Sacha wrote:
On 2009-07-27 19:56:08 +0100, "Hamer Family"
said:

Thanks for those replies, yes I am aware of many of the issues and
critiques. However I am looking for people who actually do it.

We have no personal experience of it but some years ago, in Provence,
visited and bought wine from Chateau Romanin which was then working to
the principles you're interested in. I don't know if they do know but
it might be worth you're taking a look. Certainly, I would never scoff
at such things personally. I think there's a lot we're too complacent
about when scoff comes to shove. ;-)

FWIW my sister used to practice biodynamic farming in south Wales.

I was educated K through 9 at Steiner schools, and as a result tend to
take the wilder aspects of anthroposophy (or biodynamics) with at best
several grains of salt. (Sort of like Dave Allen at Catholic school.)
In particular it is hard to imagine how burying various substances in
the horn of a bullock can have much of a quantitative effect on the
microbial (or other) balance of the garden as a whole. Planting with
the phases of the moon is another issue, any mushroom hunter can tell
you that fungal -- and so presumably mycorrhizael -- growth is moon
related.

Still, the issue of wine that Sacha raises is a tricky one.

In fact, some of the best vineyards in France practice biodynamic
farming. In Burgundy: Dom. Romanee Conti, Dujac, Leflaive, Leroy to
name just a few. In the Loire, Huet, Joly, Breton, etc. In Alsace
Weinbach-Faller, Zind Humbrecht, etc. In the Rhone, M. Chapoutier and
others (Chave I think in Cornas). In Provence, Ste Anne and Trevallon.

The list goes on, a partial list can be found at:

http://www.forkandbottle.com/wine/bi..._producers.htm

In short, some of the very best wine in the world is being made
as the end result of biodynamic methods. Is it because biodynamics
enforces such stringent practices that the end result is great, or
because of the practices themselves? There's the rub; as a farmer
an important question is: does it matter why? For many viticulteurs,
who are skeptical of Steinerite hooey, the answer is "no." I've
had more than a handful of conversations recently, as with the Baudry
family in Chinon, where wine makers are considering/exploring
biodynamics "because it seems to work." (For whichever reason.)
Now these are people who are motivated by quality and have been for
generations, also educated in secular French schools with a low
regard for non-scientific thought. (My last visit we did a fascinating
tasting of the same vintage, pre-blend, from perhaps 30 barrels of
different ages and origins). They are conservative and traditionally
minded. If they are considering such a switch, it's because there
is a growing consensus in the professional community that the methods
produce a desirable end result.

HTH

-E