Lunar Findings

Fruit days are good and root days are bad – it’s the biodynamic mantra that’s rearranging tasting dates across the land. In search of the truth Henrietta Clancy engineers two tastings to examine whether eight out of 10 sommeliers can spot the difference

The theory that wine tastes different depending on the moon and its phases is gaining credibility at an extraordinary rate across the trade; what was once a hippyish theory bandied about by German great grandmother Maria Thun almost 50 years ago has made it into the agendas of numerous influential industry figures.
Its trade influence is phenomenal; a quick glance to the ‘Diary Dates’ section at the back of this magazine (or online at imbibe.com/events) will show you that there is a cluster of tastings desperately clawing to June 10, yet shying away from the almost-vacant June 11. Why? The former is a fruit day, a time when wines are said to be the best expressions of themselves, flirtatiously leaping from the glass and swirling around the tasters’ palates in all their glory; the latter is a root day, when wines are lazy, lackadaisical, dull – they are the same wines but they lack a certain pizzazz, the ability to charm a sommelier into claiming them for his wine list. At least, that’s the theory.

As a wine merchant, failure to check a calendar prior to organising your tasting date can, so the evidence would have you believe, truly bugger up your wines’ prospects. And despite the natural scepticism that surrounds this theory, there is increasing evidence that gives it weight. As was well reported in the media last summer, supermarket chains Tesco and Marks & Spencer have been plotting their dates accordingly for some time and are convinced of the benefits.
So we decided it was high time that Imbibe sought the help of some willing sommeliers to put the moon on trial.
There were numerous questions that we wanted answers to. Firstly, of course, are wines affected at all? And if so, to what extent? Is it varietally or stylistically dependent? Are biodynamically produced wines more susceptible to a lunar approach to their tasting, given that some feel they are more energetic and interesting than wines grown conventionally to start with? Is there a marked difference between the moon’s influence on New World and Old World? Are red and white both under the spell?
The six wines that were submitted for the tasting provided a healthy assortment of locations, styles and production methods – three were white and three red, three were Old World, three New, one was organic and one biodynamic.

On a root day wines are

lazy, lackadaisical, dull – at

least, that’s the theory

Under the influence
Our findings were not as sweepingly conclusive as might have been expected based on the popularity of the theory, though they did provide some interesting results (see graph below).
First the Riesling. According to one taster it was, ‘nice, fragrant and pleasant’ on a root day, miraculously becoming, ‘gorgeous: intense bright fruit, lingering finish, top cru’ on a fruit day. Such a result fitted perfectly with the well-aired theory that aromatic grapes are particularly exuberant on fruit days. However, this was immediately challenged by the reception that the Australian Sauvignon Blanc/ Semillon received. While the wine achieved a bout of praise on the supposedly dulling root day – comments included, ‘fresh fruits’, ‘slight vegetation’, ‘creamy finish’, ‘well-rounded’ – it was condemned to being ‘rather one dimensional’ and ‘too acidic’ by one taster on a fruit day, and as having an ‘overly vegetal finish’ by another. The graph reflects its loss of popularity on the fruit day accordingly.

We expected the Chardonnay to remain relatively unchanged. Although all talk of aromatics and fragrance was left behind, mouthfeel was definitely affected. On a root day the wine was depicted as especially rich – ‘creamy’ and ‘buttery’ – and as having a ‘bright, clean, creamy finish’. On the fruit day the results were not dissimilar, and the creamy finish was still acknowledged, however, there were additional comments that slated the wine’s balance as ‘not quite right’ and suggested it was ‘slightly bitter’ and ‘too young’. In this instance, the root day was the winning day for Chardonnay.
On to the reds. On a root day the Chianti was accused of being too tannic almost across the board, of leaving a ‘lasting bitterness’ and ‘leather on the tongue’. This was in keeping with the notion that tannins are harsher on root days. On the fruit day the scores that the wine received weren’t vastly different, but comments from the same sommeliers were far kinder. Although still considered a bit tight, ‘bright cherry fruit, plums and damsons’ were mentioned repeatedly, while the issue of harsh tannins was left behind. On a similar vein, Portugal’s offering – a blend of local red grape varieties – was described as having plums and ‘bitter nuts’ on a root day, while a fruit day saw an expansion of fruits detected, with ‘blackcurrant’, ‘cassis’ and ‘cherry’. Tannins were considered soft in both instances.

Are wines more expressive,

more exuberant, and more

vibrant on fruit days?

Pinot Noir and its soft light tannins certainly seemed to mean that root days were kinder to it. In fact, in most peoples’ opinions it seemed unchanged by the day it was tasted on. However, the graph tells a different story thanks to a rogue result from a single taster; he found the wine ‘simple, light, fruity’ on a fruit day and cast his lowest score. But on the root day he had a change of heart – he was smitten by ‘ripe berries’, declared the wine ‘very classy’ and proceeded to correctly guess the wine, and announce that it holds an esteemed place on his restaurant’s wine list. Again, the idea that all wines are improved on a fruit day was turned entirely on its head. Take note, Pinot Noir fares far better on a root day – for some people at least.
The Australian Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend is a biodynamic wine, and the Portuguese red, made up of local grapes, is organic. One train of thought had been that these wines might be more susceptible to lunar powers than the others being tasted. No findings here: the Aussie wine was significantly improved on a root day, the Portuguese offering very slightly preferred the fruit.

Back to earth
There is only one definite finding: that Old World scores higher on a fruit day, whereas New World, somewhat controversially, scores higher on a root day. An easy answer to this would be the assumption that these wines are staying faithful to the opposing lunar cycles of their native soils… Alas no, the moon is the same for everyone on earth. No conclusive finding there either.
Are wines more expressive, more exuberant, and more vibrant on fruit days then? Well, yes, 50% of the time that seems to be the case… All wines are affected to some degree by the day on which they are tasted, but the rhyme or reason isn’t as clean cut as the proponents of biodynamics would have us believe.
Taking into account our results at Imbibe, and the fact that not all wines follow the fruit: good, root: bad rule, what does this mean for the on-trade? Printing off a load of Thun’s calendars and inserting them into the front of your wine list won’t quite cut it I’m afraid. How about creating a bespoke wine list that warns the customer of each wine’s relative sensitivity to the moon based on blind in-house tastings of your venue’s particular list, carried out on a series of fruit and root days?
Or if that seems a little extreme – and let’s face it, few people like to be bombarded with overly-indulgent technical information when selecting a drink – do carry out the tasting in-house but keep it simple for the customer and suggest a biodynamic wine of the day – as changeable as the specials, it could run alongside them.
Oh, and take into account these findings the next time you’re at a tasting. If you want to retaste a wine before listing it, try calling it in on a different biodynamic day.

Thanks to the tasters, and to Fells and Liberty for supplying the wines.

The moon theory

The lunar calendar has long-been utilised by gardeners – having first been introduced to the world by Austrian philosopher-scientist Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s – with many vineyards also being managed along the same lines. The concept is broadly similar to organic farming, but expands to include elements of biodiversity and astronomy, with seeds being sowed in accordance with the moon.
Maria Thun started publishing an annual Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 47 years ago, in which she designated each day either a root, leaf, flower or fruit day, and declaring which days were best for sowing seeds, harvesting crop, and so on.
However, the idea that biodynamism can have an influence on wines after production, bottling and shipping, has gained a significant following only in the last couple of years. At the end of 2009 Thun published a booklet together with her son Mattias entitled When Wine Tastes Best, specifically for those wanting to use her calendar for the consumption of wine. Her theory is that wine is a living organism that responds to the rhythms of the moon; it follows the school of thought that, if the moon can exert such monumental power over the tides, it must also affect the water in our bodies, and ultimately, in our wine glasses.

Over the moon?
What our sommeliers thought about the tasting
‘There was such a marked difference between the days for me,
but what I thought was a fruit day was actually a root day. I think wines are probably like children, in that they all behave in different way. You have to ascertain what kind of child your wine is and then treat each accordingly.’ Roger Jones

‘Hakkasan is very much in to Biodynamic “philosophy” and we already support the theory with an entire page on our wine list. In this tasting I found that the wines were very expressive on both days but in different ways.’ Dario Buonavoglia

‘The wines were almost all fresh and elegant on the fruit day and closed and tight on the root. In future we may consider warning our customers when wines are likely to taste their best.’ Thierry Tomasin
‘I was abosultely bowled over by the tasting, it was the most fascinating experience and something that makes you question everything you know, including your own taste buds. It’s opened up a whole new box of ideas for us.’ Sue Jones

Editorial feature from Imbibe Magazine – March/April 2010

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