Showing posts with label Jean-Paul Schmitt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean-Paul Schmitt. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Biodynamic winemakers - complete freaks ?

Weird people ?
If I told you that a biodynamic winemaker takes the flower heads of yarrow, fermented in a stag's bladder, and applies them to compost, or that he ferments oak bark in the skull of a domestic animal, you would think he was a bit nuts, wouldn't you? That's why people don't shout about it - it's just too weird.

But such processes seem to work. Some of the world's greatest wine producers are already making wine biodynamically, and increasing numbers are dabbling in it, from California to Australia, Chile to South Africa, Italy to France - especially France.


What is biodynamic winemaking?
So what exactly is biodynamic winemaking? Good question. Let me say that many winemakers who do it don't fully understand it. "It's like Japanese: if you jump straight into it, it's too esoteric, too strange," says Alsace biodynamic winemaker André Ostertag.
Another convert, Dominique Lafon, from the great Meursault estate of the same name, adds: "At first you can't believe the stories that you hear, but once you see for yourself what is going on in the vineyard, you are more ready to accept it."

The term "biodynamic" translates roughly from its Greek roots as meaning "working with life energies". Biodynamic wines are those made from grapes grown following the principles of biodynamic agriculture, stemming from a series of lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), linking man, the earth and the cosmos.
Steiner believed: "It is impossible to understand plant life without taking into account that everything on Earth is actually only a reflection of what is taking place in the cosmos." The biodynamic farmer thus sees the farm in the context of a wider pattern of lunar and cosmic rhythms. No synthetic fertilisers or pesticides are used here instead, they use a range of special preparations (the aforementioned oak bark, etc) to boost the productivity of the soil. These are diluted, then applied in homeopathic quantities determined by the position and influences of the sun, moon and stars.

The height of the moon, for example, is crucial to the planting cycle.
When the moon is descending, sap flows downwards and things don't grow as fast (including your hair, apparently - so it's a good time to get it cut), making this the best time to plant young vines. But that, of course, depends on where you are in the signs of the zodiac. I told you it was weird.
The days in the biodynamic agricultural calendar are divided up according to the signs of the zodiac. There are root days (earth signs - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), leaf days (water signs - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), flower days (air signs - Gemini, Aquarius, Libra) and fruit days (fire signs - Leo, Sagittarius, Aries). If you plant your potatoes on a root day in a falling moon, you'll have a perfect crop - or something like that. This is organic farming with knobs on.
It sounds mysterious, I know, but grape growers who have embraced the system report great improvements in the health of their vineyards, while winemakers claim to produce cleaner, more vibrant wines.

Lafon, who first started experimenting with biodynamics more than 10 years ago, says: "You see better growth in the vineyard - longer shoots, with roots that go really deep. I saw a vineyard that was almost dead double its crop after being farmed biodynamically."
And he declares: "Our fruit is riper, more intense, and better balanced in terms of acidity, with a more even crop. And all of us have felt that there's more energy in the wines - in the whites, especially."


Alsace on the lead
There are more than 20 producers in Burgundy who are into biodynamics, but Alsace boasts more than anywhere else in the world. "I guess it's a question of geography - Steiner's influence along the Rhine," explains Ostertag, who first experimented with it in 1997.
He, too, saw a virused vineyard spring back to life with biodynamics. "I was so impressed, I had to try it," he says. "It became less and less strange as I went along, though I can't explain why it works. Even scientists don't understand how it works. It's not rational, and I'm a really rational person. I don't think about it too much, I just do it."

You'll have to do your homework to search out biodynamic producers - most don't exactly shout about it (it's a spiritual thing, rather than a marketing thing), and give no indication on the back labels. Those that do so open up another can of worms, as very few growers are certified biodynamic (Demeter, a certified trademark of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association, is the main certifying body in the UK).


You could always search out Frederic Grappe. He runs Dynamic Vines, the first wine supplier to concentrate on biodynamic wines. His name might be familiar to many in the industry - he was formerly head sommelier at both Orrery and Roussillon restaurants in London. He has about 70 biodynamic wines on his books, from 18 different producers - all French, except one from Spain. And, yes, his on-trade accounts are mostly top-end, so far.
Grappe says: "I feel that these wines really need to be explained, so I need passionate people buying them, with serious lists." That said, one of his biggest customers is a modest French bistro, La Trouvaille, off London's Carnaby Street, whose co-owner, Guillaume Siard, is now a huge fan of biodynamic wines and lists 85 of them on his 100-bin list.
The bistro didn't start out that way, however. "When we opened eight years ago," Siard says, "we specialised in wines from the South of France, but we realised that most of the wines that we had chosen for the list were made organically or biodynamically. I am drawn to wines that have pure flavours, a vibrancy, balance and authenticity - which these have. But you need to choose carefully. Just because the wines are organic and biodynamic doesn't mean they are good."
He does attempt to explain biodynamics on his list, but to keep things simple he marks each wine with an "N" for natural. He explains: "It's much easier that way, as some aren't certified organic or biodynamic, and some are."

Authentic
Grappe has lots of explaining to do, but most people get it, he says. "Restaurant wine buyers are becoming increasingly bored with the globalisation of wines - the lack of identity and character," he believes. "Biodynamic wines are just so much more authentic - closer to the area they come from."
This is what drew him to biodynamic wines in the first place. "My palate was just moving closer and closer to these kinds of wines," he explains. "It's not just about the wines, either, it's about the people behind it. And there are more and more winemakers moving in this direction. In France, they were seen as complete freaks up until five years ago. Some people still think that."

You can't really blame them. Biodynamic winemaking has provoked a fair amount of scepticism, especially in the scientific community, who are put off by its rather esoteric, cultish image. And no full studies have been conducted yet, which would help its wider acceptance.

Nobody can say for sure how biodynamics contributes to these wines. There aren't any non-biodynamic wines made by the same producers in the same way to compare them against, and the practice has picked up only in the past 10 years.
Biodynamic agriculture is tricky and precise, and requires an enormous commitment from the winemaker, but the fact remains that some of the best vineyards - and vegetable gardens - in the world are biodynamic.

Based on an article in Caterer & Hotelkeeper

Monday, March 27, 2017

Matinée traction animale 3ème édition - Pulling horses working in the vineyard

For the third year in a row mister Boris Kachelhofer and Jean Paul Schmitt wines in Scherwiller organised a "Pulling work-horse morning" in the wine fields. There were some 6 horses from different owners present.



By the way some winemakers really own a work horse to be used by themselves and some also rent them out to other wine makers.




Of course in the old days, before there were tractors, everybody had to use horses to plow and work in the dirt. But machines took over. In the philosophy of biodynamy the use of machines has many disadvantages. There are vibrations in the soil. There is the pollution of the exhaust fumes. Most important probably is sitting high on a machine that moves over the grapes, you cannot see well what you are doing from up there. The "feel" of the dirt and being close to the herbs and plants is very important. You could say that a biodynamic farmer/wine maker "reads" his land and the grapes.


It is amazing to see how well trained or actually I should say: how clever the horses are. My first notice was that the horsemen do not shout at the horses at all. On the contrary they talk in a soft calm manner with the animals. The horses of course understand "stop" and "go" but they also know when they have to go faster or for example pull. Then they know left and right or to go in a circle. Left and right can also be really one step to the side and then straight on again.

You could see that the horses often understood in which small corridor they had to go when they were directed in a certain direction..


Depending on the structure of the dirt and for example the angle the animals can work from a couple of hours to 5, 6 hours per day. Taking my photos and being close to them I could really hear them breathing hard, so 5 to 6 hours is amazing then.

Going uphill just with my camera I already felt my legs after a while. Imagine how these horses must feel at the end of a days work. They probably do not get a massage afterwards, although I am sure they are well taken care off.

 All and all it was very interesting to see again how much work it is to be a bio dynamic winemaker, also from this perspective.. Only logical that the prices from their products are a bit higher too.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

One of our favourite Pinot Noirs ...

One of our favourite Alsace Pinot Noirs comes from Jean-Paul Schmitt near Scherwiller. The estate is officially certified for organic production by Ecocert.

 
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