Two years ago we adjusted our bottling schedule to favor fruit days as designated by the biodynamic calendar. The change was small. We were already producing wine at the bottling line on a four-day cycle. Shifting to fruit days, when they fell within the cycle, cost us nothing in operational terms. We started doing it on the theory that several of our serious growers were doing it and we wanted to see what we would notice.
What we did
We obtained a Maria Thun biodynamic calendar and marked fruit days on the production schedule. When the bottling slot fell on a fruit day, we proceeded as planned. When it fell on a root day or leaf day, we held the bottling slot to the nearest fruit day, typically a delay of one to three days. The cellar can comfortably hold wine for an additional three days before bottling without quality impact.
What we noticed
Honestly: we are not sure. The bottling team reports cleaner aromatic separation on fruit-day bottlings, but we have not blind-tested this. The wine submitted for our quarterly tasting panel shows no statistically significant difference between fruit-day and other-day bottlings, but the sample size is small. Our anecdotal sense, which is all we have, is that there is a small positive effect. We are not certain.
Why we continue
The discipline imposes a thoughtfulness on bottling that the default schedule did not. The team thinks about bottling differently. The wine is treated with more deliberate attention. Even if the lunar mechanism is null, the procedural discipline is real. We continue the practice on this basis.
What we put on the label
The back-label legend notes the bottling date and, on bottlings we have specifically chosen as fruit-day bottlings, a small note designating the lunar day type. Customers who care will notice. Customers who do not will not. The transparency is appropriate either way.