106 | October• 2018OF MOONS, STARS AND VINESannually. As a point of comparison,
huge vineyards such as Antinori and
Frescobaldi produce millions of bot-
tles a year.
While the bigger wine companies
may have sprawling factories that
hosttourbuses,biodynamicfarms
generallyconsistofafarmer,atractor
andfriendswhohelpatharvesttime.
Officially, these wineries are not
open to the public. Unofficially,
thesewinemakersloveshowingof
their farms and vintages. he winer-
iesprovidetheperfectentryintoa
part of Italy we don’t see very often,
apartthathasbeenuntouchedby
throngs of tourists.
And, perhaps most fascinating of all,
there is the deference to the cosmos.
“We bottle when the moon is de-
scending,” says Variara. Each year
Colombaiamakestworedwines,
acloudywhiteandatinybatchof
sparkling pink and white wines. “You
needtherightmoonbecauseshe’s
alive.Sheknowsshe’sinabottle.”
Ittakesmeasecondtorealisewe
aretalkingaboutthewine.
When I heard about people who
workedaccordingtoareadingofthe
phasesofthemoon,usingstarsasa
sort of extraterrestrial oenologist, I
wasfascinated.WhichishowIfound
myself in Italy (with my husband and
twochildren)seekingoutwineries
like Colombaia: ones that are more
farm than factory, exist in harmony
with the land and make some of the
most interesting wine in the country. PHOTOS, PREVIOUS SPREAD AND OPPOSITE PAGE: SUSAN WRIGHThe sugar in the grapes grows when
themoongrows.Soweonlyharvest
afterafullmoon.”
Va r ia ra’s pract ices may seem
unorthodox, but her method, known
as biodynamic winemaking, is
becomingmoreandmoreprominent
among a small cohort of Italian wine-
makers.Itfollowsanethoscreatedby
Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner
in the early 1920s, and the tenets as
practisedbygrowerstodayarefairly
simple:therecanbenosynthetic
chemicals or mechanical irrigation.
hefarmmustgrowavarietyoffruit
and vegetables, and there should be
animalstokeepthisminiatureeco-
system in check.
And the farmer must adhere to a
speciic celestial calendar. Hence my
astrolog y lesson.SebastianNasello,thewinemaker
at Podere Le Ripi (130 kilometres
southofFlorence)explainsitthis
way:“Organicfarmingdoesnoharm
to the earth. Biodynamic farming
aims to make the earth healthier.”
Most biodynamic vineyards pro-
duce about 10,000 to 20,000 bottles“ORGANIC FARMING
DOES NO HARM TO THE
EARTH. BIODYNAMIC
FARMING AIMS TO MAKE
THE EARTH HEALTHIER”