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Features Features Summer 2004 Grape Varieties |
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Winemakers are always banging on about ‘terroir’ - those unique
environmental qualities, from soil composition to climate, that determine the character of a vineyard and the wine it produces. So too does the French appellation contrôlée system which places great emphasis on this natural environment, viewing it as a living organism. But a question has arisen over the last few decades. Are winemakers truly working with the land, mother nature created or destroying this sacred terroir by using synthetic fertilizer, fungicides and insecticides? What about residual chemical buildup, toxins and soil depletion, all results of man’s manipulation of the land. Such are the arguments for exploring alternative farming methods in vineyards around the world. Enter biodynamic agriculture and the ever-expanding group of winemakers divorcing themselves from the widespread use of chemicals and adopting practices that sustain, rather than exhaust these vineyard sites. Biodynamic farming may be considered the ultimate form of organic agriculture. Viewing the earth holistically, biodynamic farmers seek to heal the land through life forces at work in nature and by replacing harmful chemicals with more natural products like manure and vegetation. Because they view land as a living organism, it isn’t surprising that biodynamics should pay attention to other natural rhythms such as dawn and dusk, summer and winter and gravity and levity. By also investing importance in lunar cycles and planetary alignments, some practitioners inspire head shakers amongst more scientific onlookers. Skeptics also look bemused at the so-called preparations (the treatments extracted from plants, animals and minerals buried in cow horn for half the year) before being applied in homeopathic concentrations to land and compost so that the earth can be mended and life can be improved and sustained. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and scientist, is considered the father of biodynamics. In the 1920s, he wrote a book on the subject, ‘An Introduction to Biodynamic Agriculture’. Today, Steiner’s practitioners, from Europe to South America, use special preparations, often considered bizarre or eccentric by many farmers, which are applied in harmony with cosmic rhythms to carefully husband the earth. Nicolas Joly, the world’s oracle on biodynamic farming, grew up attentive to the call of the wild outdoors. “My brother and I spent our time tracking game, watching for fish and watching the sky”. Each burst of wind, each drop in temperature permitted us, according to the seasons, to make a choice of future expeditions,” he says. Before being totally committed to this controversial agricultural method Joly experienced a bit of city life which eventually pushed him back to his roots and to making incredible wine. On his return to Coulée de Serrant agricultural officials and local vignerons advised Joly to apply chemical fertilizers and weed killers to the land. Within two years he witnessed the earth changing colour and beginning to die. “I saw the awful effect and then fate put in my hand Rudolph Steiner’s book on biodynamie,” he recalls. “I had not a clue who Rudolf Steiner was and thought, ‘this very smart man died unknown.’ I decided to try to make it known and return the vineyards to their virtue of originality.” He has written a book about growing and appreciating biodynamic wine, Wine from Sky to Earth. Until recently skeptics turned their noses up at the idea of organic agriculture now a widely discussed, practiced and respected agricultural method. Biodynamic farmers face a similar course but given recent and continual successes wine drinkers will drive the evolution from eccentric to mainstream. Although not 100% sure of current status, (Wittman may be now wholly Biodynamic and Chateau Beaucastel classified Organic in parts) try these two fabulous organic wines whose makers are passionate about their terroir and natural farming methods: New, young winemaker Phillip Whitman aged 27 is one of a handful of new growers filling the ranks and injecting enthusiasm, energy and innovation into the German wine industry. The Rheinhessen’s new young star inspired from travels to California, Tuscany, Bordeaux and Burgundy feels strongly about imposing his own style on his wines. Since returning to run his family’s estate he has focused on the production of top quality dry Rieslings and experimenting with other white grape varieties, including chardonnay. 2003 Wittman Riesling £12.95 A dry organic Riesling from a very old 25 hectare estate not far from the Rhine. The Perrin family has lived in harmony with their native Provence for five generations and from father to son have devoted their lives to producing wines worthy of their wonderful region. At Château de Beaucastel, Château du Grand Prébois, La Vieille Ferme and Domaines Perrin, there is no embellishment, no imitation, no excess, just genuine wines with the real character and taste of the Provencal region. Perrin Philosophy “We try to place the vine in its universe, that is to say relate it to the earth, the animal life and the stars, by which it is influenced”. 2001 Côtes du Rhone Nature, Perrin & Fils £7.99 Traditionally made organic Rhone from the region’s finest producer. |
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