Woot.com is an amazing internet success story.  Out of Texas, the site features one product per day with a limited number of that item in stock.  Woot has created a rabid fanbase who frequently buy out the entire lot by 9am.  Cultivating this fanbase is Woot’s own witty prose about the product.  The site’s meteoric rise has also brought it to raise $4m from Amazon (no word on valuation) in additional capital to fuel growth and operations.

In branching off to other product verticals, Woot started wine.woot.com (one wine a week) and shirt.woot.com (one t-shirt a day).  This week, wine.woot.com features a Benziger Family Winery Red Trio for $59.99 (plus $7 shipping).  In the trio, you receive a 2005 Merlot Feingold Vineyard Sonoma Mountain, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Stone Farm Vineyard Sonoma Valley, and a 2004 Winemaker’s Claret Sonoma.

Despite the perceived lower quality of selling wine on Woot, this seems to be an effective supply channel for reaching a voracious audience in an efficient manner.  The Benziger family is a powerhouse in the Biodynamic® world and any trend they follow is probably a smart one.

Chateau Monty, a Channel Four six part series, about Monty Waldin, former wine critic, author, and Biodynamic® expert turned winemaker aired its first episode this week.  Reviews have been mixed, but the concept is intriguing.  As reported,

But even organic wasn’t good enough for Monty. No – when it came to making his own, Monty decided he’d settle for nothing less than biodynamic – an agricultural method that avoids pesticides and chemical fertilisers, relies on nature to protect and feed the crops, and uses the lunar cycle for harvesting and pruning the vines.

So Monty traded in his Tuscan villa (where he was writing a wine travel guide) for a vineyard in St-Martin-de-Fenouillet, a tiny village of 40 set in the French Pyrenees, a region responsible for one-third of all French grapes, and gave himself 18 months to make a delectable biodynamic wine. Economic downturn in the wine industry meant that many winegrowers were selling off their vineyards, so it didn’t take long for Monty to find his perfect patch – a 5.5 acre, sloping vineyard home to 6,000 Carignan grapes and a stunning view over the mountains.

The result of Monty’s effort, trials (some that are hilarious), and tribulations is Monty’s French Red, a now popular selling bottle. Despite the mixed reviews, the show looks to be a nice warning signal to anyone looking to enter wine making.

Halesowen News coverage
Times Online review
Decanter review
Guardian interview

The Decanter World Wine Awards are the self-proclaimed “most influential wine competition in the world.”  On Monday, the named the organic and Biodynamic® wine store Vintage Roots the Specialist Independent Merchant of the Year.

From the press release,

The prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards, bastion of all that is classic in the wine world,  recognised the powerful changes of the 21st Century wine world on Monday 1st of September, as it announced for the first time an Organic and Biodynamic wine merchant as its Specialist Independent Merchant of the Year.

A new wine has hit the shelves from Western Australia.  One half of the team, “biodynamic ambassador” Pascal Marchand, has teamed up with Jeff Burch of Howard Park Wines to develop three varieties of wine, including a Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Pinot Noir under the label Marchand & Burch.

From their press release,

Incorporating biodynamic principles at every stage from the vineyard through to bottling, Jeff and Pascal have taken every step to craft a range of wines that best express the terroir from which the grapes have come.

Pascal started following biodynamics in 1988 during his time as regisseur at De La Vougeraie.

“You have to observe a lot. That is the main thing about biodynamics. It brings you closer to the forces of nature and helps you work with nature better, while not controlling or working against it.” says Pascal.

Through this inspiring project, Jeff has become a firm believer of adopting biodynamic practices in winemaking, which will see his Howard Park range of wines following suit in years to come.

“Once it’s gripped you (biodynamics), it’s an all encompassing passion. The science behind biodynamic practices is good common sense for the land and the quality of the wine…and through these practices we are starting to see some amazing results in our wines.” says Jeff.

From our reading and talking to our wine-loving friends, this has been a highly anticipated partnership by two experienced vintners.  According to Red White and Green, the company will have a “biodynamic practice in some vineyards, not certified.”  Keep an eye out for these new bottles!

Bonny Doon has a post-Labor Day special,

Spend $99 or more (before tax) and we’ll include ground shipping at no additional charge. Offer ends 9/30/2008. If you cannot ship via ground delivery, please call us at 1-888-819-6789 to receive discounted shipping.

If you are in one of the states that allows shipping of wine to your home, go for one of their delicious Syrahs!

Ambassador Organics just popped in our inbox to mention a new special,

In celebration of Labor Day and Back-to-School , Ambassador Organics, a fair trade certified company, would like to make a special offer to you! From now until September 15th, receive one Ambassador Organics Tea free when you purchase one.

Hop on by and pick up some tea for autumn!

The Demeter Biodynamic® Trade Association just launched a new site that is gorgeous, helpful, and very noteworthy.  It’s imperative to look for Demeter Certified Biodynamic® certification marks when purchasing products that are crediting themselves with Biodynamic® practices.

One of our biggest hopes here at the Biodynamic Telegraph is to not only educated our readers (which are growing in number everyday), but to also hold the industry accountable so that we don’t encounter the greenwashing that occurs with organic items.  This is imperative not only for educating the consumer, but also to keep integrity in the marketplace.

We here at Biodynamic Telegraph will do our best to highlight certified and non-certified products, but it is most important for you, the reader and consumer, to always look for the above label.  It will guide the future of our passion in Biodynamic® products and encourage commercial enterprises to rigorously follow the high-standards that Demeter maintains.

The Benziger Family recently won the first ever “Endangered Species Coalition Champion Award for Land Stewardship” presented by the Endangered Species Coalition.  According to Sonoma News, “The Endangered Species Coalition hopes that the award will encourage many other landowners to explore sustainable land-management practices that protect wildlife as well as open spaces in local communities.”
Congratulations to a great family and wonderful Biodynamic® vineyard!

The Peoria Journal Star caught up with Carol Mosley Braun recently.  As you’ll recall, Mosley Braun was a full-time, high-flying politico over the last 20 years, ranging from a stint as Ambassador to New Zealand and a United States Senator.

Now, she runs Ambassador Organics, which is a Demeter certified company where they “search worldwide for farmers growing the highest quality Biodynamic® and organic foods for a healthier, more robust, and sustainable world for generations to come.”

According to the PJ Star,

Moseley Braun’s issue is biodynamic farming, a sustainable farming technique that stresses the union between food, body, spirit and farming.

Biodynamic farming is sometimes called authentic organic farming. “Everything on the farm is treated as one unit,” she explains, “with particular attention paid to the quality of the soil and the quality of the water. The idea is the whole farm is a complete organism.”

Products the company currently sells are grown on biodynamic farms in Sri Lanka, India and Mexico. Moseley Braun wants to see biodynamic farming expand in the United States and see more locally produced biodynamic products on the market. She knows that’s going to take education and a change in attitude, from the ground up to more government support for sustainable agriculture.

With Ambassador Braun’s connections and intellect, Ambassador Organics is poised to break out to mainstream shelves as she is our first official rock star on the Biodynamic® stage.

In the article “Wine with a Small Carbon Footprint” in yesterday’s Mecury News, discusses the slow food movement with buying local wines. The matching of ideas is terrific. As Laurie Daniel states,

I love a lot of imported wines, but when I think about their carbon footprint, it sometimes gives me pause. It takes a lot of energy to transport wine from abroad, whether it’s a $10 Australian shiraz, a $15 Chilean cabernet or a $100 red Burgundy. There are ways to reduce the carbon footprint — container ships are better than airplanes — but those imports still are traveling a long way.

She points out that, local to her, Bonny Doon (the quasi-press vacuum for Biodynamic® wines) “makes a terrific albarino under its Ca’ del Solo label; the 2007 ($20), which is certified biodynamic, is fresh, crisp and floral, with white nectarine and citrus flavors.” Hopefully, the press begins to link local purchases with Biodynamic® purchases to completely minimize a consumer’s carbon footprint.