When tasting a fine wine, I often think...complex, full bodied, great legs...but...

needs more cow horns!

Preparation 509: Baba ganoush aged in the skull of a healthcare townhall meeting shouter is spread over the compost.

Everything you listed has its purposed rooted in the natural sciences...not spirituality...so I'm not sure where your doubt comes into play. The applications are about enriching the soil, creating an environment that is biodynamically diverse, and letting nature take care of its own. Where is the spirituality in that? No one is leaving offerings to a pantheon of long-forgotten idols for pete's sake. Enjoy the wine and be happy it's making less of an impact on our earth...that's all.

Sorry, I was giving the abbreviated version. I love this quote: "Ray Isle, managing editor of Wine & Spirit magazine, says, 'So what if they also think burying cow horns full of manure will help them channel new life forces from the cosmos?'" Sounds spiritual to me. EL

The grapes are pressed by barefoot Apache dancers from the Montmartre district of Paris
while a naif waif paraphrases Piaf by warbling "La Vin en Rose."

Do the bottles also have little crystals hanging around their necks?

Sounds like they should call it Voodoo wine.

Is feng shui still considered to be in fashion by those in the know?

(I'm far too gauche to keep up with these things)

Toad Liver is mixed with Ox blood, and the eye of a three legged ferret and applied to the compost.

AHEHEHEHE

Cow horns aside, the general practice of biodynamics largely overlaps standard organic farming principles. From the April issue of the Urbanite:

"It’s easy to get sidetracked by the mystical (or kooky, depending on your perspective) aspects of biodynamics and overlook what even skeptics acknowledge as strengths of the approach. If nothing else, biodynamics demands a pretty rigorous effort on the part of the farmer to establish and maintain a close connection to the land."

(http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?issueID=71§ionID=4&articleID=1197)

I'm not saying you'll necessarily be able differentiate the taste of wine made with biodynamic vs. organic vs. neither-of-the-above methods, but for foodies who claim to value artisanal production, it's not such a huge leap.

Maybe somebody should check someplace besides Wikipedia.

don't forget the eye of newt!

There was a post on Midnight Sun by our friend Owl Meat called "I don't like Moon-days", May 25, 2009. In it, he quotes some scientists interviewed by The Guardian about the spiritual origins of biodynamics.

Here's the link to the OMG post he/she is talking about. EL

I appreciate the skepticism as I grew up in a family that use dangerous chemicals daily and science could save or kill you.

Just a little something to offset the ridicule: master gardeners will show you in their field notes, not their opinions, that the cycles of the moon affect yield concerning planting and harvesting cycles.

More importantly, there is something most of the comments above do not seem to know anything about that could explain some of this mystery: microbes.

In the past twenty years organic gardening and its science has shown that we presumed it was only chemicals in the soil, things we could mix and add, that made it produce.

That is not true. There is a level of life, mostly microbial and invisible, that creates and renews topsoil. If you look at the "deers bladder" or most of the other things, they contain friendly microbes. That is probably where the first cheese was discovered, for instance. A sheep's stomach might have produced it being used as a milk bottle.

So, look at the copius notetaking of master gardeners, familiarize yourself with the new PHD level work on the effect of friendly nematodes, plankton, bacteria, earthworms and even friendly viruses; and also think, "ITS ABOUT THE MICROBES, STUPID." Then we can all laugh, as it does sound crazy even if based on something sensible!

Thanks. That makes sense. I'm totally with organic wines, but this did sound nutty. And, of course, that wouldn't matter if we weren't paying more, which I presume we are. EL

Jeez ... no wonder no one calls their local Episcopal priest to bless vineyards anymore. Most of us still keep Rogation Sunday (five Sundays after Easter) but our rites are limited to a fancy dress procession and some cool prayers. We gotta get with it!

My concern is where are all those cow horns going to come from? Have a look at my take on it on my blog Wilf's Wine Press at:
http://wwpress.blogspot.com/2009/07/stop-tooting-your-horn-about-biodynamic.html

Would I rather have wine made by a vinter who believes in stuff that sounds like voodoo or by a huge conglomerate that mechanically harvets the grapes, modifies the wine in a lab and transports it in tanker trucks? I'll take the voodoo.

Black Ankle Vineyards in Mt Airy apparently practices biodynamics. And they produce GOOD wine, something I've had a hard time saying about any other Maryland wineries. Their white wines - Albarino, Viognier, Bedlam (a blend) were all quite nice. Reds weren't bad, either.

So - not sure if it's the cow horn or stinging nettles, but in my limited exposure - the results are good!

I am not that informed but didn't all farmers in ancient times use the sun/moon as a time keeper. That is why our holidays fall around pagan holidays and planting and harvest times (easter, thanksgiving, christmas, halloween). So what is kooky with people doing that today?

Sarah and farmers still do that as the seasons are what dictate their practices. However, few use the practice as a marketing tool.

What happened to Preparations 1 through 499? To be honest, when I saw the list of Preparations the picture that came to my mind was that of Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe around a bubbling cauldron, with Lonesome Polecat saying "Kickapoo Joy Juice needs more body. Throw in body." I am by no means a wine expert. My question is whether it makes the wine taste 'better.' And 'better,' like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder (or in this case, taster).

What happened to Preparations 1 through 499?

What happened to Preparations A through G?

Or Heinz 1 through 56?

Could it be that biodynamic is merely tony terroir repackaged for the organic/green crowd who think anything that isn't handmade, homemade, or local is inherently evil?

They are a lot of seconds for births!!!

What a waste of good cow's horns.

So . . . if the process requires horns . . . does that make the wine cuckolded? Cuckold wine?

Shakespeare would love it.