Cow horn silica preparation sprayed in Beaujolais

Today (17th of May) we have a leaf day in biodynamic calendar and so the vineyard workers started their work very early today, before 6 a.m.,spraying a cow horn silica preparation in Beaujolais. They used 2 to 3 grams of silica in 35 litres of water per hectare. This preparation is always applied in the very early morning as a fine mist that drifts over plants. This spray enhances the photosynthesis of the leaf.

Domaine Albert Mann awarded Winemakers of the year 2012

Albert Mann Estate received the award "Winemakers of the year 2012" by the leading french wine 

publication "Revue du Vin de France".

It is the collaborative and complementary dynamic between two familie that has paid off here.  Jacky and Maurice Barthelmé, with their wives, Marie-Thérèse and Marie-Claire, have run the winery, Domaine Albert Mann in Alsace since 1989 with rigour and conviction without fault. On the 21 hectare estate, every year, Maurice, in charges of the vineyards, delivers Jacky, the winemaker, the grapes which express the nuances of their terroir with the exactness of a goldsmith. The result of Riesling Schlossberg is crystalline minerality: of Gewurztraminer Furstentum, intense, exotique flavours; of the late harvest and noble rote, or the complex Pinot Noirs, each of the estate's wine are impeccably defined in their expression. And as behind every great winegrower, there is often a great women, one must acknowledge the work of Marie-Claire, who manages the estate, and Marie-Thérèse, who, with finesse, oversees the global marketing of the winery. In a region which is comparatively unrecognised for the greatness of its best wines, Domaine Albert Mann is more than the benchmark, it's the epitome.

Vines on the 1st of May in South Burgundy

Fisrt of May is the day when  Lilly of the Valley is  ready to be picked up,but we still have to wait a few more months for the harvest....After an early budding, the vines are now back to a schedule in Burgundy, thanks to the cool and wet weather of the last 2 weeks.

Unhappy vines

Sad example of vines where chemical products killed any kind of live in the soil!

Neglected vineyard where the vines are fighting against the wild plants to survive.

Biodynamic farming

Biodynamic farming is a form of organic viticulture which developed out of lectures given by an Austrian scientist Rudolf Steiner(1861-1925) to a group of farmers.Since 1920's biodynamic exist in wine growing and reflects the relation between the natural elements. It is a farming that not only, like in organic winegrowing, excludes the use of synthetic chemical products such as herbicides, insecticides and atificial fertilizers, but also uses the seasonal calendar based on the movements of the moon (created by Maria Thun).
Biodynamic makes use of composts and preparations made accordingly to Stainer's instructions to dynamise the vines and the vineyard.The solutions are based on manure and/or preparations made of medical plants and minerals.There are 9 biodynamic preparations described by Stainer that we still use in vineyards today to enchance the soil quality and stimulate plant life.
Horn-manure, which is a cow manure fermented in a cow horn that is burried in the soil for 6 months (autum and winter),
horn-silica made from powdered quartz packed inside a cow horn and burried in soil for 6 months (spring and summer)
and plantes: yarrow blossoms, chamomile blossoms, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion flowers, valarian flowers. The last, liquid preparation, is made from silica-rich horsetail plant and used as a foliar spray to suppress fungal diseases in plants.

The preparations are used in homeopathic quantities, meaning they produce an effect in extremely diluted amounts.In the film we can see the prescribed stirring technique. Small amounts of preparations (a 300 grams mixture of horn manure, yarrow blossoms, chamomile blossoms, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion flowers, valerian flowers) have been added to warm water (37°C), than stirred in a circular fashion to create a vortex. Than the direction of stirring has been reversed to recreate a vortex in the other direction. Stirring lasts for an hour. Result is a water vitalised by only a small amount of preparation material. This liquid preparation has than been used to dynamise the soil.

Biodynamic at Domaine de La Soufrandière

Jean Thévenet and his sweet chardonnay

 Wine tasting with Gautier and Jean Thévenet was an exeptionally interesting experience. Their wines are considered atypical of the region and the AOC authorities are only permitting the winegrower to use the Mâcon-Villages appellation.

It is true that for many reasons wines of Jean Thévenet stand out from the Mâconnais crowd.

He works on Bio (certified since 2007 , however we will not find this information on the label),picks late fully mature grapes and  has low yields. Fermentation alcoholic and malolaktic ,using indigenous yeast only,takes between 1 and 2 years at low temperature. After that wine is racked to stainless steel wats. Selling of the final product starts a year after bottling. All that means that the wine needs about 4 years to be ready!

The other interesting fact about their wines is the amount of residual sugar.Their dry white wines contain between 4,2 and 4,8 grams of residual sugar depending on the vintage (the regulation outlaws wines containing more than 2grams of residual sugar).All this is due to the soil. In Domaine Emilian Gillet it is the limestone that dominates, whereas in Domaine de la Bongran it is the white marl. Marne blanche is a soil that we will normally find in AOC Corton Charlemagne and where white wines could have similar levels of residual sugars to Mr Thévenet's wines shall they have been vinified the same way.

We have tasted Mâcon-Villages 2007 , Viré-Clessé Emilian Gillet 2009 and Viré-Clessé, Cuvée Tradition, Domaine de la Bongran 2004 only to confirm that the naturally occurring residual sugar is perfectly integrated in the wine. Wine of Domaine de la Bongran being the most concentrated, fruity, floral and mineral.

The most extraordinary of all are the sweet wines of the Domaine de la Bongran.

Cuvée Levroutée (made in 1999 and 2005 only) comes from parcel where, due to the specific climatic conditions 30% of the grapes have been attacted by the noble rot giving an off dry Chardonnay with 10 grams of resigual sugar.

Cuvée Botrytis (made in 2001 and 2006) is made only when specific condition are fulfilled : morning fog coming from nearby Saône river is followed by long, sunny afternoons and when noble rot ( Botrytis Cinerea) attacks the Chardonnay grapes. As a result we have grapes with lower amount of water, higher concentration of sugar and acidity.Noble rot only attacks about a hectare of vines every few years giving as a result a very rare wine (around 1200 bottles). Enjoy it if you can!

Izabela Zammit