SANTIAGO DE CHILE –
'Halfway between the capital and the Pacific coast, Chile’s countryside becomes a patchwork of dry brown hills and verdant lowlands cut by endless rows of grapes on the vine.
Here in the country’s Casablanca region, a vineyard called Matetic is pushing new limits in the organic cultivation of wine grapes by experimenting with biodynamics – a movement that has gained momentum in wine-growing regions around the world, from the fields of France to Napa Valley.
Matetic is a relatively young vineyard, founded in 1999 by a Croatian family of the same name. Amidst the hilly terrain, Matetic maintains 168 hectares planted with varietals including Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay – all certified organic. Several years ago, Matetic took its first steps toward biodynamic production.
In 1924, Austro-Hungarian scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner founded biodynamics, which is defined by the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association as “an objective understanding of the spiritual world and its interrelationship with the physical world” that “relates the ecology of the farm-organism to that of the entire cosmos.”
As with organic farming, biodynamics precludes the use of pesticides, fertilizers or artificial chemicals of any kind but takes agriculture well beyond basic organics to include the study of and reliance on moon cycles, and the use of oval shapes to foster closed energy circles, elaborate compost preparations, among other efforts."
