Biodynamic needs understanding

US producers of biodynamic wines need to get beyond the "voodoo stuff" and educate the public, speakers told a seminar on biodynamic wines in San Francisco.

The message was that there should be fewer stories about pruning grape vines by the sign of the moon and more stories about the wines.

Mike Benziger, of Benziger Winery in Sonoma County, said there is a "very strong message'' to deliver about biodynamic wines if producers keep quality high and "let the wines do the talking ".

Benziger and producers such as Randall Grahm, owner of Bonny Doon Vineyards, were grappling with how to market biodynamic wines to a public clueless about what it is all about .

Grahm raised the bar on the discussion when he asserted the need for a new conversation about wine. "We need to get beyond talking about 'points' and talk about wine as a total experience," he said. And isn't that what biodynamics is all about?

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