Biodynamics
The postulate of the absence of synthetic chemicals (organic agriculture) is a political choice: stop, where we can, polluting the soil, the water table, the air…
The postulate of biodynamics is first of all a story of taste: it’s by tasting wines worked in this way that the desire to convert the whole estate following the principles of biodynamic agriculture was born and took root.
What is it about? Setting down the problem the other way around means inversing the “modern” proposal that isolates elements and reduces them to their “productive” function. Biodynamics embraces the sphere of the living, envisages the plant in its milieu, in its deep vitality, in its duration. This changes everything: because with biodynamic preparations (500 to 507), observation, the desire to grasp the vine’s cycle in its broad context (duration, elements of the sky, the earth, the environment), we obtain a balance, a harmony that gives a very great complexity and freshness to the fruit.
For more practical information on biodynamics, you can consult the mouvement de l’agriculture bio-dynamique, among other references.
In the vineyards
Biodynamics adapted to viticulture is the result of research conducted on the basis of the “Cours aux Agriculteurs,” a series of lectures that the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner gave in 1924, and in which he asserted the spiritual postulate of solid and liquid food.
In the wine cellars
Methods recommended by biodynamic agriculture were set up in 2006 on all the property’s 30 hectares. These methods have allowed us to look at the vineyards from a new perspective.
Certifications
The Domaine Philippe Gilbert has chosen the restrictive path of certification, first in AB [organic agriculture], then Ecocert (2006), then with the Syndicat International des Vignerons en Culture Bio-Dynamique [a union of winegrowers who apply biodynamic techniques throughout their property]: Biodyvin from 2007.
