Biodynamics: it's complicated
Preparation 500: Manure from a lactating cow placed inside a cowhorn and buried during winter. Made into tea and sprayed onto soil in late spring. Supposed to stimulate soil microbial life and encourage root growth.
‘Where is your biodynamic wine?’
Biodynamic and organic wines do get asked for. I'm sorry if you're one of those customers who have asked me about them, because I know you got much more attitude and much more answer than you were expecting.
I don't mean to be peppery, it's just that I know this stuff is complicated; that there's a great deal I don't know on the subject; and I sometimes suspect that your motive in asking may be less to do with how biodynamics and organics work (which, as I've said, puts me on the back foot already), and more to do with how to live for ever or drink without hangovers or drink without feeling guilty about drinking, which are troubles that cannot be greatly calmed by philosophy or farming techniques alone—or in combination.
Lovely balance
The fact is, it is complicated. Hooray, then, for this article by ‘atheist…urbanite, and…killer of spiders’ Kelli White, who is senior staff writer at wine organization Guildsomm. Ms White goes into detail and keeps an open mind, virtues that make all sorts of things worth reading and especially articles on commonly aired and rarely understood topics such as biodynamics in wine. Pour yourself a glass, pull up a chair, and click the button.
The good old days
In the style of the good old days of the origins of this blog, that's it, that's your lot: I'm just going to point you in the direction of something interesting and then withdraw. Along the lines of a retweet but ever so slightly less lazy.
PS though
A further reason, though, why you might choose to have a read of Ms White's piece is that we're anticipating the arrival of a new order from Domaine Eugène Meyer, our suppliers in Alsace, who have done things biodynamically for more than fifty years now. We're hoping to have their delicious and cosmically aligned white wines (see the range here) in stock in time for Alsace Wine Week Ireland, whose centrepiece is the Big Alsace Tasting in Dublin on Wednesday 22nd May.
