Biodynamic Wine: An Adventure Begins
In 2002, as the Wine Director of Suburban Wines & Spirits, I had not heard of biodynamic® wine or biodynamic anything for that matter. I was very passionate about wine and wine with “terroir,” but biodynamic wine hadn’t yet appeared on my radar.
I gathered a dozen high-end California Cabernet lovers to taste nine high-end California Cabernet-based blends. The wines were presented in numbered paper bags. Wines included in the mix were highly sought after rock stars from Bryant Family, Colgin, Harlan, Araujo, Pride Cab Reserve and Quintessa. This event occurred at Peter Pratt’s Inn in Yorktown Heights, NY.
Afterwards, when the votes came in, I was alone in my choice for first place. We each shared our top three, and bantered on the why. Before too long, I had convinced a few to join my bandwagon. Most of the wines were big, textured, tannic monsters. Layered and lush, complete events that you could hang on the wall as trophy prizes.
Hidden in this mix were two wines that told a different tale: more mysterious, not so obvious nor powerful, yet concentrated and complex. They gave and then they didn’t. They changed, almost like a chameleon, as we smelled and tasted. Wines that give enough to invite you in, but not too much (especially at the beginning), remind me of a good book. Dive in, hang out a while, and see what unfolds and develops. My first place wine was Araujo, and my other wine of mystery was Quintessa.
The following year, I was in New York City at a trade tasting led by the owner of my favorite winery from France’s Alsace region, Zind Humbrecht. Some producers around the world just seem to go beyond the typical style of their region and create wines that become categories all their own. I had experienced the wines of Zind Humbrecht in that way. The owner, Olivier’s talk was the first time I had heard about “Biodynamic® Wine.” It made me curious and I started to search further.
I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that Araujo was amongst a very small group of American wineries farming biodynamically. Quintessa, my other favorite, was moving in that direction as well. No other winery from the night at Peter Pratt’s Inn was committed to the practices leading to biodynamic wine.
Further research led me to a story about another favorite producer of mine. This time it was Domaine Leflaive from France’s Burgundy region. They are in a village called Puligny (poo-lean-yee) Montrachet (mown-rah-shea). The article described an experiment done with one particular vineyard. It was already being farmed organically. They split it in two and incorporated key elements of biodynamic farming to half the vineyard. Then they made the two wines in the exact same way. When their British distributor visited, they were asked to blind taste the two wines. Out of a dozen tasters, all but one preferred the biodynamically farmed one.
Three of my top four favorite wineries in the world shared being referred to as biodynamic wine. This realization inspired the creation of ConsciousWine.
ConsciousWine’s focus is on wineries whose practices support the vineyards and surrounding land being kept vital for future generations, while at the same time making quality wine that reflects the uniqueness of the way the land is nurtured and farmed. Biodynamic wine and farming is about a holistic systems approach that speaks loudly to the core of ConsciousWine.
There’s biodynamic wine presently available in our Shop! They come to you from Ambyth Estate, Cowhorn Vineyards, and Dominio IV. Brooks Winery farms their estate vineyard according to biodynamic practices but is not presently certified by Demeter.
I can’t understand how anyone can read this and not think “genius alert”. Great post. I’ll keep coming back to read even more.