Monty Waldin is the first writer to specialise in organic and Biodynamic wine. Writing on her JancisRobinson.com website Jancis said Monty’s latest book, Biodynamic Wine (2016, Infinite Ideas, Oxford) made her realise “I knew next to nothing about biodynamics.”

Fully illustrated and clearly written Biodynamic Wine aims to provide professional wine-growers, wine merchants, students on sommelier, WSET or Insitute of Masters of Wine education programs and wine lovers to understand biodynamic wine-growing and winemaking, its theories and practical realities, and its pros and its cons.

Monty’s introduction to organics came early as both his (English) parents and grand-parents grew their own organic fruit and vegetables. When Monty worked in Bordeaux in his teens (mid-1980s) he first encountered the term “terroir-driven”; yet it was clear Bordeaux’s wine-growing. Monty sensed that the more unnecessary sprays were applied to the grapes, the more additives and other corrective treatments were needed subsequently during the winemaking.

Over the next fifteen years, Monty interspersed jobs for traditional wine merchants in Winchester and London with vineyard stints in France, California, Chile and Germany whilst forging his reputation as an outspoken but objective observer of the world of wine. 

Work in an organic vineyard in the Pfalz region of Germany convinced him of the merits of a more sustainable approach. However it was the discovery of Biodynamics in 1994 during a visit to see Paul Barre, a Biodynamic producer in the Fronsac AOC region of Bordeaux, that was the game-changer (see here for the back story). Monty found Biodynamics more all encompassing, more sensible, more cost-effective, and more quality-oriented compared to conventional farming.

By the mid-1990s Waldin had become the first wine writer to specialize in green issues and he wrote various award-winning books.

Monty’s first book, The Organic Wine Guide, was written in 1998 whilst working for California’s organic and biodynamic pioneers the Fetzer family on their Home Ranch in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County. Monty created a biodynamic vegetable garden for the vineyard workers there in a ‘vinegarden’ biodiversity project overseen by ranch manager Dave Koball. When Monty returned home to England his book had won Britain’s Wine Guide of the Year. Further hands-on experiences, this time winemaking in Chile, helped shape Monty’s next book, Wines of South America (2003), which won America’s prestigious James Beard Award.

The seven months Monty spent working on a biodiversity project with the Fetzer family’s on their certified Biodynamic Home Ranch vineyard in Mendocino County, California under the supervision of vineyard manager Dave Koball in 1999 was seminal.

“Organics teaches you to worry about what’s under your feet,” says Monty “but Biodynamics reminds you to be equally concerned with what is going on above your head, such as following certain lunar cycles. These have a direct bearing on plant physiology and can save you money by allowing growers to anticipate potential problems. Self-sufficiency is a fundamental tenet of Biodynamics, not an optional extra as it appears to be with organics. And in terms of quality, Biodynamics gives an organoleptic edge because the vine’s roots, shoots, and grapes are allowed to express themselves individually and fully.”

In 2007 Monty moved to Roussillon in France to film Château Monty, the first observational TV documentary on biodynamic wine-growing as he made 6,000 bottles of red wine from Carignan grapes in the vineyards of Domaine Laguerre in the isolated town of St Martin de Fenouillet. The 18-month process behind it, from pruning through picking to bottling, was filmed by Tiger Aspect Productions for the UK’s Channel Four TV’s six-part television series “Chateau Monty”. The wine was called “Monty’s French Red 2007” and it was sold in the UK by Adnams of Southwold.

In 2014 Monty was filmed again, this time making Monty’s Pet Nat, England’s first Pétillant Natural fizz from biodynamic Chardonnay grapes grown by Nick Wenman’s Albury Organic Vineyard in Surrey near London.

Monty writes entries on Biodynamic, organic, and natural wine for Jancis Robinson MW & Julia Harding MW’s Oxford Companion to Wine. His book on Biodynamic Gardening (Dorling Kindersley, 2015) was called “a new step forward for biodynamics” by the centre for biodynamic research, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. It has been published in five languages.

Monty has been Decanter’s World Wine Awards head tasting judge for Tuscany, where his Italian partner Silvana and their son, Arthur, live. His photography has featured in leading international wine magazines and in Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide. His other books on wine include Monty Waldin’s Best Biodynamic Wines (Floris, 2013), and wine travel guides on Bordeaux (2005) and Tuscany (2006). 

BooksWines of South America, 2003 (Winner James Beard Award Best Wine Book, USA). | The Organic Wine Guide, 1998 (Winner UK Wine Guide of the Year 1999). | Biodynamic Wines, 2003 (Winner World Food Media Award). | Biodynamic Wine, 2016 (Infinite Ideas, 2016).

ContributorDecanter magazine. | GrapeCollective.com. | Oxford Companion to Wine ed. Jancis Robinson MW and Julia Harding MW (Oxford University Press), entries on Biodynamics, Organics, cover crops, natural wine and sustainability.

Radio, TV1994+ Various appearances both live and pre-recorded on TV (BBC1, BBC2), radio (BBC Radio Four, BBC local radio). | 2007-2008 The subject of ‘Château Monty’, a 6-part observational TV documentary on Channel 4 (UK) filmed over 18 months, of Monty growing and making Biodynamic wine in Roussillon, France, the first TV programme of this type. | 2014 Created England’s first Petillant Naturel sparkling wine from Demeter-certified Biodynamic grapes, a 100% Chardonnay called ‘Monty’s Pet Nat’, the grapes coming from Albury Organic Vineyard in Surrey, near London.

Podcast host: From 2016-2021 Monty was the first host of the Italian Wine Podcast (Mainly English language, sometimes in Italian, occasionally funny). Winner Best Interview Born Digital Wine Awards 2018 (for a podcast interview with Joe Bastianich).

Work experiences1984-1995 Stagiare or apprentice in Bordeaux, Chile, Germany and California with various respected oenologists, winemakers (Marc Quertinier, Jacques Lurton, Friedrich Becker, Walter Schug, Stefan Dorst, Gérard Gauby).| 1998 Created a biodiversity ‘VineGarden’ project for Bobby Fetzer and other members of the Fetzer family (who are among California’s organic & Biodynamic wine pioneers). | 2006+ Occasional Biodynamic consultant to various wineries in both hemispheres.

Wine judge2014+ Regional Chair for Tuscany at the annual Decanter World Wine Awards, London. | 2018-2021 Chair for Wine Without Walls, 5 Star Wines, a blind tasting of organic, Biodynamic and Natural wines organised by VinItaly International in Verona, Italy. Former Co-General Chairman of 5Star Wines The Book.

Photography: Decanter. | Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide. | www.chateaumonty.com/photography| www.jancisrobinson.com. | Daily Mail. | Please contact my agent Mick Rock of www.cephas.com.

Speaking: Recent keynote speaking to international conferences on Biodynamics-Organics in England (2014, Demeter UK), New Zealand (Organic Wine Conference, 2015), Serbia (Dec 2017, Demeter Serbia), Austria (Feb 2018, Demeter Austria), San Francisco (May 2018, Demeter USA). Presented a Biodynamic Masterclass for Vince magazine at the Budapest Wine Show, 5-7 April 2018, Hungary. Co-organizer of the first International Biodynamic Wine Conference hosted by Demeter USA in San Francisco (6-7 May 2018). Presented a Masterclass on Brunello de Montalcino DOCG for Decanter magazine in London on 02 June 2018. Presented a Biodynamics 101 masterclass at Wine2Wine in Verona 27 November 2018.

Q&A (from an interview for the Decanter World Wine Awards or DWWA 2013)Tell us a bit about your expertise and how you got into wine? “I got into wine as a teenager when my teacher sent me to France to improve my spoken French. Having made wine at home as a kid I managed to wangle a job on a Bordeaux château for the summer holidays. Having a big nose well suited to wine-tasting meant my career path was soon assured, and at a reassuringly early age. I have a very long-standing interest in organic and biodynamic wine-growing because both my maternal grandfather and my father grew most of their own vegetables. I learnt to recycle garden waste into soil-enhancing compost as a youngster. I probably spend as much time making biodynamic compost for vineyards as I do writing. Vineyards which recycle their green waste leftovers from winter pruning and winemaking are more likely to produce wines showing a greater, more unique sense of place, and with a lower environmental footprint. It’s a win-win for everyone, I feel.”

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned while working in the wine industry?Probably two lessons: 1) even though the customer is king wine industry types often forget this. Wine can be art, or science, or history, or romance, or whatever you want it to be, but from a wine-grower’s perspective the best bottle of wine is one which has been sold, paid for, drunk and enjoyed; 2) long wine industry lunches are invariably less good for your waistline and understanding of wine than time spent walking around vineyards with those that know them.”

Who has been your biggest inspiration during your wine career?When I was learning how to make wine in Bordeaux as a teenager an oenologist called Marc Quertinier (who had worked with many of Bordeaux’s top châteaux) taught me three key things: never judge a wine by its label, always see the positive in any wine before looking for the negative, and never overlook the importance of a wine’s texture. I try to keep these in mind when tasting and drinking wine

What are your most memorable wine moments from the last ten years? Rather immodestly I am going to have to say seeing ordinary people enjoy my ‘Chateau Monty’ wines. These were inexpensive, no frills wines for everyday drinking made with minimal inputs in either the vineyard or winery. They were simple wines made to be drunk rather than talked about, and they did the job.

What’s your ‘desert island’ wine? On a desert island living conditions would be pretty basic, and it would be hot. So delicate wines like Riesling, Burgundy or claret might not survive. Hence I would have to go for sherry, or best of all plenty of indestrucible Madeira both to drink and to help disinfect the succession of small wounds and bites I would get from desert island living.

What single piece of advice do you have for new people just starting out in wine? Spend 80% of your time in vineyards and wineries and the rest learning about the business of wine. Learning how to “read” a vineyard will help you read your wines and ultimately to read your customers, and what they like or what they say like.

When judging, what are you looking for in great wine? Honesty. By that I mean a great wine for me is one with a sense of place, even if that place is quite humble, because it means the wine has a personality, a unique identity of the vineyard it came from.

Finally, what are you looking forward to most about judging at the Decanter World Wine Awards? The fact that we as judges are under more pressure than the winemakers who have sent their wines in. We need to be consistently on top of our game to make sure we are giving each wine a fair chance, to accept the pressure we are under and to thrive on it. We must be able to put aside our own prejudices, and be capable and willing to deal with each wine on its own merits so that the cream can float to the top. Tuscan wines are not made for blind tasting but for food, because Italy is all about the family and the table. We need to keep this in mind when tasting Tuscan, and celebrate it.

Q&A (from an interview in Decanter for DWWA 2019): Monty Waldin is a British broadcaster, author, and occasional winemaker specialising in organics and biodynamics. Experience working in conventional, organic and biodynamic vineyards and wineries in both hemispheres with the likes of the Lurton, Fetzer, and Gauby families convinced him where the future of luxury crops like wine lies. In 2008 he was the subject of ‘Château Monty’, the first observational TV wine-making documentary series. This followed him making a biodynamic Carignan red in France’s Roussillon. In 2014, Monty produced the UK’s first Biodynamic ‘Pet nat’ fizz from Surrey-grown Chardonnay.

As well as writing regularly for Decanter, Monty contributes the entries on organics, biodynamics and sustainability for the Oxford Companion to Wine. Monty studied Italian whilst researching a travel guide to Tuscan wine in the mid-2000s. . Monty became Regional Chair for Tuscany at the DWWA in 2013.

Date of Birth: 13 July 1967, Winchester, England. British citizen. Real name: Matthew Waldin.

Education, Qualifications: Twyford Preparatory School, Winchester, Hampshire, England (1977-1980). | Bedales School, Hampshire, England (1980-1985). | Oxford Brookes University (1986-1989). Bachelor of Arts Degree (English & History) with Honours. | Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma in Wine and Spirits (1994).

Languages: English (mother tongue). French, Italian.

Books

Thorsons Organic Wine Guide (HarperCollins, 1999). Winner Champagne Lanson UK Wine Guide of the Year 2000. The first independently written book of its type.

Wines of South America (Mitchell Beazley, 2003) Winner Drinks Book of the Year, James Beard Award USA. The first illustrated guide to South American wine in English.

Biodynamic Wines (Mitchell Beazley, 2004). First global guide of its kind. Reprinted in 2006. Winner Best Book for Wine Professionals Gourmand World Cookbook Awards; Winner Best Wine Book, World Food Media Awards. 

Bordeaux – Discovering Wine Country (Mitchell Beazley, 2005).

Tuscany – Discovering Wine Country (Mitchell Beazley, 2006).

Chateau Monty (Anova/Portico, 2008). Tie-in for the “Chateau Monty” TV series.

Awards

Winner Best Wine Book, World Food Media Awards. 

Contributor to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide; Jancis Robinson MW’s Oxford Wine Companion; Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report; Decanter; The Ecologist and many other newspapers and journals.

Press: “A sceptic by nature, Monty Waldin has the advantage of having worked in vineyards and wineries in both hemispheres; he knows at first-hand, as few other journalists do, the kind of compromises and ruses which go on.” Andrew Jefford, London Evening Standard/BBC Radio Four, foreword to Monty’s ‘The Organic Wine Guide’.

“…one of the most useful and compellingly well-written wine books to have appeared in recent years…Monty has a great knowledge of wine and wields an unflashy but very pointed pen and he tackles his subject, covering a vast area, with superb style…Rating: 20 out of 20.” Malcolm Gluck, Guardian Wine Critic, on Monty’s ‘Wines of South America’.

“…I really liked the wine. It’s not grand and it’s not ambitious. It’s a nice fruity, thoroughly healthy, natural-tasting southern French red that has none of the usual harshness of Carignan (unless from very, very old vines). I would ideally drink it any time over the next six months. It tastes so round and ripe that I had to enquire whether it has any perceptible residual sugar. It doesn’t and is a very serviceable 12.5% alcohol.” Jancis Robinson MW (www.jancisrobinson.com) on “Monty’s French Red 2007”, a vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes.

WSET BIO MONTY WALDIN

Monty became the first wine writer and broadcaster to specialize in green issues. His first book, The Organic Wine Guide was published whilst Monty developed a biodiversity project for a biodynamic (Demeter-certified) vineyard in northern California owned by the Fetzer family, growing Biodynamic food for fieldworkers and making Biodynamic compost for the vineyards. The book, published by Friends of the Earth was voted Britain’s Wine Guide of the Year.

In 2007 whilst living in Roussillon in France, Monty was the subject of ‘Château Monty’, the first observational TV documentary on biodynamic wine-growing, covering the winemaking story from pruning to bottling. The six-part series was broadcast in 2008 by Britain’s Channel 4 and subsequently screened worldwide. In 2015 he wrote a ground-breaking book on Biodynamic vegetable Gardening.

“I see wine as food first and foremost,” says Monty. It makes no sense to buy organic food b

Monty wrote the entries for Biodynamic, Organic and Sustainable wine-growing for both the 2006 and current 2015 editions of The Oxford Companion to Wine (ed. Jancis Robinson MW OBE).

His latest book, Biodynamic Gardening, was published in March 2015 by Dorling Kindersley.

Monty’s other books include Discovering Wine Country: Bordeaux (2005);  Discovering Wine Country: Tuscany (2006); Château Monty(2008); Monty Waldin’s Best Biodynamic Wines (2013, nominated for the André Simon Award); and Biodynamic Wine-Growing: Theory & Practice (www.lulu.com & Kindle); and as a contributor to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide, Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report, and 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die.

Monty has also appeared on BBC radio and TV, has contributed to British newspapers (The Independent, London’s Evening Standard, The Daily Mail), and websites (jancisrobinson.com), as well as to wine, travel and environmental publications including Decanter, World of Fine Wine, The Ecologist, Harpers Wine & Spirit, Star & Furrow (journal of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association, UK), Biodynamics (journal of the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association, USA) and Le Pan Media.

While working on a conventionally farmed Bordeaux château as a teenager, Monty Waldin realized that the more chemicals were applied to a vineyard, the more corrective treatments became necessary in the winery. When the opportunity arose to write about wine, he specialized in green issues. His first two books on the subject, The Organic Wine Guide (Thorsons, 1999), and Biodynamic Wines(Mitchell Beazley, 2004) were the first guides of their type dedicated to the world’s organic and biodynamic wine producers. Monty’s interest in biodynamism was stimulated in 1999 by seven months working on the Fetzer family’s biodynamic Home Ranch vineyard in California’s Mendocino County. Experience either living or working in Chile, Bordeaux, and Tuscany contributed to his other books: Wines of South America (Mitchell Beazley, 2003), Discovering Wine Country: Bordeaux (Mitchell Beazley, 2005) and Discovering Wine Country: Tuscany (Mitchell Beazley, 2006). Monty’s attempt at making his first wine from biodynamically farmed grapes in Roussillon, France, in 2007 was filmed by British TV as “Château Monty”. This was the first TV series to follow the story of a biodynamic wine from pruning to bottling. Filming took over 18 months. Monty continues to produce wine and is now advising wine producers on biodynamic practices. His next book, Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic Wine Guide, will be released in autumn 2010.

WSET BIO MONTY WALDIN

Monty became the first wine writer and broadcaster to specialize in green issues. His first book, The Organic Wine Guide was published whilst Monty developed a biodiversity project for a biodynamic (Demeter-certified) vineyard in northern California owned by the Fetzer family, growing Biodynamic food for fieldworkers and making Biodynamic compost for the vineyards.

The book, published by Friends of the Earth was voted Britain’s Wine Guide of the Year.

In 2007 whilst living in Roussillon in France, Monty was the subject of ‘Château Monty’, the first observational TV documentary on biodynamic wine-growing, covering the winemaking story from pruning to bottling. The six-part series was broadcast in 2008 by Britain’s Channel 4 and subsequently screened worldwide.

In 2015 he wrote a ground-breaking book on Biodynamic vegetable Gardening.

“I see wine as food first and foremost,” says Monty. It makes no sense to buy organic food b

Monty wrote the entries for Biodynamic, Organic and Sustainable wine-growing for both the 2006 and current 2015 editions of The Oxford Companion to Wine (ed. Jancis Robinson MW OBE).

His latest book, Biodynamic Gardening, was published in March 2015 by Dorling Kindersley.

Monty’s other books include Discovering Wine Country: Bordeaux (2005);  Discovering Wine Country: Tuscany (2006); Château Monty(2008); Monty Waldin’s Best Biodynamic Wines (2013, nominated for the André Simon Award); and Biodynamic Wine-Growing: Theory & Practice (www.lulu.com & Kindle); and as a contributor to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide, Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report, and 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die.

Monty has also appeared on BBC radio and TV, has contributed to British newspapers (The Independent, London’s Evening Standard, The Daily Mail), and websites (jancisrobinson.com), as well as to wine, travel and environmental publications including Decanter, World of Fine Wine, The Ecologist, Harpers Wine & Spirit, Star & Furrow (journal of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association, UK), Biodynamics (journal of the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association, USA) and Le Pan Media.

Monty is also the Regional Chair for Tuscany at the Decanter World Wine Awards.