Château Guiraud in Sauternes outlines their organic farming methods as a central part of their tours. Features such as insect hotels and a vegetable patch which is home to over 170 different types of tomato, foster a desirable biodiversity in the vineyards. During summer picnics can be organized under the lime trees overlooking the estate. At Château Climens in Barsac, a drying room stores plants such as nettle and chamomile until they are ready to be added to infusions and sprayed on vines to protect them from disease. A recent adopter of wine tourism, visitors are allowed access to this fragrant room during tours before a tasting of their famous sweet wine.
However, the greatest concentration of biodynamic wine estates in Bordeaux is to be found on the right bank of the Garonne, perhaps due in part to smaller–sized, family-run estates.
Viticulture at Château Falfas in the Côtes de Bourg was always going to be biased towards creating healthy soil and balanced vines as the father of owner Véronique Cochran, was the man credited with having introduced biodynamic theories into French wine making, via his interpretation of the philosophies of Rudolf Steiner. Another leading proponent is found in the Côtes de Castillon at Clos Puy Arnaud. Here Thierry Valet employs the strange practice of burying of a silica-filled cow horn in summer, the ground remains of which are later mixed with water and sprayed on vines later to boost their vitality. Alain Moueix of châteaux Mazeyres and Fonroque is another key advocate who believes that plants are sensitive to cosmic movement and he adapts his work in the vineyard to the lunar cycle. Visits at all properties are worthwhile and by appointment only.
Recent years have also seen an increase in the number of Médoc estates moving in this direction, the most obvious signs of which have been more animals in the vineyards.
It is not unusual to spot horses and donkeys during a tour of Pontet-Canet, and the estate also has its own cows providing the manure required to fertilize the vines. Other châteaux such as Palmer have used sheep in winter to eat cover crop and chickens to reduce the caterpillar population. As off-beat as these developments may sound, even the most skeptical visitor to these properties cannot help but be excited by the passion of the producers and the undisputable quality of the wines.
