Biodynamic Wine-crafting in Switzerland

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Swiss wine-crafting professionals (vignerons) have increasingly turned their attention toward a ‘holistic’ and ecosystemic understanding of their vineyards. Among them, a growing professional segment has engaged in an esoteric agronomy inspired by Rudolf Steiner: Biodynamics. This approach is illustrative of Bron Taylor’s dark green religion applied to agronomy. This ethnographic study describes and analyzes how Swiss vignerons translate and adapt the legacy of Steiner in their everyday lives. After detailing how practitioners frame their engagement in this agronomy, the author distinguishes two processes in the translation and adaptation of Rudolf Steiner’s insights: (a) secularization, which bridges the guidelines of biodynamics and common secular naturalistic ideas; and (b) spiritualization, which relies on supernaturalistic conceptions in line with ‘expressive selfhood’ and the quest for well-being. The author argues that these two processes do not stand in mutual opposition, but rather have been intertwined in Euro-American modernities.