Biodynamics… a fashion or a necessity?

Organic wines, natural wines or biodynamic wines? It’s not just an array of certifications, but above all a need to eliminate agrochemical practices and find again the value of soils and the taste of living wines.

Both here and in the land of our French cousins, organic wines are gaining in popularity. I see it every day in my work. This demand has a direct effect on what’s supplied. In France, biodynamics represents about 12 per cent of organic vineyards.

It was born in 1924 thanks to an Austrian named Rudolf Steiner, who developed the principles during classes in agriculture. The method is based on organic cultivation, as well as taking into account the influence of lunar cycles when undertaking various tasks related to viticulture.

Specifications very strict

Besides the lunar calendar, decoctions made of plants, minerals and organic matter are used to nourish the soil. Cow dung buried in a cow horn over the winter is one of the preparations most used to fertilize the soils. Producers are registered through a Demeter certification and are regulated by specifications even stricter than those for organic cultivation.

Biodynamics allows the earth to find again the balance needed to preserve biodiversity. Our ancestors adopted it naturally without, however, naming it. Estates as prestigious as Romanée-Conti have been using it since 2007…and certainly not because it’s a fad.

The vintage1 I suggest you try is from Michel Chapoutier, one of the field’s pioneers in applying the precepts. From north of the Rhône, this syrah is powerful in the mouth but soft, with scents of cherries and ground pepper. A full texture on smooth tannins. The expression of a grape in symbiosis with its terroir!

Let’s drink what’s real, and toast our health in the glass and on the planet!

  1. Chapoutier, Les Meysonniers 2017 SAQ10259876 $27.40

 

Lynda Lavertu48 Posts

Toujours tout sourire, Lynda se passionne pour le fabuleux monde du vin et tout ce qui saura plaire aux épicuriens. Sommelière diplômée, elle travaille à la SAQ et partage avec nous ses plus récentes trouvailles. / The ever-smiling Lynda is passionate about the fabulous world of wine and everything that will bring pleasure to epicures. A graduate sommelière – wine steward – she works at the SAQ and shares with us her most recent discoveries.

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