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Well not exactly, but there is an entire philosophy of making wine that revolves around the Cosmos. Biodynamic winemaking is partially based upon the idea that the earth and plant life have rhythms in respect to their position to the sun, moon and stars. It is believed that the cosmos and constellations have influence on the different aspects of the plant’s growth, therefore the work done in the vineyard and cellar correspond with these rhythms. Oh, we know, it sounded crazy to us too. We could almost picture the winemaker in the vineyard on their cell phone with Dionne Warwick asking if the stars were aligned for harvest. As it turns out there is no 1-900 number, and while the principles of biodynamic winemaking may seem eccentric and untraditional, the results in the bottle are converting skeptics to drinkers.
Does the wine taste better? Well the belief is that by following the rhythms of nature, in conjunction with using only organic materials found on the vineyard, healthier plants are produced and ultimately better wines will result. But that’s just theory, luckily for us this is the week to put theory to the test.
Today in New York, is the 3rd annual “Return to Terroir” Biodynamic Tasting held at the Altman Building from 10am – 5pm. Top producers from around the world will be sharing their wines with the press, trade and curious wine enthusiasts. As we perused the list of attendees we were surprised to see how many well-known and highly respected names are Biodynamic. Producers like Domaine Zind Humbrecht from Alsace, Domaine Michel Lafarge from Burgundy and Poggio Trevvalle of Italy will be in attendance. In addition to the tastings there will also be roundtable discussions and seminars taught by Nicolas Joly, a leader in the world of biodynamic winemaking as well as the host of the tasting.
For those who appreciate a different way of looking things, this event should exciting and refreshing. We are going into this with an open mind (and quite thirsty). But if you can't make it to the tasting check out Appellation Wine and Spirits in Chelsea who sell organic and biodynamic wines. Store hours are not based on star allignment and they are open 7 days a week.
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Hello, nice article. It's not being pedantic i hope, but "terroir" is the way to spell that.
check your commas, spelling errors, and homonym errors ("their"?).
Although I don't really take the whole system to make sense, certain aspects of it probably do fit into what we know about the growth of plants. I'm pretty sure that its been shown that the moon's cycle has a direct affect on them: its better to plant during certain phases and plants grow faster at other times (I'm not really sure of the details). I think similar things could be said about the sun's affect, although it would be over a longer period of time.
Don't know about that stars thing though.
As Carl Sagan famously said "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". Stars other than our Sun are too far from us to do anything to life on Earth other than make the night sky look pretty.
Light from the full moon is a thousandth of a percent that from the sun. Lunar tides may make the oceans rise and fall but they won't do diddly to plants or the water/nutrients therein.
These winemakers obviously care a lot about the wine they make. That caring, and requisite hard work, is what makes their wine good, not astrological b.s.