Applied Biodynamics — Issue 069 (Summer 2010)
Issue 069 (Summer 2010) profiles Frey Vineyards’ biodynamic conversion and preparation community, then covers tree paste, BD 508 storage, BD 501 quartz, and Hugo Erbe HE 9.
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Applied Biodynamics Issue 069 (Summer 2010) profiles Frey Vineyards’ conversion, cellar practice, and regional preparation community, then answers practical questions and introduces Hugo Erbe’s HE 9 Harmonizing Preparation.
Frey Vineyards: Practice, Perception, and Community
The Frey family began making wine in 1978 and became bonded in 1980. Around 1984 they committed to non-sulfited wine, learning through repeated cellar trials how strong fruit, clean technique, and careful fermentation could produce a distinctive wine without the additive. Biodynamics entered the vineyard in 1993–94; Luke built a stirring station and spray rigs, began applying the preparations across the home ranch, and joined the Biodynamic Association of Northern California.
Frey began making BD 500 Horn Manure and BD 501 Horn Silica onsite in 1994 and all of the preparations by 1996, the year the winery achieved Demeter certification. Training at JPI, work with regional makers, and practical organ sourcing supported consistent quality. Preparations made with the regional group were distributed through BDANC, with sales helping fund the association—a durable model for shared skills, materials, and responsibility.
Frey’s observations are richly specific. Across seasons he saw soil hold moisture differently, turn and move more readily, and develop a changed aroma. Plant diversity increased, and vine, leaf, and weed colors carried a stronger presence. Grapes developed thicker skins and a denser, more uniform native-yeast layer; mildew decreased; and fermenting grapes released fuller fruit aromas during punch-down. These practitioner observations show how soil, plant, fruit, and wine can be followed as one continuous quality process; the issue does not describe randomized controls sufficient to attribute the changes to biodynamic treatment alone.
Luke also describes biodynamics as a spiritual practice that changes the practitioner’s perception. The farm’s extended family, preparation workshops, BDANC gatherings, and educational work embody that insight socially: preparation quality grows through community, and community grows through shared work with the land.
Practical Answers from Hugh Courtney
For Biodynamic Tree Paste, Courtney begins with the classic equal parts of fresh cow manure, clay, and sand, then notes the successful modern tendency toward more clay and less sand. Greensand can be part of the mineral fraction when the manure and clay remain substantial. A minute amount of castor or linseed oil strengthens adhesion. JPI’s Tree Paste Instructions and field protocol provide the current application pathway.
Fresh BD 508 Horsetail tea is best used within about 48 hours. If it remains unused, Courtney recommends allowing it to continue into fermentation, creating the stable form described in Issues 067–068. For BD 501, he directs makers to true pulverized quartz, orthoclase, or feldspar silica rather than diatomaceous earth; ceramic suppliers can provide an appropriately fine mineral source.
Hugo Erbe’s No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation
Issue 069 announces HE 9 at 12 grams per acre. Egg whites, honey, cow’s milk, red grape juice, sunflower oil, cooking salt, and whole wheat are brought together through a long anaerobic fermentation. Within Erbe’s spiritual-scientific framework, these familiar human foods were conceived as an offering of gratitude to the elemental world and as a harmonizing companion to the Three Kings Preparation.
Courtney places HE 9 within a consistent program of BD 500–508 and interprets it as sustaining elemental beings before and after the seasonal offering; this is a spiritual-scientific interpretation, not scientific consensus. The recommended window is the Michaelmas season, from the fall equinox to Advent. JPI’s HE 9 Instructions and Three Kings practice guide make the two offerings easy to coordinate.
Key Topics Covered
Frey Vineyards as a family and social organism
Non-sulfited winemaking and repeated cellar practice
On-farm preparation making and Demeter certification
Regional preparation training, distribution, and funding
Reported soil, plant, fruit, mildew, yeast, and fermentation observations
Tree-paste proportions, greensand, and adhesion
Fresh BD 508 storage and continued fermentation
Quartz mineral sourcing for BD 501
HE 9 ingredients, rate, Michaelmas timing, and spiritual-scientific purpose
Repeatable Practice
- Choose adjacent or matched vineyard blocks and predefine the management difference; randomize treatment placement where feasible.
- Record every preparation, batch, dose, stir, date, crop stage, weather condition, cellar practice, and other intervention.
- Use fixed soil tests, moisture readings, canopy and mildew scores, grape measures, yield, fermentation records, and blinded sensory evaluation with the same rubric.
- Repeat across seasons and sites, retain null or adverse findings, and distinguish Frey’s practitioner observations and spiritual interpretations from controlled evidence.
Explore Related Resources
- Hugo Erbe No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation, guide, and instructions
- BD 500 Horn Manure, guide, and instructions
- BD 501 Horn Silica, guide, and instructions
- Biodynamic Tree Paste, field protocol, and instructions
- BD 508 Horsetail, guide, and instructions
- Three Kings Preparation, practice guide, and instructions
Articles
- Frey Vineyards: Cultivating Biodynamics in an Evolving Social Organism (H. Francis interviews L. Frey)
- Anecdotes and Antidotes — Biodynamics at Work (H. J. Courtney)
- Harmonizing Preparation of Hugo Erbe Now Available (H. J. Courtney)
- New Book Titles: Deep Gardening by W. Wodraska and Farming Soul by P. Damery
- Other Newly Acquired Titles: Metamorphosis by A. Suchantke and Wisdom of the Bees by E. Berrevoets
Citation
Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 69, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2010.
