Back in Mendocino at the Hearth Arrow Ranch Julie Golden mentioned something which caught my attention. A winery in Santa Cruz which does crystallization, crystallization of the finished wine and much more.

A week later I was able to meet Jillian Johnson and Philippe Coderey from the Bonny Doon Winery in Santa Cruz. Randal Graham the owner of Bonny Doon got famous for his eccentric style and passion for wine I remember reading an experiment where he put different “rocks” into the barrel full of wine. Trying to achieve some sort of minerality (it was a test only), the wines ended up with high pH and were not in best condition for consumption as I read. I had my own experiment by licking chalk stone in Champagne to see whether minerality works in a “cheaper” way, but it doesn’t. You simply have to buy the wines and enjoy as long as its lasts in the glass, the pure minerality…

Now this crystallization is interesting in many instances and caught my attention for many reasons but I remember talking with my teacher about energy and how does positive/negative vibration influences your body. My mentor dr. Robert Cey-Bert was telling me an exciting experiment which happened in Japan. Scientist were sending good vibrations, positive messages to a glass of water far – far away, the crystals turned out to be in a very good condition and, balanced and the water itself was clear. Now, Robert says to me when the scientist got to send bad vibration, negative messages to the water the crystals broke down and even the colour of the water changed. And as the human body consists of mainly water it can have the same effect on your body, hence positive thinking is so vital, laughing and all activities which creates joy and happiness matters very much for your well being. The people who are around you also affect and influence you too, they can give or take your energy away. I´m always happy when I meet my mentor as he is full of energy and is more then happy to give some to me. Same thing actually happens when you travel in certain places, this energy will come to you, while you adding some, you get some back, recharge your batteries you could say and its in a constant move.
But back to the Bonny Doon Winery in Santa Cruz.

Jillian (in charge with wine making, assistant wine maker) and Philippe (in charge with vineyard management, Biodynamic and crystallization) welcomed us in the winery Bonny Doon at Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco.
The winery has 60 ha of land, and 38ha are planted in 2007. Philippe was telling me it takes at least three years of conversion from conventional to biodynamic. You can see it on the colour of the plant, smaller vines and smaller canopy while the colour is a lighter green. Darker green would indicate more nitrogen. But also the irrigation changes the fruit quality very much, and the quality of the soil as well. The weed beside the rows means competition for the roots. The soil is not compacted and with less irrigation you force the roots to go deeper and look further down for water and nutrients as well. Thick roots are good, indication of age of course as well. While cutting down on water, no fertilization is taking place, just the biodynamic way, of natural compost. The roots can go deep as 5 foot and while forcing them down also happens that the sides are cut off, they should go much as possible straight down and not to the side.

While we started to the taste the first wine (see link to the notes at the very end) we continued our discussion on biodynamic and Bonny Doon approach to wine. Wild yeast is used, you get the right yeast strains as wine is a natural product from your nature in the first place. The use of selected yeast would mean unification. No special control in the vineyards, different year means different yeast. By earlier picking they achieve lower brix levels and the acidity- pH has to be in balance in the grapes. Philippe was recalling memory and experience as a very vital factor in deciding the harvest date. He says when the colour of the stem turns brown it means the vine is disconnecting.

Philippe was making an interesting point when I started to ask about clone selection. He is not the biggest fan of, clone selection at least not the sort of which you tend to see occasionally in California these days. People go on and talk about specific clones of Pinot Noir like the Pommard clones or in Chardonnay, like Dijon’s and wine is made entirely out of these then. He said it´s like creating athletes only, you need all the clones in the vineyard it’s a question of terroir. With the clone question you could effect diversity by just creating super humans. The soil is very much the terroir and why not have massal selection. He continued further on, the clone is a filter and cannot express everything, you loose diversity. By having nurseries and make their own cuttings, selection you could end up with a selection of 100 vines, different vines. The natural crossing is somewhat different, it´s done by the same plant and not from the seeds. Point made, he also agreed you need to have “athletes” as well, at least a few. But massal selection is also a good point.

Jillian was talking about the biodynamic school, there is a Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento. There happens to be also people who selling seeds with meticulous work, creating diversity.
All the wines of the Bonny Doon Winery are bottled under screw cap, as Jillian was saying it stays fresher for a longer period and they have to use less SO2 and no TCA. When I asked about the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and whether you have some reductive problems in particular with Rhone varieties which might even have a stronger then you wish barnyard (Brett) expression as of lower SO2 levels and lower oxygen levels. She said, under screw cap they experience a slower aging and also reductions could occur in the first phase.

The use of cooper sulfate is not allowed under the American biodynamic system, cooper is toxic and there are much tighter rules on this in America. Because of the threat of oxidization the question of how much SO2 should be used, the biodynamic practice answers it with a limit around 100 mg/L.
Minerality for some people is reduction and the high dose of SO2, while brettanomyces (Brett) occurs frequently when less sulphur is used in red wines. Philippe was meant to show us a wine a bit later which was made absolutely naturally, he was joking that me made the first Californian Banyuls.

Biodynamic is nothing new, it’s the tradition of the past was Jillian telling me, its been around for quite some time now. From the cost point of view, it might be a slighter more expensive in the beginning, but once in balance it`s the same and you make money up by spending less on fertilizers and other chemicals.
Natural minerals are picked up by the roots in combination of rocks which lay deep down, while with irrigation you don’t extract this properly and rather diluting the soil, the roots will not pick up the mineral character. Soil analysis is important, the chemistry of the soil but once the vine is planted on the “right site” there must be no tempering (like nitrogen, potassium). The Biodynamic philosophy says leave your vines alone and let express them self.

There are different days, so called root, fruit and leaf days and you work with the soil in a cosmic way, when there is more energy in the soil. It`s also about time and study by trying it out. In the winery for instance racking is done when the moon is descending, it means the gravitation is more in force (heavier) and the settling of the wine is better.
Jillian was telling me about the film from Peter Proctor: One man, one planter, one cow. An inspiring film she says.

Wine is about education or better said re-education and tasting. How to use the barrels and how different flavors have on impact in the wine. I recalled Dennis Patton’s words meeting him at Julie and Joe Golden place he was saying World Cooperage does make barrels specifically suited to your needs, by using ultra red techniques, determint the right toast levels.

Philippe was showing his little lab in his office. People tend to ask him what sophisticated equipment they are using in France in the vineyard. He lifted a very old hoe from the corner and, said: ”that’s it”.

Now crystallization is not new, it goes back at least 80years and you can do it at different stage, after fermentation, after bottling, and so on. The wine is a living organism and has an energy field, like all living organism.
The crystal reacts with cooper chlorite, its green, toxic and reacting to energy. You can tell a lot by looking at the crystals. You consider their shape, how well are they organized, the intensity (after filtration they tend to change) and density and divide it in different sections. Or simply the vibration of a cell phone, how they react by this, you see on the picture below, while showing unfiltered-filtered-wine exposed to cell phone calls

Like the centre of it recalls FRUIT, further away from the centre, like the middle rim is the VEGETAL section while the outer rim shows the MINERAL character. If the very outer rim shows a green colour it could indicate organic/biodynamic character of the wine.
So here is what happens, Philippe prepares lets say the wine for crystallization at night, as it the most quiet time (no shock, little vibration and influence). To 1 ml wine he adds 2ml purified water (no minerals, no charge, neutral enzyme) and 2 ml copper chlorite. Then around 95° Fahrenheit or ca. 30°C it goes into a shock resistant chamber with the mentioned temperature will evaporate for 10 hours during night. In the shock absorbent environment with the aid of heat the energy field is created, crystals form the next day. And Philippe not only does this with wine only, but it can be done with soil (analyzing soil) and even people. He showed me pictures of crystals how they react under different environment. Like he took soil samples from Nevada from the dessert, not much there but when he showed me the crystals from an Indian Reservation in Arizona there was a lot going on. You can tell by yourself. Or the soil which was farmed organically and the one which under went heavy irrigation (underneath).

The flow foam means revitalization, imitation of nature, water dies when it goes straight, it has to be free like in the nature. You take 10 g soil, 40g revitalized water soak it in for 30 minutes and create a filter juice and do the same. If acidity is high in the soil it tends to have a deeper red, while with the opposite high pH no depth and more details, while again with organic/biodynamic the colour changes to a green.

And same about people, they carry let´s say the wine all day with them, exposed to different things, but mainly their own thought, beliefs and feelings. Philippe was telling me he needs the person honest feedback on their well-being state, to help to analysis. It shouldn’t be a simple cold reading, which really is meaningless once you search for real answers. The following would apply to people and looking at their crystallization.

FRUIT- fire, love, sexual life and reproduction
VEGETAL- air, water, health
MINERALITY – mind

The crystallization might not be an answer to everything but is more then a tool when it comes to help assist in making different choices. With the organic/biodynamic approach you are doing a great thing in creating a value and protecting the earth. Crystallization showed that energy is around us and we can make use of it not only by applying but also learning how to use it.

The “Californian Banyuls” was natural made, a sweet wine which got oxidized as virtually no SO2 was added, fermentation came to halt as it reached high alcohol (around 17%ABV) and plenty of residual sugar remained in the wine. Oxidized, sweet but balanced was my first impression, a very good wine actually considering it was made with nothing else just organically grown grapes, fermented naturally and left pure as possible. Well done Philippe. I kept telling him that he should also write a book on this crystallization, I very much hope he does…

Philippe was telling me before we left another interesting story and absolutely not related to wine and while non of us will take responsibility if you try it out I shall still share it. I haven’t tried it myself, can not report on it and once again, no responsibility taken. He was telling me that he took a picture of his car which he wanted to sell, but had to use previously a sort of electrical tape to fix one of the letters on the plate. In doing this he actually created a sort of reflexion for the flash in the camera which was not able to record the letter covered by the tape. This was visible by merely looking at it but was not any more visible on the picture which he took. Now, applying the same might even work for speed cameras. Maybe? Would love to hear successful stories if it´s really working, I haven´t tried it myself…but its something interesting, especially if it works out.

Address:

https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/

Tasted wines
03/06/09

Bonny Doon Winery
Bonny Doon Winery
Ca´del Solo 2008 Treix Adura
80%Albarino  20% Larello
Clean pale straw yellow colour, green apple with a ripe nose. Very pleasant and crisp from the beginning. Dry, fresh, great acidity, good minerality, a real pleaser, green apple, light tart finish, good zip, great length.

Muscat 2008 Ca´del Solo
Giollo varietal of the Muscat
Pale straw yellow colour, lovely nose, floral yet there is some pineapple, mango and tropicalness present. Dry, medium acidity, pretty floral on the palate with a hint of pineapple too, good touch and finish.

Syrah Le Pousseur MMV 2005
Whole cluster fermentation
Ruby colour, spicy chunky red fruit on the nose. Fine acidity, soft grained tannins, good fruit base mint jammy and a red spice on the palate. Good

Le Cigare Volant 2005
50% Grenache 24% Mourvedre and the rest made up by: Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault.
The story goes back into the 50´s when in Chateauneuf-de-Pape it was forbidden for UFOs to land. The slang for UFO must be the flying cigar in French, Le Cigar Volant. Randal found this so funny he had to use it on his Rhone blend, and call it the Flying Cigar…
Bit tight on the nose at the start. Good acidity, fruit and chunkiness with a hint of spice and light meaty character. Needs time to breath (under screw cap).
25/06/09
Retasted this wine back in Germany, soft spice fruit with a great chunky red fruit character on the palate. The nose opens up slightly more but still probably better to decant as it´s still sort of tight. Soft meaty and spice with a red fruit finish on the palate. Nice one.

Tags: bonny doon, crystallization

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