — of Turley’s single-vineyard zinfandels through Turley’s New York distributor, Michael Skurnik Wines.
He said those bottles were sold at Morrell’s usual retail markup, which would mean about $45. Not surprisingly, those few bottles sell out very quickly.

“Unfortunately, we have 240 requests,’’ he said. “So I go to auctions, and private individuals. Some are on the mailing list and they just want to make a buck, and sometimes we say yes if we know the customer.’’
Demand drives the market, and for wines made in minute quantities the demand is overwhelming, and people for whom money is of little object are willing to pay a lot. It’s why a single bottle of 2005 Screaming Eagle can be found in a New York retail shop selling for $2,500, and why a bottle of Krug Clos d’Ambonnay is selling for $4,500. (By the way, if you think $4,500 is too much for a bottle of Champagne, you’ll be relieved to know I found it at another store for $1,000 less, which in fact was its suggested retail price.)

In that context maybe $115 is not too much to pay for a bottle of $40 zinfandel. On the other hand, maybe it is. After all, as Ehren pointed out, somebody’s making a lot of money, and it usually is not the producer.

“I know wineries that have raised their prices when they see stuff like that, and I wonder whether we should be making that money, but we just don’t want to go there,’’ Ehren said. “I think it also engenders the feeling that Turley is really expensive, and it’s really not true. Then they show up at the winery and it’s just a bunch of guys making wine, nothing fancy. That’s who we are.’’

He said the idea that people are buying his wine as an investment pained him.
“Investment? We make the wine to drink,’’ he said. “It’s zinfandel, just drink it!’’

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Spare a Dime?

To me, and probably most all of you out there as well, owning a vineyard is the biggest step you can take to becoming an oenophile, also known as a "wine enthusiast." Being the owner of a vineyard and making your own grapes not only requires massives amounts of cash, but also your life. You need to have time to moniter the vineyard, market it, make the wine, maintain the land. Basically, you can't get "a little" into owning a vinyard, it's all or nothing.

This brings me to a NY Times article on this very subject: people who have cash and passion for wine can now own their vineyard and have other people deal with the complexities of it. Basically, the London-Based firm called AIM Vineyards offers a service to give wealthy people a hassle-free way to get into wine and own their own plot of grape-growing land. I wish I could say I will ever be able to remotely afford something like this, so I am out of the picture, but I just want to know what something like this will do to the public perspective of wine making? Will we just have a whole bunch of rich people be able to "make" their own wine, and not know a thing about it?

As I have said many times, this summer I am venturing into the wine making process. Although I will not be buying out a vinyard and growing grapes, my main focus for this wine making is appreciation. I feel that if I get a hands on of making wine, I can learn more about the dedication and knowledge wine makers need to get a nice bottle of wine on our tables.

But I get discouraged when I see filthy rich people be able to just put down cash for all the gains. This could eliminate the passion, the strive for knowledge and the rite-of-passage from wine making itself. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to be able to say that you made your wine, not that you paid for your wine to be made? Isn't it more appealing to be able to explain why you initially fermented the wine three weeks instead of two? Why you used steel barrels instead of oak? All of the ins-and-outs that made wine making so romantic and so intriguing is now lost, because a wealthy chum can afford people to make his wine for him.

I guess what bothers me is the fact that if you do have money, you can do what you want. I can sit here and rant about how passionate about wine I am, how much I'm trying to learn, how much I gain from knowledge, but at the end of the day it doesn't seem to matter that much, because if I just had $20 million dollars, I can own a vinyard and get people to do that for me.

On the other hand, that is what determines me to make it through. My professional career is still a few years away, but wine is now. Hopefully I can work at a wine store and gain knowledge, and a deeper passion and appreciation for the wine I drink. I hope that my deep passion and enthusiasm of wine will help me to stride forth into the trade of wine, and show everyone that sometimes passion, knowledge and dedication is more than cash, investments and salary. Cheers!

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Wanted for Work: Mother Nature

Here is a lovely picture of picked grapes waiting to be crushed at a vinyard in Bordeaux, France. I thought this would be a beautiful way to get into what I will be talking about today.

This fall I am slated to venture into something completely new and unexpected- the making of my vary own wine. A few friends and I will be clearing out my garage to turn it into a mini-scale winery. I believe the term is a garagiste, an amateur wine maker who operates from a garage or a basement. In any case, this year we will start small, perhaps buying a few juice concentration packs or maybe crush packs if we can find them. My friend Brad, who has started getting more into wine, and my neighbor Ricky, who just likes to make anything alcoholic, will be helping me. If things go according to plan and we find that this is something enjoyable, we will then proceed to purchase a crusher and a presser so maybe we can get a mini-scale operation that enables us to take real grapes and turn them into wine. Crossing fingers....

All this efforts is in hopes to learn more about what wine makers do to get a nice bottle of wine on our tables. As much as I respect and appreciate these wine maker's life-long dedication and selfless contribution to this drink, making wine will only expand that appreciation into experience. If anyone wants to know more about how wine works, there are a few videos on YouTube that you might be intrested in. So far, this is the best one I've watched- taking through the wine making process from Winter Park Winery in Colorado. It isn't too long, it's very interesting and has great shots and not overly advertising their product. Have a look if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6cfOhksYw

Hopefully that can help enthuse you more into the wine making process. It is truly beautiful; an art where man and mother earth work in conjunction to form and create the magic that is wine. Until next time, carpe vinum and cheers!

-Tatum
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