In the age of commercial winemaking, producers have started realising the impact of this practice on the environment. Steps in a new belief – Biodynamic viticulture. It is creating an impression all over world for its environment-friendly and sustainable practices. Considered a major step towards conservation, Biodynamic viticulture has some ritualistic beliefs yet some scientific applications. Sommelier Magandeep SINGH reports
BIODYNAMIC VITICULTURE – A SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE
There has never been a more pressing time than now to be conscious of our carbon footprint. ‘Sustainable’ isn’t just a hashtag to get behind on social media. It should be a collective decision that entire societies and populations take just to ensure that they are leaving behind the world a better. Scratch that, a not entirely ruined wreck of a place for the next generations.
While the green revolution had its benefits – mechanisation, higher yields, more efficient and hardy crops – it also had a downside. Say, soil depletion, excessive use of chemicals, loss of local vegetation. Which spawned off a movement to push for more eco-friendly ways to combat this. While the damage has been swift, the recovery will take a while. But, we all need to be patient. Biodynamic winemaking is one such step in the direction of not just conserving and regeneration mother nature but also to make wines with minimal intervention. Now that definition leaves itself highly open to interpretation, because what one person considers “natural” might be too much poking for another.
BIODYNAMIC VITICULTURE – SCIENCE VERSUS FICTION
More pertinently, while some aspects of biodynamic viticulture (or agriculture for that matter) are highly logical and scientific, certain others are not exactly, let’s just say, science-backed. They seem to teeter on the voodoo meets Reiki, as in, there might be something to them. But, it is hard to prove it in the scheme of things as they stand today. In other words, the ‘proof’ is a bit abstract to produce if we go by the metrics of the world today to explain things in a black and white manner. For us, the proof, is always in the eating of the pudding and a lot of the top wines in the world which consistently win awards are biodynamic. Some argue that those biodynamic winemakers would churn out great wine irrespective of the methods they employ. And many top vineyards are not biodynamic and, yet, make consistently great wine. One thing is for certain, the vineyards definitely look happier and the vines seem to be almost smiling… Oops, there we go too, talking in unprovable aphorisms and so begins the whole debate again.
Without trying to roil up a controversy or a heated debate, we ask you, dear reader, what do you think of Biodynamic wines? Do leave us a comment sharing your views.