Possible challenges faced by biodynamic vintners

Listening to Ivo talk about the essence of biodynamic practices and Thibaut explain the science behind Fruition Analytics during our Thursday class was eye-opening and thought-provoking.

As some may argue, wine-making is more an art than a science.  But everyone would agree that no vintner could make good wine out of bad grapes.  While both biodynamic practices and Fruition Analytics seek to improve the quality of grapes vintners grow, the philosophy and measures they adopt seem rather different.  

Biodynamic farming is more than an agricultural method, it sees the entire cosmos as one holistic “living system” and therefore the vintner must consider the overall effect of cosmos energy, lunar cycles and planetary forces on his plantation. There may be interesting practices like “Preparation 500” but otherwise there are also very sensible and sustainable approaches toward the control of pests and fertilization of the soil.

On the other hand, with the help of state-of-the-art technology, Fruition Analytics manages to break down the growing process into different aspects like irrigation, fertilization and maturation, then monitor and collect data about them with fancy sap flow sensors or laser mapping to ensure appropriate treatment is given to the plantation at various stages for improved yield of quality grapes.We see different vintners across the world subscribe to biodynamic farming, while other world-famous winemakers like Chateau Latour make use of the sciences of Fruition Analytics as well. 

This makes me think that although all winemakers strive to grow the highest quality grapes possible, they may take different paths along the way, and there is no right or wrong decision as to which approach one should take, especially as there are many variables at play, e.g. climate and soil conditions, scale of the vineyard, cost, and the owner’s belief and preferences, etc. 

That being the case, as technology continues to advance, the level of sophistication of Fruition Analytics (and the science behind it) will continue to improve, possibly resulting in better quality grapes at lower costs.  On the contrary, being a labour-intensive approach the cost of adopting biodynamic farming in vineyards is likely to increase over time.  In the longer run, would biodynamic farming still make economic sense in the increasingly competitive global wine industry, bearing in mind that the additional costs involved would unlikely be transferred to consumers completely? Could biodynamic vintners maintain sufficient profit margin to carry on with their existing practice and to stay competitive, or is it time they should start looking into ways to integrate advanced technologies into their production process as well?