BIODYNAMIC is older than the organic movement but less popular and shrouded in mystery and some would say a degree of hocus-pocus. It is the agricultural practices pioneered by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) the Austrian philosopher and scientist. In 1924 he gave a series of lectures, shortly before he died, in which he preached that digesting food grown through his methods would enhance spiritual development. Put it another way – we are what we eat. A distinguishing feature of biodynamic (BD) farming is the use of nine biodynamic preparations prescribed by Steiner for the purpose of enhancing soil quality and stimulating plant life. They consist of mineral, plant, or animal manure extracts, usually fermented and applied in small proportions to compost, manures, soil, or directly onto plants.
One preparation, number 501, is sprayed onto the vine. It consists of finely ground quartz crystals that have been placed in cow horns and buried underground in spring and then dug up in autumn. The quartz is then diluted with rainwater and sprayed on the foliage to encourage sunlight and ripening.
Also popular is preparation 500. Made from cow manure which is placed into locally sourced female cow horns and buried over winter. It is dug up in spring, mixed with rainwater and stirred for 1 hour then sprayed on the soil before sunset at a time when the moon is opposite Saturn. Two or even three applications are made during the year. According to advocates of biodynamics this application results in more aerated permeable soils with better pH balance and helps roots to grow deeper allowing the vine to pick up more nutrients. It is also claimed that the soil has more earthworms and micro-organisms. One horn is enough to spray a hectare of vineyards. It is useful if the vine does develop deeper root systems as that would help in the fight against dryer, climate change driven vintages.
Byodynamic since 2011, family owned Paxton Wines in the McLaren Vale, uses the whole gambit of BD preparations. Preparation 508 is Cassuarina Tea. “This is a field application which is high in silica content and we firmly believe it can help reduce the severity of botrytis infections,” comments Operations Manager Ben Paxton. I asked Ben what beneficial signs there were in the vineyard when he started using BD preparations. “The first sign of change is seen dramatically in the soil after removing herbicides, the soil becomes darker and more friable in a matter of months. A biodynamic vineyard aims to be full of all forms of life, from the microbes in the soil to the predators in the sky. The vines generally appear balanced and less prone to rapid stress during extreme weather events – in particular heat.”
This view is reinforced by winemaker Troy Kalleske in the Barossa Valley. His family have been following BD practices since the 1990s and were certified in 1998. In 2008 the Barossa experienced 2 weeks at 40 degrees C. “Whilst our vineyard was somewhat affected by the heat that year, it looked remarkably fresh and green, and I have no doubt that was because of BD, making the soil healthier and as a result the vines were more robust and resilient. Same as in 2011 when it was extremely wet (twice the normal rainfall) and cool during the growing season. These wet, humid conditions resulted in high disease pressure (mildew, botrytis) throughout the Barossa and South Eastern Australia. In 2011, a lot of chemicals were sprayed on vineyards but many grapes still went unharvested and many wineries didn’t make wines. At Kalleske, we still harvested all of our grapes and made all of our wines. This was farming 100% organically/biodynamically without using chemicals. In what was a poorly rated vintage our GSM went on to pick up three trophies at the London International Wine Challenge,” adds Troy.
Biodynamics also involves working with the cosmos and following the moon, sun and planetary cycles. Cullen Wines is a leading BD producer in Margaret River. They carry out their vineyard work on the right days according to the astrological calendar. The lunar cycle is divided up into flower, fruit, root and leaf days. It seems a lot of effort and inconvenience to go through and can you taste the difference in the final product? There is no clear proof of this, so the jury is still out on that one. But the approach can produce some interesting unique styles of wines. Whilst still maintaining their ripeness Cullen’s red wines are often picked at lower than normal baumé levels and therefore produce lower alcohol wines. They believe the vines achieve physiological ripeness at lower baumé levels due to their vineyard management and can therefore be picked earlier. Minimal intervention in the winery goes along with biodynamic farming. In this way “the vineyard creates the wine”, comments winemaker and owner Vanya Cullen. Their wines are never powerful but medium bodied, elegant, fresh, but ripe fruit-driven wines, that can go well with food and it makes them a point of difference over other wines. “I can always spot our wines due to the lower alcohol levels,” Vanya adds.
At Paxton they take a more practical view of the calendar. “The time taken to cover the number of hectares means we generally straddle the ideal timing for most activities. Harvest decisions can be made in conjunction with the lunar calendar, however, due to the number of ideal picking days in the calendar, priority is given to the most special parcels of fruit,” says Ben. But he reckons the rate and concentration of sap movement and its location in the vine relates to the lunar calendar, so it makes sense to do any major pruning when most of the activity is at its lowest point.
Is it all worth the effort, when you consider it has taken some producers 10 years to convert their vineyards over to BD? Troy Kalleske makes an interesting point, “I really don’t see any challenges with going BD. I know some operators are hesitant to go full BD because they say they want to fall back to chemicals in ‘bad’ years if they require them. However, it’s the ‘bad’ years where BD works.”