BIO-DYNAMIC WINE

  • SUB-TOPICS OF BIO-DYNAMIC WINE
    1. What is Bio-Dynamic Wine?
    2. The Bio-Dynamic Movement
    3. Homeopathic Preparation-Applications

1) WHAT Is BIO-DYNAMIC WINE?

  • Bio-Dynamic Viticulture is the More Holistic, Comprehensive Way of Looking at Viticulture/ Agriculture, the Land and the Farm System as a Whole. It Looks For Harmony Between Earth, Plants and the Cosmos.
  • Bio-Dynamic Viticulture Treats Farm and Vineyards as a Self-Contained, Self-Sustaining, Living Organisms/ Piece of Land That’s Part of the Planet Earth Which is Part of the Solar System In the Greater Universe.  The Fertility and Feed Come fro Within the Farm Rather Than From the Outside. The Vineyard is Influenced by All These External Factors and Bio-Dynamics Takes All of This Into Account.
  • By Default Bio-Dynamic Viticulture is Organic First, Then Sustainable and Then Follows the Bio-Dynamic Guidelines.
  • The Earth Dictates What to Do, How Do it and When to Do it.  The Vineyard Manager Follows Daily, Monthly, Seasonal Viticulture Responsibilities That Are Influenced by the Seasonal Patterns. Sowing Seeds, Planting, Transplanting, Harvesting  and Racking Ect.  Are These Practices All Influenced by Definite Correlation Between the Position of the Moon and the Other Consolations In the Universe.
  • Bio-Dynamic Philosophy Believes That Spiritual and Cosmic Element, Such as Astrology and the Lunar Calendar, Affect the Soil and Plants.
  • ~Etymology~ From Greek..“Bios”…Meaning Life, Dynamikos…Meaning Powerful.

“Biodynamic Viticulture is Organically Grown and Sustainably Farmed, Plus Agriculture That’s More Holistic and Comprehensive.  It Puts Back Amendments Into the Vineyard’s Soils Through 9 Preparations and Different Practices That Are Cosmically Aware and Observes Natures Seasonal Rhythms and Earth Forces to Heal and Revitalize the Land.”

FARMING WITH GUIDANCE FROM The COSMOS

BIO-DYNAMIC CALENDAR- Calendar That Shows and Contains Instructions Which Allow You to Plan the Optimal Times to Work With Your Crop.  Using the Combination of Lunar Phases and Solar Alignment it Guides the Schedule For Composting, Sowing, Incubating, Transplanting, Fertilizing and Harvesting of Your Crop.  Also the Bio-Dynamic Calendar Tell You What Days You Should Drink Wine and What Days Your Wine Will Taste Off.

  • Although Brought to Light by Rudolph Steiner In the 1920’s Bio-Dynamics is Nothing New, In Fact It’s One of Mankind Oldest Farming Methods.  For Thousands of Years Farmers Have Looked to the Sky for Guidance On Farming.  Since 1792 Farmer Have Been Referring to the “Farmer’s Almanac” to Determine When to Start Processes In the Vineyard.

ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR CONSIDERATIONS- A Large Portion of Bio-Dynamics is Farming That is Guided by Astrological Signs, and Rhythm and Cycles of the Universe. Farmers Throughout Time Have Realized That Nature Can Be More Fully Understood by Studying Nature’s Cyclical Rhythms and Gravitational Pull of the the Moon and Earth. Many Biodynamic Farmers Refer to the Astronomical Calendar When Planning Activities Such  as Pruning, Cultivating, Harvesting,  and Spraying the Preparations.

  • SOLAR– Planting Crops In Spring, Longest/ Shortest Days of Year.
  • PLANETARY–
  • STELLAR–
  • LUNAR– Position Assenting and Descending Phases of the Moon. The Lunar Aspect is Fundamental to Bio-Dynamics, the Moon Travels Around the Earth Every 28/ 29 Days, While Doing So it Passes Through Constellations and In Turn Passes Energy to the Earth/ Vineyards.
    • Moons Gravitational Pull Has Effect On All Water In the World From Lakes, and Oceans Down to Plants Which Are Mostly Composed of Water.
    • Harvest Moon- The Full Moon Nearest the Start of Fall Equinox.

DRINKING BIO-DYNAMICALLY- The Bio-Dynamic Calendar is Made up of 4 Types of Days That Ae Determined by Both Lunar Cycles and Astrological Signs.

  • Root Days- When the Moon is in Any Earth Sign: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo
  • Flower Days- When the Moon is In Any of the Air Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
  • Leaf Days- When the Moon is In Any of the Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
  • Fruit Days- When the Moon is In Any of the Fire Signs: Aires, Leo, Sagittarius
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?–“CONTENTIOUS WINE ISSUE!” “Wine Taste Different/ Better In Various Moon Phases: Full Moon/ No Moon. There’s Such a Thing as Drinking “Bio-Dynamically”!”
    • NO…“There’s No Way That the Bio-Dynamic Calendar and Pick Out Days a Wine Should Be Consumed and Days Not to Drink a Wine. 29 Days a Month the Wine is Fine But When Moon is In a Fire Sign, That One Day Only the Wine is Bad and Shouldn’t Be Consumed But All Other Days the Wine is Fine.”
    • YES…“The Power of the Moon is Immense, and it Possesses the Ability to Change a Wine Structure and Flavors Only For One Day.  If You Can’t See That You Are Not a Believer.”

VINICULTURE- Bio-Dynamic, Sustainable, and Organic Viticulture Can Lead to a Higher Rate of Vintage Variation In the Finished Wine.

  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Try to Think of Bio-Dynamics From a Quality Point of View and Not a Philosophic View?”
    • “If You Get too Prescriptive and Blindly Follow the Lunar Calendar You Aren’t Opening Your Eyes to the Perfect/ Idea Condition In Your Specific Vineyard Which May Be Slightly Off From the Lunar Cycle.”

2) The BIO-DYNAMIC MOVEMENT

Bio-Dynamic Wine Pioneers

  • ~Rudolph Steiner~ “Austria/ Basel, Alsace”
    • Esoteric Leader and Spiritual Founder of Bio-Dynamics. His Books “An Esoteric Cosmology/ What is Bio-Dynamics/ Spiritual Foundation For the Renewal of Agriculture” (1924) Although Mocked at First, They Become the Bio-Dynamic “Bibles” For Mindful Agriculture.
      • Agricultural Individuality (Farm Organism) Farming System Based Upon Farms Biological Cycling Through Mixing Crops and Livestock.
      • Goal is to Get the Poison of the Earth and Out of the Wine.
      • Studies Have Been Conducted That Conclude Bio-Dynamic Vineyards to Have Soils Higher In Biological and Physical Properties, Significantly Higher Organic Matter/ Content, and Micro-Biological Activity.
  • ~Nicolas Joly~ (Loire Valley, France) Bio-Dynamic Farming and Champion of the Movement.
  • ~Maria Thun~ Founder of the Bio-Dynamic Calendar.

“Bio-Dynamics Can Be Seen as Folk Wisdom That Has Scientific Basis.”

3) HOMEOPATHIC PREPARATION-APPLICATIONS

  • Healthy Vineyards Start With Health Soils. Healthy Soils Result In Expansive Root Systems, Which Channel Terroir Into the Vines and Grapes.
  • Each Preparation Help to Amend the Earths Break Down of Organic Soil and Replace the Removal of Minerals Absorbed or Leached Out Over Time.  Offers a Better Way of Preserving the Soil and Enhancing the Soil.
  • Made From Herb, Minerals Substances and Animal Manure Applied In Minute Doses to Soils and Plants to Stimulate Root Growth, Soil Micro-Organisms Production and Humus Formation.
  • Humus- Living, Organic Matter In Soil Derived From Micro-Decomposition of Plants, Bugs and Animal Substances.
  • Healthy Soils Take Up to 60 Mineral Elements.
  • Healthy Vines Need 24 Nutrients Taken From Soil to Grow at Their Full Potential.
  • After Years of Following a Bio-Dynamic Program Macro-Biological Life In the Soils Increase and Bio-Diversity Becomes More Complex and So Does the Vines Capabilities to Intake Nutrition and Its Resistance to Soil Born Pathogens.
  • Vineyard Animals Shit, Urine and Saliva Which End Up In Soil Which Increases the Microbial, Bio-Diversity and Organic Content.
  • Preparations Are Usually Grown In Prep Gardens, Harvest and Dried On Site.

 “There Are No Bio-Dynamic Wines Just Bio-Dynamic Grown Grapes, You Must Separate the Two Ideas.  From Bio-Dynamic Grown Grapes You Can Produce Natural Wine or You Can Produce Conventional Wine.”

ORGANIC vs. NON-ORGANIC SOILS

  • There is/ Should Be Life or a Dramatic Organic Dimension of Lifeforms In the Soils. Unlike Rocks Which Are Non-Organic There is/ Should be a Half Meter of Soils That Are Full of Humus/ Bacteria/ Life a Vineyard. This Provides an Interface Between the Sky/ Oxygen/ Ground. This First Half Meter of Soils Should Be Full of Life Which Eats and Combines Nutrition Taking Nitrogen and Oxygen From the Air and Digests it Into Molecules That the Vine Can Uptake.
  • Bio-Markers– Company That Developed Tools to Track and Measure Soil Health by Examining Microbial Life In the Soil. Every Vineyard Has Its Microbiological “Finger Print”. Vineyard Managers Are Gaining a Greater Understanding of Their Soils In the Vineyard. Though Bio-Trackers They Objectively and Systematically Know What to Change or Reinforce.

“3 Sprays Applied, 6 Compost Buried at Key Times Relative to the Pagan Calendar and Lunar Cycle -Numbered 500-509.”

PREPARATION METHODS

  • Extractions–
  • Calcination– Burning Plants Down to Remove All Water, Carbons of the Plant Leaving Just it Minerals.
  • Tinctures– Macerating In Eav-de-Vie.
  • Oils– Putting Plants Rich In Oils Through a Pot Still and Collecting the Essential Oils.

“The Nine Preparations Are at the Heart of Biodynamic Farming.”

BIO-DYNAMIC (SPRAY) PREPARATIONS

  • “500”  Horn Manure– Cow Horn (Preferably From a Lactating Cow/ Not Bull Horn) Stuffed With Cow Manure and Buried and Left to Compost From Winter-Spring.
      • Its Easy to Compose In Spring and Summer When It’s Dry and Warm.  During the Winter Months It’s More Challanging.  A Great Way is to Compost by Cowhorn Which is Seen as the Best Organic Maceration Vessel.  Fill Empty Cowhorns With Dairy/ Cow Manure. (Which is the Basic Building Blocks For Compost.)  These Cowhorns Are Planted Tips Pointed Up In Well Drained/ Frost Free Soil In September. These Will Compost In Horn Over Winter and Dug Up In May.  The Once Stinky Manure is Now a Jet Black Soil and is Used to Make a Compost Tea Which is Sprayed Over Vineyard.
    • PROMOTES– Proliferative Growth Phase of Plants Through Increase Root Activity and Growth, Increase Soil Life Through Beneficial Bacterial Growth. Stimulates Humus Development.
    • “Preparation 500 is Said to Enliven the Feminine Pole of Earth.”
  • “501”  Horn Silica– Clear Quartz Crystal is Ground Into Fine Powder and Mixed With Rainwater and  Applied to Air Above Vineyard.
    • PROMOTES– Prevents Fungal Diseases, Enhances Light Metabolism, Stimulates Photosynthesis and Formation of Chlorophyll.
    • “Preparation 500 is Said to Enhance the Masculine Pole of the Sun.”
  • “508”  Equisetum– Dry the Plant(Flowers of Equistum Arvense) and Add to 2 Liters of Water and Simmer For 30 Minutes.  Let Settle For a Few Days, Then Spray of Sprinkle Around Vines In Vineyards.
    • PROMOTES– Serves as a Preventative to Lessen the Effects of Fungus Problems.

“Bio-Dynamic Can Be Seen as a Spiritual Foundation For the Renewal of Agriculture.”

BIO-DYNAMIC (COMPOST) PREPARATIONS

  • “Preparations 502-507 Are Used to Organize the Compost Heap.”
  • “502”  Yarrow– Yarrow Blossom (Flowers of Achillea Millefolium) Stuffed Into Deer/ Stag Bladder and Hung In a Sunny Place During the Summer.  The Bladder is Then Buried In Vineyard During the Winter. In Spring Add Contents to Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Initiates Life Process In Compost and Utilizes Sulfur and Potassium. Assists Plants In the Uptake of Trace Elements.
  • “503”  Chamomile– Intestine Stuffed With Chamomile Blossom (Flowers of Mastricaria Chamomilla) Buried In Vineyard. In Spring Add Contents to Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Stabilizes Nitrogen In the Compost Pile, and Enhance Growth Through Interaction of Calcium and Potassium Processes.
  • “504”  Stinging Nettles–  The Stinging Nettle(Whole Plant of Urtica Dioica) Needs to Be Harvested Just Before They Flower. The Entire Plant is Dried and Stored Until Fall In an Unglazed Earthenware Pot and Then Buried For an Entire Year.(Some Times Peat-Moss is Added.) In Spring Add Contents to Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Organizes Circulatory Life In the Plant Through the Processed of Potassium, Calcium and Iron.
  • “505”  Oak Bark– Oak Bark(Bark of Quercus Robur) is Mashed Up and Stuffed Into Animal Skull and Buried.  In Spring Dug Up the Skull and Add Contents to Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Provides Healing Forces to Combat Disease Through a Living Form of Calcium In the Bark.
  • “506”  Dandelion– Placed Picked Dandelion(Flower of Taraxacum Officinale) In a Brown Paper Bag and In a Dark Place. Add to Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Stimulates Relationship Between Silica and Potassium So That Silica Can Attract Cosmic Forces to the Soils.
  • “507” Valerian– Flower of Valerian(Flower of Valeriana Officinalis) is Grinded In Mortar and Pestle, the Power is Diluted In Water at a 1:4 Ratio and Placed In a Glass Jar In the Sun For a Week. Spay the Mixture On To the Compost Heap.
    • PROMOTES– Provides Warmth of Phosphorus to the Compost Pile Engendering Life of the the Pile and Proper Utilization of Phosphorous by the Soil.

“These Preparations Help the Soil Which Are Missing and Have Become Depleted From Our Modern Agriculture Land. This is a Homeopathic Way of Putting Back Trace Elements and Organic Matter.”

PROCESSING And SPRAYING The PREPARATIONS

  • Vortex Stirring/ Dynamizer Machine Tank
  • Most Preparation Are Buried In Vineyard In Winter and Dug Up In Spring. Once Retrieved From the Vineyard It’s Placed In a Dynamizer Machine Tank Which Swirls it Around In Water Vortex to Dilute and Dissolve So It Can Be Sprayed On Vineyard to Stimulate Soils Micro-Biological Regeneration. Golf Size Ball of Preparation is Enough to Spray a Hectare of Vineyard.
  • Time Line For Application Spraying of Preparation Isn’t Random, it Follow Astronomy Which is a Modern Science. When Working or Doing Function In the Vineyard it Follows Fundamental Forces, Celestial Phases Which Tells Exact Position of the Planet, Where is Sun is and Moon Phases.

“These Bio-Dynamic Preparations Can Be a Route to Bring People and Vineyards Closer Together, and Helps to Farmer Understand What Going On Within the Vineyard.”

  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “What Can You Do if You’re Farming Organically or Following Bio-Dynamic Principles and Your Neighbor is No?”
    • “If Someone is Spraying a Un-Organic  Substance On the Vineyard Next to Yours It Could  Have a Negative Effect.”

BIO-DYMANIC CONCEPTS FOLLOWED IN VITICULTURE

  • Pre-Dawn Harvesting- Grapes Picked In Early Morning In the Coldest Hours Preserves Acidity and Elevates Aromas and Flavors
  • Ascending Moon/ Descending Moon Phases- During an Ascending Moon the Earth Takes In and During a Descending Moon the Earth Lets Out So Irrigation is Done During an Ascending Moon. The Outcome to This is It Takes Less Water and the Vineyard Gets Deeper Penetration.
    • Don’t Bottle When A Full Moon is Prevalent Fine Lees Are Strived Up.
    • Pruning- During the Ascending/ Descending Moon Phases.
      • When There’s a Full Moon the Sap is Pushed to the Surface. Just Like the Full Moon Has an Effect On the Tides.
  • Putting Back- Everything You Take Out of the Vineyard You Must Make an Effort to Put Back.
    • All of the Skins, Seeds and Stems Get Composed and Put Back Into the Cycle.
  • Racking Wine- Don’t Rack a Wine When I’ts Raining…When It’s Raining There’s Low Pressure and the Lees Are Lees Less Compact and Come Up.  When It’s Not Raining There is High Pressure and the Lees Are Compact and Its a Better Time to Rack.

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE ASSOCIATIONS Of The WORLD

  • ~Biodynamic Association~
  • ~Demeter Biodynamic Trade~
    • Mission~ Certifies Vineyards and Farms.
  • ~Low Input Viticulture & Enology~ LIVE.
  • ~California Certified Sustainable Wine Growers~ CCSW.
  • ~Oregon Citified Sustainable Wine~ OCSW.
  • ~Organic Grape Into Wine Alliance~ OGW.
  • ~Biodyvin~ France’s Association of Biodynamic Winegrowers.

CERTIFIED BIO-DYNAMIC PRODUCERS Of The WORLD

  • @California– Benziger, Bonny Doon, Bonterra, Mendocino Farms,Dark Horse, Puma Springs, Quivira, Cease
  • @Oregon– Brick House, Cow Horn
  • @Burgundy– Soufrandiere, Vougeraie, Lafarge, Loichet, Rossignol-Trapet
  • @Alsace– Wenbach, Humbrecht
  • @Loire– Coulee de Serrant
  • @Rhone– Cros de la Mure, Marcoux, Fourmente, Montirius

UN-OFFICIAL BIO-DYNAMIC PROCEDURES

BIO-CHARD– Activated Charcoal, Mixed With Water and Incorporated In Soil it Takes On Enhanced Agronomic Properties Including Enhanced Water Retention and Make Homeostatic Relationship With Plant, Soil and Water.

  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?–“CONTENTIOUS WINE ISSUE!” “If a Grape Grower is Truly Into Bio-Dynamics They Are Religiously Invested In the Concept and Process. If Your Arn’t Religious Then You Aren’t Truly Growing Bio-Dynamically!”
    • “This Aspect of Bio-Dynamics has Been Debated for a Century. Does the Religious Belief of a Bio-Dynamic Grape Grower Take President Over the Greater Good of the Areas Viticulture Community?”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Can You Machine Harvest Your Vineyard and Still Be Considered Bio-Dynamic?”
    • “Certain Vineyards In Chablis Are Certified “Bio-Dynamic” and Machine Harvest Their Vineyards.  Their Thought Process is That It Takes 4 Hours to Hand Harvest Something That Takes 30 Minutes to Machine Harvest.  That 3.5 Hours That the Grapes Are Subject to Oxidation/ Compromise. Is This Justified and Can They Still Be Considered Bio-Dynamic.”

“Generally the Only Difference Between Bio-Dynamic Viticulture and Organic is the Use of the 9 Bio-Dynamic Preparations.”

**Refer to “VITICULTURE/ Organic Wine” For Additional Information.

**Refer to “VITICULTURE/ Sustainable Wine” For Additional Information.

**Refer to “BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Sources” For Details On Scholarly Works Referenced.