Advice on US biodynamic wines

Interesting, Cory. By well rounded and crafted you mean ...?

Where does biodynamic get too much credit for great things? The vignerons in France whose wines I love and who practice biodynamism do credit it with a lot. But they will forget more about grape growing and vinification that I will learn in my lifetime. So, I'm inclined to trust what they tell me.
 
Don't get me wrong, I think biodynamics is a great thing, and quite a few (most, actually) of the wines I drink are biodynamic. There is just a prevailing wind among some of my peers that this is the only way to go and that biodynamic technique equals quality to the exclusion of actual quality (I actually had no intention of starting an argument over biodynamics). As for the Benzinger, I thought it was all good, well made and I paid ten dollars too much for it.
 
No problem at all.

I forgot Quivira. they make some good meaty wines, as well as one of the few non-skittles tasting SBs from California I have tasted.
 
You should definitely include some of the recent Quivira releases made by Steven Canter. They're very good wines - their tasting room is handled well too, with the crew behind the counter buying into the benefits of the biodynamic processes.

Beaux Freres is another bio winery in Oregon but you'd need more billionaire dads to help out with the financial arrangements. I prefer the Brick House wines anyway, but think that Belle Pente are more fun to drink, even if they aren't officially biodynamic.

Beckmen's Purisima vineyard is certified bio, as are the Rhne varieties grown in Los Olivos by Demetria. Their Santa Rita Hills releases are still just lutte raisone.

Grgich Hills moved to biodynamie a couple of years ago, and their wines are easier to find than most listed here. Ceago is the winery Jim Fetzer founded after working for Fetzer winery. They're in Clear Lake and the wines are quite good.

-Eden (I like biodynamic wines because the more you drink, the healthier you become)
 
Thanks, Eden! I confess that I've only tried a few Beaux Freres and I found those exhausting or maybe enervating. I was definitely vexed.

Belle Pente practices biodynamie then?

I've never tried Beckman.

Nor do I remember having a Grgich Hills wine. I'll have to check them out. I think I assumed they were a mess.

Ceago looks quite interesting. Including the location.
 
Joseph Phelps. I know they are headed in that direction but not yet 100% of their vineyards are biodynamic. Not sure if they release a wine sourced solely from their bio vineyards however.
 
originally posted by Scott Kraft:


Belle Pente practices biodynamie then?
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I can call Brian and find out. I don't think that they're officially on the Demeter train, but I think he's farming that way and the wines taste pretty pure and focussed.

originally posted by Scott Kraft:

I've never tried Beckman.

Nor do I remember having a Grgich Hills wine. I'll have to check them out. I think I assumed they were a mess.
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I'm pretty sure that Beckmen's Purisima vineyard is their only site that's totally biodynamic at this time. It's a pretty good-sized vineyard and they sell fruit to others (Qupe, Brander, etc)so that they too can bask in the biodynamic bonhomie. As for Grgich, I think that their reputation has been tarred a bit due to their omnipresence in the 70s and 80s, not to mention a couple of harassment types of law suits concerning one of the co-founders. All's well that ends well (or in a settlement) and the conversion to biodynamic practices occurred about 6-8 years ago and the wines are quite good.

Ceago looks quite interesting. Including the location.
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And Katrina Fetzer is a particularly effective spokesperson for the label. I think she was raised biodynamically too.

-Eden (I'm also thinking that the Bonny Doon Vermentino is on its way to biodynamic certification but is not yet there)
 
I don't find Beckmen and Carlisle all that similar - to me, Carlisle has larger, more spicy syrahs than Beckmen. I do like them both, and had an amazing wine from Beckmen they had bottled back in '07 called Purisima Red. I think the Beckmens tend to be sweeter overall than the Carlisles, as well.
 
there are two separate biodymanic certifiecations--one for the vineyard, and another for the winemaking process.

all vineyards owned by cayuse in walla walla are demeter certified bio-dynamic (and their wines are all from their own vineyards).
 
Now, I'm suddenly unsure about bergstrom. I thought the Lancellotti and Bergstrom vineyards where both biodynamic, but they also purchased fruit which was not. The single vineyard estate wines are bio, while the lower tier wines are not. I just looked around their site, but I didn't find much direct information about the winery's status. Go figure...
 
And Katrina Fetzer is a particularly effective spokesperson for the label. I think she was raised biodynamically too.

-Eden (I'm also thinking that the Bonny Doon Vermentino is on its way to biodynamic certification but is not yet there)
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Carson's being raised biodynamically too. I was surprised to find that it was somewhat controversial among the school parents. More than a few moms thought it was "gross" to put cow horns under her bed. But then again, most of these women get botox injections.
 
originally posted by Scott Kraft:
And Katrina Fetzer is a particularly effective spokesperson for the label. I think she was raised biodynamically too.

-Eden (I'm also thinking that the Bonny Doon Vermentino is on its way to biodynamic certification but is not yet there)
Click to expand...

Carson's being raised biodynamically too. I was surprised to find that it was somewhat controversial among the school parents. More than a few moms thought it was "gross" to put cow horns under her bed. But then again, most of these women get botox injections.
Click to expand...

I hope you've been careful with the copper sulfate sprays. That stuff stings like hell when it gets in your eyes.
 
originally posted by Scott Kraft:

Carson's being raised biodynamically too. I was surprised to find that it was somewhat controversial among the school parents. More than a few moms thought it was "gross" to put cow horns under her bed. But then again, most of these women get botox injections.
Click to expand...

Using the Baby Steiner tapes and dvds?
 
I don't see Beckmen as comparable to Carlisle either. In the first place, Beckmen, while defintely New Worldy, is drinkable. Carlisle is not. In the second, the primarly aromatic impression of Beckmen wines isn't acetic acid.

But they're not Allemand, or even ESJ.
 
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