A chuckle ran through the classroom when Prof. Hannan mentioned that Portland, Oregon was the US hotspot for biodynamic wines. Because, everyone knows, it's hipster heaven.
Some of you may have seen the episode of Portlandia where the two characters are eating at some sustainable, organic, farm-to-table, etc. restaurant, and Carrie asks for chicken, but then wants to make sure that the chicken was actual given maximum grazing space and was treated with respect... so, of course, she takes a break from her lunch and goes to the actual farm, where she ends up staying for years as she's sucked into the cult that runs the magical farm.
Which makes us sheepishly wonder, just how far could Portlandia take their spin on the seemingly outlandish practices (and some might say pageantry) for creating biodynamic wine?
Ripe Vines lists nine biodynamic wineries in Oregon, a considerable number (though the website also lists an impressive number from California as well). Willamette Week ran an article in 2011, with the title "Bullshit Beliefs: Oregon Biodynamic Winegrowers Use Mystical Cow Crap To Make Great Wine," interviewing Katherine Cole, who had published an entire book about the culture of Oregon's biodynamic winemakers. The article echoes Prof. Hannan about Oregon's role in the movement: "The organizations at the front lines of American biodynamic agriculture -- ground quartz buried in cow horns, stinging nettles mixed into compost -- are based in Oregon."
Cole comments about the eccentricity of biodynamic "founder" Rudolf Steiner, who genuinely believed that gnomes were integral to plant growth, "no, Steiner didn't drink or use drugs... he was on a sort of natural high for his entire life." And yet, in the next breath, she indicates a certain admiration for the process, which she believes is "very traditional" rather than merely fanciful, and capable of producing real "terroir-driven wines."
One of the more respected of the Oregon biodynamic set is Cooper Mountain Vineyard in Willamette Valley. The owner and overseer, Dr. Robert Gross, is also professionally a psychiatrist and acupuncturist. Their website goes into some depth about the nine preparations used (horn manure, horn silica, yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion, valerian, horsetail), but it also waxes poetic about they way in which they "release the energy to the soil and the plant" and "make a bridge between the forces and the soil." And, most memorably, "Wine is memory of land." The prices range from $15 a bottle to $50 a bottle.
So, nothing too extreme beyond the biodynamic enterprise itself, but a certain lyrical preoccupation that is likely part of the marketing pitch.
According to Portland food writer Liz Crain, there are 25 biodynamic wineries in Oregon, but only 7 of them are certified (I believe she is referring to the certification group known as "Demeter").
I'm heading to Oregon this coming weekend to go wine tasting in the Willamette Valley. I'll report back on how Portlandia it really is. From what I've heard, the tasting/hospitality experience in Oregon prides itself on being very different from Napa. So far I've noticed a few small differences including: the wineries have significantly lower tasting fees than Napa, the wineries offer to wave a tasting fee if you purchase, the wineries have less professional websites. These all seem like indicators of a growing (rather than maturing) wine tourism market. Over the last 10 years, Sonoma has gone through a similar evolution from no tasting fee to low tasting fee to high tasting fee that can be waived with purchase to finally high tasting fees (no ifs, ands, or buts). I wonder if we'll see a similar pattern over time in Willamette or whether Willamette will maintain its independent Portlandia style.
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