Voodoo Vintners: Oregon's Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers

Chapter Eleven: The Naysayers

148 chapter eleven The Naysayers The language of Biodynamics, with its references to the alignment of the planets, undefined life forces, and the use of bizarrely fashioned preparations, seems totally at odds with a rational, scientific world view. As a consequence, most scientifically literate people have dismissed Biodynamics altogether; alternatively, they have regarded Biodynamic practices as affectations, and explain any benefits merely in terms of increased attention to vineyard management. —Jamie Goode, The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass “So we’re walking through the vineyard and we point out that we have these gopher problems. And this French consultant says, ‘Theess is what you need to do with zee goph-airrr: You cut off its head and put it on a spike at zee end of your vine-yahrd. And zat negative enayhrgee will scare zee goph-airrs away.’ And I’m like, ‘What is this, Spartacus? I don’t want Spartacus in my vineyard! This is awful!’” Alex Sokol Blosser is tall, with a friendly face and generous dimples. He’s energetic and speaks quickly. He is disarmingly frank and assiduously funny: he easily could do voice-double work for the comedian Seth Rogen, and would have no trouble coming up with material (his version of the shtick would be cleaner, though). So when Alex Sokol Blosser compares biodynamic viticulture to a gory Kubrick film, one can’t help but laugh. This is a guy who calls his elegant dry rosé “our seasonal beer”; his promotional vineyard videos on YouTube feature the recurring character of a silent ninja cellar rat, for no apparent reason other than the fact that it’s outré. But when it comes to running his family’s winery, Alex Sokol Blosser is dead earnest. He has served on just about every position on just about every board in wine country, including president of the Willamette Valley Winery Association. He was the impetus behind the Willamette Valley’s division into quality-oriented subappellations , starting with Sokol Blosser’s own Dundee Hills American Viticultural Area. The Naysayers 149 And the Sokol Blosser commitment to ecologically sensitive winegrowing goes without question. In 1996, the Salmon-Safe eco certification launched with a press conference at the Sokol Blosser tasting room; in 1999 Sokol Blosser was among the first group of Oregon vineyards to be LIVE certified. Every year, the winery releases a brutally honest sustainability report, celebrating small victories and reproaching itself for missteps. Certified-organic vineyard? Check. First winery in the world to achieve U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification? Check. Renewable wind power? Check. Solar panels? Check. Biodiesel? Check. Active in the Oregon Natural Step Network? Check. Check, check, check. Susan Sokol Blosser, Alex’s mother, was the original driving force behind all of these achievements. In 1971, she founded the winery with then-husband Bill Blosser; since then, she has been among the most zealous of the Willamette Valley’s green-minded vintners. For example, she spearheaded cover-crop trials in collaboration with Oregon State University and the Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District as far back as the early 1980s. But by the late 1990s, the Sokol Blosser family began to see the health of their older vines declining. Could their vines, like longtime smokers, be suffering from the effects of decades of chemical dependence? The family began farming organically in 2001 to find out if a more natural approach could invigorate their vineyards. “That wasn’t that long ago, but there still weren’t that many people who could tell us what the hell we were doing,” Alex recalls. “I would call wineries down in Mendocino County, where there is the highest concentration of organic vineyards in the U.S. I would talk with them and realize that I knew more than them, that this was a waste of my time.” He mimics holding a phone to his ear, then staring at it in exasperation and hanging up: “Hey, thanks, buddy.” Meanwhile, Susan had joined the Oregon biodynamic study group led by the eccentric Andrew Lorand. “That was something that really piqued my mom’s interest, because there were a lot of incredible wines coming out of Burgundy and Alsace that were biodynamic,” Alex recalls. “Biodynamics is really, I’ve gotta say, a lot sexier than organics.” Until you start practicing it yourself, and realize it’s the opposite of sexy. voodoo vintners 150 “Apparently the shape of some pregnant woman...