What makes a wine ‘biodynamic’?
Our line up from Forest Wines
I became aware of the term biodynamic being used to discuss wine about seven years ago and immediately shunned the phrase. For me biodynamic meant wine was clearly going the way of those wonky carrots farmed by dungaree-wearing hippies, flogged for £5 a kilo. Was there no end to this new-age madness?
As usual, I was wrong. Horribly wrong.
My first taste of biodynamic wine has stayed with me since. Ordering a pinot noir by famed biodynamicist Pierre Frick I was struck by the farmyard pungency of the wine. I assumed it was off and in my own middle-class way started fretting about every British person’s nightmare: having to apologetically suggest that there is something wrong with the wine.
“You’re getting chicken shit. Right?!” Poked the edgy barman. He’d clearly seen this reaction before.
“Yes, it’s… unusual”, I exclaimed.
“Trust me, you’ll fucking love it when you taste it. It’s a bio wine so it’s all natural. French pinots made this way tend to have that chicken shit aroma as there’s no sulphites.”
I nodded politely, not understanding what any of that meant. I tasted the wine. Heaven. Bliss. Power, finesse, purity. I needed to understand why it tasted like it did.
The famous bottle
Fast forward seven years and I am a fully paid up member of the Biodynamic squad, complete with dungarees and crocs. I have been fortunate to be able to taste wines from some of the finest estates in the world which have transitioned to biodynamic production, with impressive results. Robert Parker, the pre-eminent wine critic whose 100-point ratings changed Bordeaux in the 1980s and beyond had a penchant for Californian-style, big, punchy red wines with lots of new oak. In search of a coveted 100-point score which inevitably drastically improved their fortunes, châteaux across the region changed their winemaking styles to suit Parker’s tastes with many seeing these so called garagistes as bastardising centuries old approaches to viticulture and winery processes.
Since Parker’s retirement and the emergence of his British heir apparent, Neal Martin, winemakers across Bordeaux have returned to a wine-making approach that seeks total harmony with the surrounding area and are led by a desire to express the purity of Bordeaux’s terroir. Biodynamicism now plays a major part in several vineyards in the area, with Châteaux Palmer and Pontet Canet leading the way with exceptional wines. When the big boys are doing it, you know there’s something in it.
What is biodynamic wine?
Put simply, the answer is a wine made from grapes grown through biodynamic principles with minimal intervention in the winery. Biodynamic goes beyond not using chemical pesticides and herbicides in the vineyard and instead seeks synergy between the vine and its surroundings which can for example mean reintroducing indigenous vegetation or animals to the region to promote biodiversity or using ducks to gobble up pests.
Once the grapes are grown and harvested there is an extension of the biodynamic philosophy in the winery as winemakers can’t add foreign agents during the winemaking process like extra yeast or acid, whereas Organic wines (which are still virtuous) do not require this additional regulation. The video below from Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné led by the exceptional winemaker, Caroline Frey, is an excellent, short look at how they have created and enhanced ecosystems to support vine growth in the Rhône valley:
Ultimately, biodynamic certification ensures that the wine in question is a true representation of the vineyard and in my experience there is often additional quality and nuance to be found. Should we all consider buying more biodynamic wine (identifiable by its certification emblem of a green leaf on the bottle if you’re wine label surfing)? Yes. I think so. The generic consumer these days is arguably more ethically and environmentally conscious than in the past decade, so if you spend an extra couple of quid on your chicken breasts to ensure they’re free range, or a few pence extra on organic carrots to avoid pesticides then it stands to reason that you should strive for a wine which is given the best chance of stretching its legs and representing its terroirs whilst also featuring no man-made additives.
With some Walthamstow-based friends we decided to take this approach and put it to the test by doing a biodynamic & organic wine-tasting during lockdown, sourcing wines from the fantastic Forest Wines in North London. Particular kudos to Forest Wines for getting a box of six bottles to deepest darkest Wales the very next day and for such a wide-ranging and accomplished selection. Below are the tasting notes for the random smorgasbord of vino, which feature an orange wine, a pet nat rose and a white wine by Pierre Frick (he of ‘chicken shit’ fame).
A reminder of the Sour Grapes rating system, where a 1 is a good value wine can be read here
Blanc de Noir Sekt Nature, Krásna Horá 2017 - £26
Sekt is the German term for sparkling wine and one of the world’s best kept secrets following a renaissance in recent years. This Moravian fizz from the Czech Republic is made using the méthode traditionnelle from which Champagne is made, with Champagne yeast. 100% biodynamic and 100% Pinot Noir, this sparkling wine comes from a small family winery first operated in the 1960s under the Communist system.
Colour: Golden green with a hint of pink on rim
Nose: Wet wood, green apple, apple pie, malt biscuits, a hint of extra virgin olive oil, under-ripe peach, pith and clean minerality.
Palate: This has a gorgeously soft and smooth mousse with notes of tarte tatin, brioche and wet stone minerality. The bubbles are lively and biscuity aromas wash though the mouth. There’s tons of refreshing acidity and this bone dry wine has a pleasing note of salinity on the finish. This is an absolute joy to drink with wonderful purity and is thoroughly recommended as a one off. If the price were a little lower then I’d seriously consider buying a case.
Wildman Astro Bunny Pet-Nat Rosé 2018 - £24
If you haven’t yet heard of the pet-nat craze (I prefer the term hipster bubbles…) then you’ve either been living under a rock or, even worse, don’t have Instagram. Short for Pétillant Naturel, pet-nat is natural sparkling wine with minimal intervention from the winemaker. To make this style of wine, the vino is bottled before fermentation (the process of turning of sugar into alcohol) is completed, ensuring the reaction continues in bottle and generating latent excess carbon dioxide which dissolves into the liquid as fizz. Tim Wildman’s Astro Bunny, made using Italian varietals grown in the Riverland in Australia, has taken wine insta by storm and it’s easy to see why with its quirky branding and notes like: “recommended drinking location: park bench or beach”…
Colour: Medium orange pink
Nose: Lovely notes of peach, apricot, peach tea and those flying saucer sweets I used to devour as a child. White tea and ripe, pink grapefruit come to the fore with watermelon sorbet and an interesting lactose note.
Palate: There is a lot going on in the mouth, with thirst-quenching watermelon and peach, some rose petal, as well as a little grapefruit and passionfruit. I found that there was a gentle vine tomato note as well as a yoghurt-y lactose element. There is a lively mousse from the pet nat bubbles and fantastic salinity on the finish, making this incredibly refreshing.
La Stoppa, Ageno, Orange Wine 2015 - £37
Lets get this out of the way first: Orange wine isn’t made from oranges. You may have noticed more and more orange wines appearing on restaurant menus in recent years which I believe is a welcome change as this traditionally niche area of winemaking edges into the spotlight. To make orange wine, white grapes are pressed and rather than running off the juice immediately (as is done with most white wines) the skins are left to sit and macerate in the juices, imparting tannin and colour (often orange, hence the name). The easy way of thinking about this is to consider placing a tea bag in a bowl of water: the longer you leave the bag in, the more the water will take on its colour, flavour and tannin.
We pushed the boat out for this orange wine, and I’m so glad we did as it is a masterpiece of winemaking from Italy, with the grapes skins macerating with the juice for a full four months! Ageno let the vines manage themselves ‘autonomously’ without chemical treatments and there is minimal intervention in the winery with fermentation happening spontaneously using indigenous yeasts.
I decanted this wine upon opening and enjoyed seeing how it evolved over the course of about five hours, so I recommend doing the same if you are able to.
Colour: Medium to deep orange gold
Nose: There is real intensity to the nose, with peach, quince, peach tea, walnut and farmyard on first smell. Over a few hours the intoxicating perfume really opened up to show orange peel, baked rhubarb, calvados, a touch of eucalyptus, beeswax and blossom. Quite astounding.
Palate: Peaches, jasmine tea, carrot juice and real tannic dryness which takes some getting used to but which soon evolved to candied apple, a touch of vanilla pod and iced tea, with residual beeswax and blossom. This is a big wine which hits you like a steam train when you first try it (especially if you haven’t tried orange wine before) but once you’re past that it is remarkable in the number of layers that unfurl as the wine is allowed to breathe. This is a special wine from a committed biodynamic producer and whilst it’s not a wine that I’d drink every day, it would make a special viticultural centrepiece at a foodie dinner party.
Weingut DB Schmitt, ‘Frey.Korper.Kultur’ 2018 - £24
When this bottle arrived it was a pleasant surprise to note that it was a litre bottle of wine and not a usual 75cl format – meaning more wine for our dosh. From the Rheinessen in Germany, Bianka and Daniel Schmitt are two talented young winemakers who make biodynamic wine “just from grapes”. A unique blend of grapes, including German crosses (Huxelrebe, Pinot Blanc , Pinot Gris , Scheurebe & Ortega) are pressed and the juice run off straight away to make for wines with clean minerality and a persistent finish.
Colour: Cloudy deep yellow with a hint of green (no filtering or fining gives this vegan biodynamic wine the cloudiness).
Nose: Ripe green apple, quince, pear, white peach, lychee, almond. Fresh and lively.
Palate: This is a very clean and fresh wine with unmistakeable minerality, driven by fresh fruit notes of apple and pear, though these notes become more complex in the mouth, turning to apple tart and poached pear, with a hint of cinnamon and more tertiary notes. There’s lots of acidity here making for a mouth-watering and persistent finish.
Pierre Frick Chasselas Sans Souffre, Alsace 2017 - £22
I’ve already extolled the magical virtues of Pierre Frick and his mad but brilliant “chicken shit” wines. A master of Alsatian winemaking, this is Frick’s white made with 100% Chasselas, a dry and fruity white grape native to the region. The wine is left on the lees for an extended amount of time, which means the yeast is left in contact with the wine to impart bready notes. There is no filtering or fining, which means the pressed juice is exactly what goes into the bottle.
Colour: Pale yellow gold
Nose: A beguiling nose, with beeswax, honey, apple, grass, buttery pastry, gooseberry, greengage and white blossom. There is a lovely fino sherry note with a nuttiness, like hazelnut, that comes to the fore as fresh green fruit intermingles with baked notes, pastry and salinity.
Palate: This is an utterly brilliant wine. It doesn’t much feel like its disparate elements of fruit, salt, nut, pastry and honey, will ever come together, but they do tremendously and it is bliss. There is honey here, a touch of caramel, fresh green apple and freshly baked pastry. The finish has a wonderful salinity imbued with hazelnut that seems to last for minutes and minutes. This is a brilliant wine and at £22 for a biodynamic work of art like this I would urge everyone to try it.
Alfredo Maestro, El Marciana Garnacha, Ribera del Duero 2018 - £18
Ribera del Duero is a Spanish protected winemaking region in the country’s northern plateau, characterised by its rocky terrain. Alfredo Maestro (what a surname to have!) has made a 100% Garnacha organic and vegan wine with some naturally occurring fizz from trapped CO2. The wine is made from 50-90 year-old vines grown on decomposed granite soils at a staggering 1,000-1,200 meters elevation in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range around the village of Navaredondilla, which is known for UFO sightings, apparently, hence the funky label design. The age of a vine is important as with decades of age the fruit becomes more complex and concentrated across fewer berries because the roots reach deep into the mineral bedrock of the soil.
We tested this wine at room temperature and after chilling in the fridge, as described below.
Colour: Medium ruby
Nose: Dark chocolate, black plums, black cherries and raspberry come racing out of the glass, followed by notes of eucalyptus, ground coffee plus a metallic note, like fresh nails, and a hint of Mediterranean scrub and lavender.
Palate: There is incredibly freshness to this Spanish red, with a dried cranberry note, pine and eucalyptus and crushed black fruits, which never get too heavy thanks to the high acidity. Once chilled there was even more refreshment to be had whilst more of the fruit notes came to the fore with strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and a tobacco note, too.
