"biodynamic" news and stories

Have you ever wanted something so badly you could just...taste it? In my case, the tasting won't be possible, I'm afraid. You've probably heard of those swanky little boutique wineries in the Napa Valley that have such exclusive mailing lists that there's a waiting list to get on the waiting list? Some cult Cabernets like Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate fetch thousands at auction, and people buy them just because they can.

Enter Cayuse, Walla Walla's most disarmingly exclusive winery. Owner Christophe Baron didn't set out to make a cult wine; he just happens to be a fabulous winemaker with great viticultural principles who stumbled upon an excellent piece of land in Walla Walla, which used to be home to fields of sweet onions and now is surrounded by vineyards.

Baron farms his vineyards biodynamically, which is basically a step beyond organic: it's not just avoiding chemicals and fungicides, but proactively keeping the plants and soil healthy and in cycle with each other and the cosmos. (Yeah, it sounds a little wacky, but you should taste the wine. Biodynamic wine is truly alive in the glass, as one winemaker described it.)

Alas, the Cayuse wines are just too good for their own good. A sign on the door of the downtown tasting room says they're open "a few days a year"--with those days unspecified, of course, and possibly never even to be. My dad, who lives in Walla Walla during the summers and has developed quite the wine palate, tried to get on the Cayuse mailing list. He got a letter back saying he was accepted for the waiting list, but with Cayuse getting wine scores in the mid- to high-90s and everyone from investors to fanatics panting to get ahold of the wine, I advised him to adopt a burgeoning winery elsewhere.

If you're an eternal optimist, go ahead and sign up for the waiting list to the mailing list. Or head to Walla Walla on some odd day--maybe the tasting room will be open after all.

National Geographic, of all places, has put together a helpful glossary of the newest in vineyard standards and and farming practices. We all know about organic wine, but what about wines that, say, pair well with your astrological sign? We've summarized a few for you here:

• Biodynamic wine - Is grown using biodynamic agriculture, which means that farmers pay close attention to the holistic properties of the soil, and the relationship that is established between the soil, plants, and animals. Farmers also use astrological signs as a guide to planting and harvesting. Sound hokey? Maybe, but you can bet wine made from a biodynamic grape has been tended to with the utmost in TLC.
  

• Low-sulfite wine - Sulfites occur naturally in wine, but winemakers usually add more to prevent spoilage and oxidation. Some organic wine, as regulated by the USDA, cannot contain added sulfites, to the relief of people who are allergic. These wines tend to contain about 10 and 20 parts per million of sulfite, compared to conventional wines with 80 to 120 ppm or higher.
  

• LIVE/Salmon Safe wine - LIVE stands for Low Input Viticulture and Enology, Oregon's initiative to limit the use of chemical pesticides on its farms. Salmon Safe works with LIVE to ensure that chemical runoff isn't affecting nearby salmon. If you buy wine with either of these labels, it means an independent contractor has inspected the vineyards and assured that they were compliant with rigorous standards.
  

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