That’s starting to change as evidence mounts of the philosophy’s positive impact on vineyard health and wine flavour—even as its more out-there aspects remain unproven.
“We found that after converting to biodynamic farming, our vines were stronger, healthier and more disease tolerant,” notes Jasper Raats, cellar master and managing director at Longridge Wine Estate, first planted in 1841 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. “And the wines themselves also have a zest and vitality that was missing previously.”
For those unfamiliar with biodynamic farming, it is a holistic approach to land management rooted in the early 20th-century work of Austrian-born educator and social reformer Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Steiner’s philosophy regards each farm as a self-sustaining system that entails a very specific form of organic farming, influenced by astrological and spiritual principles as well as lunar and cosmic cycles. Farming is planned around an astronomical calendar, and each day represents an element—fire, water, earth or air. There are also fruit days, which are ideal for harvesting; leaf days, which are best for watering; root days for pruning; and on flower days, the vineyard must be left alone.
In biodynamic farming, the farm is viewed as a whole living organism, requiring a diversity of animal and plant species—with an emphasis on pasture, native plants and pollinator plants—to thrive. In biodynamic farming, practitioners believe that everything you need to make the plants healthy is on the farm, including natural pesticides.
It should be noted that Steiner himself had a problematic history of racist thought that the biodynamic movement and the educational institutions he inspired have repudiated in modern times. One of his books, The Occult Significance of Blood, first published in 1906, contains this disturbing passage: “To what extent are uncivilized peoples capable of become civilized? How can a Negro or an utterly barbaric savage become civilized? And in what way we ought to deal with them?”
Can a person’s words and actions be truly separated from their work? All of the wine producers interviewed here roundly reject Steiner’s racist ideology, and instead focus completely on his farming philosophies. But Steiner’s background certainly casts a shadow over his legacy and that of biodynamic farming.
Investment in farm health
Skepticism of biodynamic farming is understandable. Some of its imperatives seem to be pulled from a Saturday Night Live skit: Farm by the rhythms of the moon. Bury a cow (never a bull!) horn crammed with manure in the soil all winter. Dig it up and turn it into a tea that farmers spritz over the vines in a bid to increase a plant’s immunity.
Other biodynamic practices, like applying compost with animal manure and plant material, rejecting GMO plant material and the use of medicinal herbs like yarrow and dandelion to naturally combat pests are less head-scratching.
But here’s the thing: Biodynamic farming seems to work, at least by certain measures. While the efficacy of specific practices remains unclear, a recent review in the journal Organic Agriculture of 147 peer-reviewed scientific studies show that when considered broadly, biodynamic farming seems to enhance soil quality and vineyard biodiversity. It’s convincing enough evidence to convert some farmers.
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