Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Yippee!'
Barry beamed at me. 'Well done.'
'But it's not at the price we wanted.'
'It doesn't matter. It's your first trade sale. Let's celebrate!' Aideen was over the moon.
'I got this present for you,' said Sean, handing over Nicolas Joly's book
Wine From Sky to
Earth
when he collected me from the airport. He was alone: Sophia was at school and Ellie
was playing with Alane at Sonia's. 'This is the path to exceptional wines.'
Nicolas Joly is one of the most famous biodynamic producers in France. His farm in the
Loire Valley has been a vineyard for more than a thousand years. I had read a bit about him
and his methods but I was sceptical. I felt like I had been given a school textbook as a gift.
After the experiences ofmy trip Iwould have appreciated a bookonhowto sell wine rather
than one on cow horns and lunar cycles.
'Thanks, SF. But we're going to need more than exceptional wines to make sales in this
market. It's more than tough out there.'
'I know, Carolinus. But I think we have extraordinary terroir and with hard work and bio-
dynamics we can do great things. You should read it.'
We quickly moved on to more pressing items, like following up our potential order. That
evening I opened the topic he gave me and started reading. Biodynamics is often called 'or-
ganics plus' or 'super organics'. We were farming organically and I was convinced, but the
mystical activities like burying the cow dung in the cow horn at the autumn equinox and
digging it out at the spring equinox to charge it with fertility were too much for me.
The topic was so gripping, however, that I read deep into the night. Joly gave substance
to the mystical elements. The dung buried in the cow horn in the right place at the right
time had been proven to have hundreds of times more soil-boosting microbiological activ-
ity than the same mix buried in a clay pot.
I learnt that biodynamics consisted of two key parts: working with the calendar of the
earth's position in relation to the moon and cosmos, and homeopathic-like preparations or
treatments for the soil and plant.
Formillenniamanhasusedthesun,moonandstarstoguidehisagriculturalactivity.Early
writers like Romans Columella (AD 4-c. AD 70) and Varro (116 BC-27 BC) noted ele-
ments we now think of as biodynamics. Before wristwatches we told the time via the sun,
moon and stars. They determine much of what takes place on earth, although in the modern
world it is easy to forget that and to think that the world revolves around us...
