The wine business has always been a lovely rainbow of color. From the pale straw of a Sauvignon Blanc to the yellow gold of a big Chardonnay to the ruby red of Pinot Noir, color has always been a big part of what makes wine so pleasing to those of us who drink it. Inky, purple reds aside, in this year 2009, the wine business is focused on a single color, and that color is green.

Currently, the wine news features stories about green labels, green packaging, green recycling and, most of all, green farming. Sustainable, organic and Biodynamic^® farming are all the rage. Recently the blogosphere has been burning up debating whether biodynamics is natural, green goodness or unscientific, witchcraft malarkey.

We thought it would be a great idea to delve into this subject. We wanted to know what the different labels meant when it came to "green" growing. We wondered what the cost differential was between organic and conventional farming, and we were curious about whether you really needed to bury manure in cow's horns (yes) and do it by the light of the full moon (not necessarily).

We invited three experienced, opinionated winegrowers to the table and had a lively conversation that lasted late into the afternoon.

Alan York is an international viticultural and Biodynamic consultant. He's been practicing Biodynamic viticulture for close to 40 years starting with an apprenticeship in the early 1970s with Alan Chadwick (the English master gardener and protégé of Rudolf Steiner, the father of Biodynamic farming). Some of his clients include Benziger Family Winery, Sting's property in Tuscany and Bodega Colomé in Argentina.

Neil Collins is executive winemaker and vineyard manager for Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, a position he has held for the past 11 years. For that entire time, he has farmed Tablas Creek's vineyards organically. Prior to that, he worked as a winemaker within the industry in that same area. Before winemaking, he was a chef.

Mark Beaman grew up on a family farm in Washington, studied geology and environmental studies and got a job working with Columbia Crest Winery in 2000. Since 2004 he has been assistant winemaker for Mendocino Wine Company including Parducci Winery and Paul Dolan Vineyards brands, where he has worked with both biodynamically and organically grown grapes.

What are the differences between sustainable, organic and Biodynamic?

Alan: My own personal definitions are that sustainable agriculture is agriculture defined by an effort to be conscious of what you are doing and its impact. Organic agriculture has that in common with sustainable agriculture, but in addition it eliminates synthetic products. Biodynamic agriculture has the former two in common with the addition of recognition that in agriculture, not only are mineral and physical depletions taking place, but also depletions of vitality and soul forces. So in Biodynamic agriculture there is an effort made to try and intensify those as well.

Mark: Sustainable is almost an umbrella that can encompass organic and Biodynamic. It is a general way of farming that guarantees that you can continue doing it into the future. We talk about the three "Es." And they are the social equity, which is how you are involved with your community, how involved you are with your neighbors and keeping things local. Then there's the environmental focus: does your footprint spread very wide? Then there's the economic, bottom line, so to speak. You are not very sustainable if you are doing everything right, but you are going broke.

Organic farming includes the effort to not use synthetic or petrochemical products that have a lot of residual time left in the soil and potentially can make it into the product directly to the mouths of consumers. Biodynamics is more of a regenerative farming system. You look at your farm holistically as an organism--looking at your soil's vitality, paying attention to the mycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationship that it has with whatever crop you may be growing, then also working with some forces in nature that can emphasize the quality of the fruit.

Neil: From my experience, sustainability is a practice with people moving in a direction with the best of intentions for the vineyard. Organic farming actually carries out those concepts. We're actually achieving looking after the land and have products expressing the land. For us it is a terroir thing that allows the land to show through as well as guarding it for the future.

Since I don't farm biodynamically, it's more difficult to describe. But from my point of view it's even more encompassing than organic and brings in philosophical and cosmic forces of the earth and world in general.

What would your criticisms of conventional farming be?

Mark: Wouldn't it be great if instead of going to the feed supply or the farm store, you could take care of everything on your own property as far as the inputs that are required in conventional farming. I mean, not all conventional farming is bad, but there are a lot of things that could be done with a greener approach that accomplish similar things. Some conventional farming methods are a quick-fix approach.

Neil: I don't think you can convince conventional farmers to move to organic or Biodynamic practices unless they have an interest to move in that direction. I don't have enough experience or knowledge to criticize what other people do. At the very least you should look at it in terms of passing your land on to your great grandkids. Which will be better for them so they can continue to successfully farm your land?

Alan: First I'd ask if they were satisfied. If they were, then I'd shut up. If an individual has not come to the recognition that they can do things in a better way, then you are not going to move them off that dime. It's only when people are discontented that they become open to different avenues of doing things. That said, in my opinion there is ample evidence that conventional agriculture is quite detrimental.

What is the difference in cost between conventional farming and organic or Biodynamic?

Neil: When I run cost analysis of our organic farming costs versus other local conventional farming, we are marginally, if at all, more expensive. So the cost is not usually different for us. The cost may be a bit more expensive because of all the hands-on shoot thinning we do, but the organic part of it does not increase our costs very much at all.

Mark: I could see how short-term costs might be a little bit higher with Biodynamic and organic farming over conventional; but when you compare long-term costs I think it is less expensive. If you have more disease-resistant plants, you can keep the vineyard going longer, and you don't have to replant as soon. The price of synthetic pesticides and herbicides is going up; but if you can produce your own pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers naturally on your own farm, then that's not costing you anything at all. Labor is a bit more the issue, but that is more trial and error. You are likely to make more errors at the beginning, and that may be more expensive until you get dialed in. In the long run, it becomes much more efficient, and those costs can go down as well.

Alan: On an operating basis, cash out, organic and Biodynamic may be a bit more expensive, about 10 percent or so, depending on how skilled you are. In Biodynamic agriculture your depreciation costs are higher because your initial costs in getting things set up are more expensive. You are looking at developing a whole piece of property, not just the vineyard.

The real issue with cost is where you start your accounting. If you start your accounting at the farm gate, versus the cost of manufacturing before it gets to that farm gate, it makes a world of difference. One argument is that you use more diesel fuel if you use mechanical under-the-vine weed management instead of Roundup. Well, how much energy did it take to produce Roundup? A lot. The way we ask that question now is a very superficial way of asking the question. But in general, I'd say out-of-pocket is about 10 percent more if you don't take into account those hidden costs.

Neil: When we did our research, the increased costs were marginal and the longer we're at it and the better we get, the less it costs. The bottom line is that our vineyards are getting better, not worse. When you go to replant, if you have to try to bring the soil back, then that can be very expensive. Organic farming is a more long-term view.

Alan: That's a great point. If you can increase the productive longevity of your vineyard, then that's where you are really talking about saving money.

Mark: That two- or three-year window, when you replant, is a long time because you have to pay farming costs as you prepare the ground, but you are not producing anything that will generate income.

Is there anything inherent in organic or Biodynamic farming that affects which rootstocks or clones should be used?

Alan: There are certain rootstocks that are not well suited for biodynamics. For example, RG is so surface rooted, and it has the propensity toward phosphorus deficiency, so it is constantly on the tip. It is very difficult to farm biodynamically if the vines are that dependent on you. The idea is to have the vines become so rooted that they become independent of our actions in that regard. It's a sliding scale because a lot is determined by the site itself.

Neil: Shallow rooting rootstocks would not be good. It's very site-specific. Farming technique enters into it. The dry-farming guys we work with have 12 by 12 diamond patterns where they are not getting any irrigation ever; so the rootstock choice is critical if the plant is going to survive in that situation. Vines have to seek moisture and their own nutrients. They're not getting much from us, especially where it doesn't rain most of the year.

Mark: Adventurous rootstock is good. You want roots that seek moisture and nutrients. Up in Mendocino, we still have a lot on St. George rootstock, and it has done just fine. It's the old stand-by, but it's pretty drought-resistant and it marries pretty well to whatever scion you graft to it.

Alan: Here, in Sonoma County, it depends on soils and other factors, but 101-14, 3309, 420-A are all good rootstocks. They don't take a huge amount of water if you farm them properly. The more vigorous rootstocks require less water at the beginning of the year, but they require much more water at the end of the year.

Does organic or Biodynamic farming produce better winegrapes?

Mark: I look at magazines from time to time to check scores. I saw a recent tasting on Syrah. Out of Australia two of the top eight wines were Biodynamic. From the United States two of the top nine were Biodynamic. If you consider that about 1 percent of total grape plantings are farmed biodynamically, then to have 25 to 30 percent of the best wines be Biodynamic says quite a bit about quality.

When you ask if the wine is better, my short-term answer is, "Yes, it is to me." The long-term answer is that they taste more authentic. That is sometimes missing in the consumer's appreciation of wine. Varietal correctness and a sense of the authenticity of terroir are important considerations. These wines may not be to everybody's taste, but they certainly are interesting and contain that authenticity.

Neil: One thing I know about Biodynamic farming is that people who choose to farm biodynamically are by nature very passionate and intense about what they are doing. So, of course, the product is going to be superior to that farmed by someone who is not passionate about it. To me that is a big part of it. Every time I sit down with someone to discuss Biodynamic farming, I realize it's not just the farming methods they use, it's because of who's doing it. There's the argument about whether man is part of terroir. In reality, man is probably the most important part of terroir because without that passion terroir won't show itself.

Mark: We like to say that wine is 95 percent grapes and five percent man; but if you really want to be an interventionist, you can move that to 75 percent grapes and 25 percent man. I think the Biodynamic winemaking standards guarantee a wine made with less intervention for a consumer who seeks out that kind of wine.

Neil: One thing guaranteed is that how you farm the wine has more impact on the wine than the price charged for that bottle. A lot of people buy wine on the price instead of how it is farmed. That's probably not the best way to make your purchases.

Mark: What I love is seeing fermentations and how the wine develops. We did side-by-side trials with a Zinfandel block. We're doing Certified Organic on it, but we were considering going Biodynamic. In 2006 we inoculated with a selected yeast strain, and we got plenty of blackberry and black cherry--and it was nice--but sort of run-of-the-mill Zinfandel flavors and aromas.

The following year, we let half go with native yeast, and the other half we inoculated with the same selected strain. Both finished fine, but the one that we went native with had this wonderful peppery aroma. The one we inoculated with was typical blackberry and cherry but wasn't as interesting or unique. In 2008 we let it all go native. We picked it in two separate blocks. One was more peppery with some beef jerky notes, more Syrah-like, but still very flavorful and aromatically intriguing. The other was more straight pepper, which we attribute to different soil types in the vineyard.

Neil: Everything I do and always have done at Tablas Creek is on native yeast. For me, it is a shame to use cultured yeast on organically or biodynamically farmed grapes. In my mind you will lose so much of the nuance of what you've done in the vineyard. It kind of defeats the object of what you've done in the vineyard.

Mark: That's why they are changing the winemaking standards for what you can legally call Biodynamic. It's going to be native yeast only. There will be limitations on acid additions in the "made with" category. In the upper category, you can't add acid at all. Oak should be restrained, and aggressive barrel alternatives will not be allowed. So the standards are set in place to preserve the authenticity of what is grown in the field but to also allow some wiggle room for winemakers so they haven't handcuffed themselves into making an inferior product.

Alan: Anyone who has had the opportunity to taste batches of the same wine made with cultured yeast and native yeast will immediately realize that you have given up way more than you have gained when you use selected yeast. Plus, it is not the true nature of the wine. I work directly with the winemakers on every property I manage. Our objective is to produce fruit that doesn't require high levels of intervention in winemaking. That's the whole objective.

As far as the regulations, it is not complicated. There is one reason and one reason only to be certified--and that is so the consumer is guaranteed that they are buying what they think they are buying. When a consumer buys a Biodynamic wine, they are assuming that that wine has not been manipulated to the point where the true nature of the wine is disguised. Their expectation is that the wine is a true representation of where it was grown and that it has not been overly manipulated in the winery.

Neil: It's all balance if you think about it. Everything in the vineyard and the entire winemaking program is all about balance.

Alan: In Biodynamic winemaking, one real technique used is blending. If you have a winery with five different varieties, and one is low acid while another is high acid, then how you put your blends together is a big part of the winemaker's skill. Blending is one of the highest skills winemakers can develop, and it leads to that balance that Neil is talking about.

Neil: It's a good point. For us, Rousanne is a great grape variety, but it lacks acidity. So we use Grenache Blanc and Picpaul Blanc, which have great acidity, and the combination of the two achieves the balance we are looking for.

How do the preparations work with the Biodynamic philosophy?

Mark: The preparations are what Steiner came up with as far as materials that were available on your farm that addressed the need for replenishing the soil and plant vitality. It was that principle of being a self-contained system to make these preparations from materials on your property. Back then they had animals and certain plants growing on the property. Taking advantage of what was already there and the composition of some of those things made perfect sense then.

The oddities of using a cow horn or the bladders were just things that were around at the time and were part of the recycling process that you had access to. Nowadays, we buy a lot of our chemicals and fertilizers in bags that are already prepared, so the old way seems very, very foreign to people. That's where a lot of people have their biggest difficulty with biodynamics.

They think, "You're going to kill a cow just to get its horns." That's not the reason people went out to kill the cow. They killed the cow for meat but found these other parts useful for creating these Biodynamic preparations as well.

Neil: How does that affect the validity of farming a vineyard biodynamically now when there isn't a cow in sight? That's not the kind of farm I have. It seems like a very big issue. I see the whole farm thing as Steiner saw it 100 years ago, but how does that gain or lose validity on a vineyard which is a monoculture of vines and has none of those raw materials on site? Does it matter if you have to buy your preparations from JPI (Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics)?

Alan: From your own experience, you know that when you first started organically that the insights you had were very different from what they are now. When you first started, you might have done things that you no longer think are necessary. It's the same with biodynamics. When you first start and you don't have your infrastructure in place, you will purchase preparations somewhere to get started. Is that the ideal scenario? Well, it depends on what your situation is and what natural resources you have available. If you have a small property that's all in vineyard without any area where you can diversify, then you are limited by what you can do. If you have property with only a portion of vineyard, then you can integrate some of the other aspects into it.

Why can't you just put the preparation in a plastic bag instead of cow horns?

Alan: We've tried that. The transformation doesn't take place. The transformation is dependent on the vessel. It won't work with a bull horn. It has to be a cow horn: that is a female who has borne a calf. The horn is pure silica, not calcium. Silica, as we know with computers, is a great transferent of information.

Mark: When I went to the Steiner College, we dug up 150 horns. Some of them weren't ready. There is a certain ideal width and length to the horns that is important. If they are too long or too wide, it won't cure the manure. There is some statement as far as proportionality. They tried a bull horn as well, and none of that had cured.

We're putting fresh manure into the cow horns. Then we bury it at a specific depth in soil with a certain water-holding capacity. We set the horns into the ground--tips up. The soil needs to be fertile. The soil needs some existing microbial life. When we dig it up, it has transformed into a different product.

Alan: I have to take blame or credit for the equinox, full moon thing. That timing works for this area. If you go north, the timing changes. I figured the equinox was an easy marker, and it works at this latitude. It's equal day and equal night and easy to remember. You bury the horns and then dig them up. So the horns are in the ground for a complete declination. They are in the earth for a complete cycle. We try to capture the energy that comes with spring. When we dig them up, we store them in a completely insulated area to protect that energy.

The real question people ask is, "Why in the world would you do something like that? Why would you take the next step and start making and using the preparations? There is no easy answer because it comes out of a completely different world-view. That worldview is called Anthroposophy, the wisdom of man, meaning that the human being is a microcosm of the macrocosm. Everything that exists outside of us also exists inside of us. The wisdom of the universe is the wisdom of humanity.

This is the basic worldview out of which biodynamics came. Humans are multi-dimensional beings in nature. We have a skeleton, which is in common with the mineral world. We have our "life body," which is in common with plants and means we have the ability to grow and reproduce. That's an order higher than the mineral world. Rocks don't reproduce. There's no proliferation of a new generation of life in rocks.

Neil: There is at Tablas Creek. Those rocks seem to reproduce like crazy. (Much laughter.)

Alan: The next layer is the animal world, which has the mineral world body and the ability to grow and reproduce; but in addition to that it has the ability to inwardly express its experience of the outside world, and that is predominantly through the ability to move and make sound. If you are around a calf and it moos because it is hungry, you can differentiate that from a moo that signifies danger. Or if we have pets, we can tell things from the sounds they make. Then you move to the human level, which has a spirit and that is connected to the eternity of the universe.

The preparations come out of an understanding that if agriculture is to be healthy, and we are to reverse the depletion of the vitality of the earth, then it must be ordered and structured in the way that a human being is in those four levels. We know that in agriculture we don't just deplete the mineral basis from farming; we can also deplete the vitality of it, its ability to bring forth new life, to grow and reproduce. Not only do we deplete that, but we also deplete its soul forces: like when you lose your bird population.

What is unique to biodynamics is the role humans play because it would be very easy for us to take the position that human beings are nothing other than destructive to the well-being of the earth. Biodynamics takes the view that we can also be a co-creator with nature and create "a second nature." Our interaction with the mineral, plant and animal world can lift it to a development that nature itself could never achieve. Biodynamics is agriculture that strives to lift up the vitality and soul of the earth.

Neil, you've been quiet for 15 minutes listening to this. What do you think?

Neil: I don't think anyone would have the remotest chance of believing all of this unless they've seen it working in some vineyard or farm. It's ridiculous when you listen to it; but if you see the effect of it, it has value. I've seen too many people do well with it for it not to have great validity. Do I even remotely understand it? No, I don't have a clue. You can talk about horns all day long, and I still won't have a clue. But I've never dug one up and seen the difference.

One of the reasons I haven't gone Biodynamic is because I don't know that I can truly commit to it yet. It's why I came. I wanted to hear these guys. It furthers my knowledge. For me, it's kind of like religion. I'd really like to believe it, but I don't know that I can.

Most people want to see physical proof of something working. I like what it is doing and what I'm seeing. It's just hard without physically doing it myself to get it, to understand it, to take that step. I want to be fully convinced before I start.

Alan: I think biodynamics should be approached with a healthy level of skepticism. If you threw all caution to the wind and "believed" it, then that would be unhealthy. I had a different reaction when first introduced to biodynamics. I thought, "This is really strange," but that's what appealed to me. It is so far out of the norm, I found it appealing.

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There is a lot about winemaking that is unique, but it is all predicated on farming. When rich people with romantic notions tell me they want to plant 40 acres of grapes, I always respond, "Would you want to plant 40 acres of tomatoes?" After all, farming is farming, and the sooner prospective growers realize that, the better they will be able to deal with the realities of growing grapes.

Still, even in farming, the wine business is unique. While plenty of corporations have bought their way into the wine business and while thousands of acres of grapes are farmed conventionally by large corporations, the wine industry remains viable for private, independent grape growers. Winegrapes, in some sense, seem resistant to the curse of "agribusiness." The wine industry has thousands of small autonomous farmers. These farmers remain stubbornly independent in their thinking. They provide thousands of acres where green practices can take root.

I've always been enamored of less intrusive methods in winemaking. The more you are able to let the wine make itself, the better as far as I am concerned. But it is never that simple. For example, I can see why our panelists all agree that native yeast would yield the truest expression of terroir; however, it might still be possible that selected yeast could produce better wine. If we are to make the best wine possible, then we cannot start with preconceived notions and we must be willing to experiment with every aspect of grape growing and winemaking.

Sustainability and organic farming make perfect sense. Taking care of the land, providing for future viability and ridding ourselves of synthetic products, where possible, seems like an achievable goal. Making the leap to Biodynamic farming requires more faith. It requires an almost religious fervor and dedication. I'm not yet a true believer; but after this conversation, I am convinced that Biodynamic farmers are passionately dedicated to their beliefs. I am interested and will spend more time checking it out. wbm

For more information on sustainable, Biodynamic and organic farming, read "The Green Winegrowing Handbook" at www.pauldolanwine.com/index.php/read-the-handbook-online  

For more on Biodynamic farming, visit:

Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, www.biodynaimc.scom/biodynamics.html  

Demeter USA, www.demeter-usa.org  

For more on organic farming, visit:

California Certified Organic Farmers, www.ccof.org  

Organic Farming Research Foundation, www.ofrf.org  

Environmental Protection Agency, Organic Farming, www.epa.gov/agriculture/torg.html  

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, www.attra.ncat.org/organic.html