Between the Vines


Taking organics to the next level


Summerhill PyramidWinery first in the province to obtain ‘biodynamic’ vineyard certification. By Judie Steeves


G


abe Cipes likens it to weeding a path that has not been used in a long time; one that has become grown over, because the concepts behind biodynamic growing have been around since before the industrial revolution, but they’re just returning to favour.


JUDIE STEEVES


Gabe Cipes and canine companion amidst the ‘companion plants’ growing between vineyard rows as part of the biodynamic viticulture practices at Summerhill Pyramid Winery.


Summerhill Pyramid Winery this summer became the first Demeter-certified biodynamic vineyard in B.C., which means the vines are nurtured by taking some unusual steps to grow grapes.


“This pathway is older than those carved in concrete today. It is key to our survival as a race,” says Cipes. “Biodynamics is based on healing the planet using preparations that are microbial-based to aid in fertility and soil relationships,” explains the son of Summerhill owner Stephen Cipes, who is directing the Kelowna winery’s biodynamic activity. The vineyard has been organic for more than 20 years, while the wine cellar was certified organic in 2007, under the lead of winemaker Eric von Krosigk.


Biodynamic, however, takes it to the next level, with companion plants growing between the rows of grapevines, on-site compost created from a mixture of organics from the farm and landscaping, food scraps from the kitchen, animal manure and special biodynamic preparations that increase microbial activity in the soil.


Mints, skullcap, parsley and motherwort thrive in the three middle feet of the eight feet between rows in the vineyard, to the delight of the chef for the on-site Sunset Bistro. The tractor wheels between the vines and the herbs help keep weeds down.


Learning about biodynamics has involved learning connectivity, about indigenous plants, ecosystems and permaculture principles, Cipes says.


He also makes use of the lunar cycles when it comes to planting, and he prepares inoculants for the compost pile using stag’s bladders or cow horns to sheath the plants which


ferment inside them, buried in the ground overwinter. Such plants as valerian, camomile, dandelion, nettles, oak bark and yarrow flowers are added to the compost in small amounts, a gram per five yards of compost, to enhance its digestion. Enzymes are released as well as fungus and bacteria produced, Cipes explains.


“Some people order these preparations from California but they should be sourced locally,” he believes. It has taken two years to attain biodynamic certification and there must be organic certification of the property for at least three years prior to that. It will take another three years before the winery facility is biodynamic-certified, says von Krosigk.


For one thing, a new facility will be needed, and for another only wild yeasts can be used in biodynamic winemaking, and no yeast nutrient or bacteria.


“We’ll need a serious lab,” he says, adding that there are a few last hurdles to get over. Biodynamic is the next natural step. “It’s a belief system as well as a process,” he explains. The changes also involve re-conditioning staff throughout the winery to think differently, and transparency is a vital part of being biodynamic, along with a hefty amount of paperwork.


Winery certification involves re-certifying every year because it includes everything from the trucking to the oak in the barrels, including filter pads and bottles. Of the winery’s 80 acres in the Okanagan Mission district of Kelowna, 40 are in grapes, and it’s only this property that is certified biodynamic.


Von Krosigk is pleased with how the new practices are improving the vineyard, which has really greened up even


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2012 19


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