| Biodynamic Farming |
Page 5 of 5 Most growers and makers, though, are moving to BD because they believe it can produce better wine.This is definitely a quality-driven movement: as well as Henschke, the roll-call of Australian vineyards adopting BD also includes established names such as Jasper Hill, Cullen, Castagna, Lark Hill and Elderton, and up-and-coming superstars like Kalleske, Sutton Grange, Tarrington and Gemtree. Internationally, the list of high-profile BD converts includes luminaries such as Leroy and Leflaive in Burgundy, Zind Humbrecht in Alsace, Millton and Rippon in New Zealand, and Bonny Doon in California. And it’s the calibre of the people embracing the philosophy that is mostly responsible for converting others. That and the taste. For both winemakers and consumers, the ultimate (indeed, the crucial) ‘proof’ that BD makes a difference can be tasted in the glass. Leading Margaret River winemaker Vanya Cullen crushed her first Biodynamically-grown grapes in 2004, and was convinced immediately that the fruit tasted better - more complex, with ‘an extra dimension’. I agree: for me, there is, more often than not, a brightness and a vitality of flavour in well-made BD wines that sets them apart. I have also tasted that extra dimension in the 2004 Cullen Diana Madeline (sampled in a blind-line-up), and it’s something I keep finding in BD wines. They make their presence felt on your tongue, they are multi-faceted, there is an urgency about them; flavour descriptors just come tumbling out as you sniff and sip. Don’t, though, take my word for it that BD can produce better flavour: just look, as Pauline Bryans says, at the animals. ‘We put sheep through the vines during winter,’ says Gilles Lapalus, winemaker at the Biodynamically-run Sutton Grange vineyard, just to the east of Harcourt. ‘We spray 500 on the vineyard in autumn, and the growth of the grass between the rows is amazing: so green, so lush. What’s incredible, though, is that sheep always go straight to those patches that have been sprayed. It obviously tastes better to them.’ The point of this story, of course, is not just that sheep think BD grass tastes better, but that there are sheep in the vineyard in the first place. Biodynamics encourages you to think of the farm as a single, self-contained unit - indeed, it encourages you to think differently about the whole world around you. ‘We are doing it for three reasons,’ says Gilles Lapalus, echoing many other winemakers I’ve spoken to. ‘For the health of the environment, for better wine quality and for the wellbeing of the people who work on this land.’ This holistic and compassionate but very site-specific way of thinking is inspiring Australian winemakers (and other farmers) to mould what was originally a European farming philosophy to our often very different conditions. For example, many growers use the 501 preparation - designed to maximise the effects of sunlight on the vine - sparingly, if at all, finding it can be too effective in what are usually quite sunny growing conditions. ‘I’ve found we have to use 501 with great caution,’ says Sam Statham of Rosnay vineyard near Cowra. ‘A couple of years ago I sprayed it on some merlot vines that were struggling to ripen during the end of the season and the sugar levels shot up way too far, too quickly.’ Similarly, sixth-generation Barossa grape grower and winemaker Troy Kalleske is selective about which of the BD methods he applies to his vines, some of which have been quite happily pumping out shiraz grapes each vintage for over 120 years. ‘We spray 500 and occasionally 501 and use a little bit of compost, but we don’t use the other preps,’ he says. ‘Hardcore practitioners would say that means we’re not really BD. But I’d say that we have a pretty good idea by now of our property and how healthy it is, and if we feel we don’t need to, then why should we?’ Others are embracing local variations on the Biodynamic theme. ‘We want to do it in an Australian way,’ says winemaker Stephen Henschke. ‘We use casuarina (She-oak) here for one of the compost teas, for example, rather than the horsetail (equisetum) used in Europe. And I’ve heard of some people using burying manure in emu eggs instead of cow horns to make the 500.’ Back at Bress, his arms caked in cow poo, winemaker Adam Marks is smiling a broad, beaming smile. ‘You know what I like best about Biodynamics?’ he asks. ‘It encourages you to find your own way. To find out for yourself how best to care for your land.’ © Max Allen www.redwhiteandgreen.com.au |
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