EKOS Communications, Inc.

Thirty seven days on the road brought us to the heart of California wine country. Our first stop was the Benziger Family Winery on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain. As we entered the winery I noticed a vibrant feeling of life, absent in wineries we rode past earlier in the day. The reason for this difference is the Benziger family’s commitment to a growing movement in the wine industry called biodynamic farming.

Biodynamics evolved from a 1924 lecture series by Rudolf Steiner given to a group of farmers experiencing declining yields from their lands. In many ways biodynamic farming is similar to organic farming. No synthetic inputs are used and all farm nutrients are recycled the result is a lot of manual labor and the use of natural processes instead of conventional farming techniques. A highlight of the Benziger system is habitats designed to attract birds and insects that help with pollination and pest control. Only forty two acres of the eighty five acre estate are planted with grape vines, the remainder are filled with a wide variety of other plants, wine processing facilities, and a few buildings.

By using only on sight inputs no flavors except those from the estate enter the grapes, forming a strong connection between wine and place. Biodynamics furthers this by working not only with the matter on the farm but with the life forces of the plants and the rhythms that they follow. The Benzigers use eight biodynamic preparations to regulate and stimulate the life processes of the grape vines like spraying plant leaves with a ground quarts solution to improve photosynthesis. For me, the most interesting part of the biodynamic system is that farming and wine making operations are timed with the cycles of the vines and the rhythms of the cosmos to take advantage of all factors affecting plant growth and wine processing. For example compost is spread around the vines after harvest because this is when the forces of gravity take over from the energy of the sun and root development becomes the plants primary focus.

So, why the extra effort, planning, and preparation to achieve biodynamic status? There are a host of environmental and health reasons similar to those of organic farming. Additionally, the use of on site nutrients and biodynamic methods amplifies the connection of wine to place. However, the ultimate reason is taste. While I can attest to the full intense flavor of Benziger’s Sonoma Mountain Red, a more reliable measure of biodynamic viticulture’s excellence is the growing number of consumers choosing biodynamic wines.