Biodynamic wine by Monty Waldin

Are cows’ horns filled with manure going to change our wine-drinking habits?

For years, wines have been sorted into fairly standard categories, by region, colour or style, but there is a growing phenomenon among winemakers and consumers that is challenging that categorisation: biodynamic wine production. This isn’t any sort of voodoo or quasi-religious trickery, nor is it so easily put in the box labelled purely ‘organic’. Biodynamic wine is seeking to shake up how we make wine, as well as how we drink it.

A new book by Monty Waldin, Biodynamic wine, takes the reader on a journey from how the grapes are grown to the best ways of tasting biodynamic wine, highlighting clear distinctions between the standard ‘chemical’ wine-growing and an approach which is more sympathetic to the rhythms and forces of nature. Whatever your preconceptions about this holistic method of production the results speak for themselves. Waldin’s new book shows that vines grown in biodynamic conditions deliver better flavour and growing success. Demeter, the global biodynamic certification body, reports winemaker annual membership growth of 20 per cent, and the US now has more certified wineries and vineyards than any other country in the world except France, while New Zealand aims to have as much as 20 per cent of its vineyards certified by 2020.

The popularity of biodynamic wine has grown immensely. The percentage of the world’s wines that are biodynamic and organic has grown from 0.5 to 6 in this century. But what exactly is it? Biodynamic wine is intimately connected with the terroir. The main distinction between biodynamic and conventionally grown grapes is that biodynamic growing methods develop the vineyard’s full potential and then capture the distinctive result in the bottle. As Waldin says: ‘biodynamics remains the best tool with which to make terroir-driven wine of the highest quality while enhancing rather than depleting the vineyard it came from.’ And that is exactly what consumers want: the best terroir in the bottle.

Waldin explains the theory behind this newly popularised method, which has its roots in the early twentieth century teachings of Rudolf Steiner, and shows why more and more growers are going biodynamic. Far from being mere voodoo Waldin says that ‘biodynamics offers effective, creative, enjoyable, stimulating and sustainable solutions to common problems experienced by contemporary winegrowers, such as reduced soil fertility, vines’ diminishing resistance to pests and diseases, and grapes which, despite being increasingly complicated to ferment, risk producing ever more banal wines largely devoid of individuality and interest.’

Biodynamic wine is an excellent guide for wine enthusiasts and students who want to know more about the most argued about development in the winemaking world in recent years. It celebrates ecological and biodiverse winemaking techniques and illustrates the origins of this global wine phenomenon. It is a must-read for wine-lovers everywhere.

Monty Waldin has been involved in biodynamic wine since 1993, when he visited his first biodynamic vineyard in Bordeaux. Since then, he has become an expert on biodynamic wine production and this growing trend among winemakers and consumers. He is the first wine writer to dedicate himself to organic, biodynamic, and natural wine-growing. He has made wine in both hemispheres and has worked in conventional (‘chemical’), organic, biodynamic and natural vineyards and wineries and is uniquely positioned to compare the pros and cons of each. These experiences have allowed Monty to get behind the muck, magic and mystery of wine, giving him a distinctive and respected voice amongst wine growers, wine makers and wine consumers.

Click here to buy Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic wine.