(TheDailyStar) - Biodynamics is a new(-ish) buzzword in the wine world. The Austrian radical thinker Rudolf Steiner introduced biodynamics as a sustainable agricultural concept 90 years ago. Essentially, Steiner argued that soil needs to be re-energized with substances prepared from vegetal, animal and mineral substances; that soil should be worked through ploughing and hoeing as opposed to mechanical means; and that anything added to the soil should be carried out at specific times of the year.

This last belief sits well with people from cultures that observe the Lunar New Year. Indeed winemaker Eddie McDougall, who is half-Chinese and something of a biodynamics skeptic, bottles his wines on dates marked auspicious for marriage.

Many vineyard owners are not interested in being certified biodynamic or even organic. This is true especially in “difficult” wine regions such as France’s Burgundy or Bordeaux where a whole crop can be lost without some chemical intervention if rain persists through summer, resulting in fruit rot.

Prestigious 5th growth Bordeaux property Pontet Canet had a set back from achieving biodynamic status due to the dismal 2007 vintage, when owner Alfred Tesseron believed that spraying was critical. The cost of becoming certified can also be prohibitive for a small property.

The owner of Hong Kong importer L’Imperatice, Julien Froger, even says he is against the fashion of organic wines. “We prefer working with producers who simply respect their vineyards and do not need any certification to prove it.”

Is there an affinity between vine growing/winemaking and an interest in biodynamics? Wine, after all, has long associations with religious thought: In traditional European villages, where’s there’s a church, there’s a vineyard.