Biodynamically Flavored Books

Yesterday, in observance of Valentine's day, I booked myself a flight to New York for Natural Wine Week and I'm now taking dance-card reservations, happy hour reservations, coffee reservations and dinner reservations that preferably need no reservations because homeboy (moi) is poooooooor-or. So hit me on the hip and we'll drink something funky.

In continuation of our biodynamically-themed week, I came across some books worth sharing. When I was first introduced to biodynamics I immediately tried to read some Rudolf Steiner but was rendered completely and utterly confused. Steiner makes for a fascinating read, and I've just recently been able to truly enjoy the lectures, but a preface to the philosophies is extremely helpful. I've still got a lot to learn about the subject, but these are the books that got me started.


Monty Waldin's "Biodynamic Wines" (pictured)
Monty has accomplished a wonderfully approachable read here, kicked-off by a mesmerizing introduction. The meat of the first half thoroughly outlines both the philosophies and preparations involved in biodynamics. The latter half of the book is dedicated to biodynamic winemakers across the world, and makes for invaluable reference material. I highly recommend this book for anybody even remotely curious in the practices.


Nicolas Joly's "What is Biodynamic Wines?"
Anyone familiar with Joly, knows he is decidedly dedicated to the philosophies of Steiner, and it helps to make his writing entertaining, engaging and exciting. Joly is among the more well-known proponents for biodynamics in winemaking and makes a very special set of wines in the Savennières region of the Loire Valley. This book is a bit more esoteric than Monty's but nonetheless an instant classic, covering a wider range of the spiritual aspects behind biodynamics. Also, the stuff about crystallization is pretty rad.

Gunther Hauk's "Toward Saving the Honeybee"
Without a doubt, one of my favorite books I read last year. It's depressingly short, however. I think I could happily read about Gunther Hauk's take on the world everyday and be happy. The book is technically about beekeeping, but limiting it to that would be incorrect and a mistake: this book is somehow about everything. Gunther does a superb job of demonstrating the personality behind biodynamics without being fancy, placating, or pretentious. He's just a delightful and honest dude. This is a book for everyone, curious about biodynamics or not. If beekeeping further interests you, there exists a book written by Steiner about the subject, which I've yet to read.

Also, pick up the Stella Natura Calendar. There are always some interesting articles by people like Jeff Poppen and Gunther Hauk, and then the calendar itself is fascinating, akin to the Farmer's Almanac, with a list of the best times to plant, to prune, etc.

That's where I started, and I'm admittedly still a newb to the subject, but the beauty of these practices is that the literature is so dense, there's always something new to learn from Steiner or his followers.