In Vino Veritas > The choice of Biodynamics (organic methods)

Decades of striving for yield and developing of oenological and viticultural techniques have certainly meant that nature's whims have been brought under control and the production of undrinkable wines has ended. But this has caused all form of life from cultivated land to die, in this way each soil losing its personality and the wine its soul.

Moreover, spraying has made vines become more and more dependant on man, weakening their natural resistance and at the same time, diseases become more resistant.

It is in this way of thinking that organic methods take place, not as a miracle solution, but as an alternative, another way.

"Biodynamie" was born at the beginning of the twentieth century with Rudolf Steiner's ideas, it was backed by decades of empiricism and scientific follow-up of viticulture.

The aim is to capture all the favourable energies and to let the underground part of the plant (roots) live as well as its aerial part (leaves, flowers and fruits). Earth takes and Earth gives according to ceaseless cyclic events: they should be apprehended to use nature and to help nature.

"Biodynamie" acts on the plant's organic processes by spraying solutions made from plants, rock crystal or animal matter, either on the soil or on the leaves. Therefor, these preparations act as catalysts on the formation of buds, flowers and fruit.

Also, "biodynamie" growers use a calendar which takes into account the interactions of the sun, the moon and planets in order to let Earth live by respecting its cycles and its environment.

"Biodynamie" allows the plant to react naturally to its environment.

At Weinbach, more than a third of the 27 hectares (67 acres) of the Domaine have been cultivated this way since 1998, with solutions made of nettles and other plants, some plots are ploughed rather than weeded, … Also, the whole wine-making process takes into account the cycles of the sun and of the moon for fermentation, blending and bottling.