Why do Biodynamic wines have a salty taste?
When I asked Biodynamic wine grower and Master of Wine Olivier Humbrecht MW why Biodynamic wines often display a salty character he replied that this ‘was linked to the ability of a wine to have greater ash content (levels are usually between almost nil to a maximum of 2g/l). Obviously vinification (eg. fining) can also influence this, not just vine physiology. A vine doesn’t just take only what it needs, otherwise such problems as excess potassium (K) in wines caused by exaggerated use of fertilizers rich in potassium (K) would not arise. The plant is in fact a bad filter. Elements in excess are absorbed in excess, so it goes the other way round: if there is a deficiency in the soil, the vine shows it, eventually also in the wine. My simple analysis is Biodynamic farming allows for a greater number and range of micro-organisms, fungi and bacteria, in the soil, much more compared to organics, and very much more compared to conventional farming as tests have consistently shown. All these organisms make it possible for vine roots to find a greater range of elements, hence the eventual greater ash content.’