Biodynamic calendar for wine lovers

Today is a flower day. The next fruit days: Sat 24 October, Sun 25 October, Sun 1 November, Mon 2 November, Tue 10 November, Wed 11 November.

In Maria Thun's biodynamic calendar every day is given an organ of the plant, by the element of the zodiac sign the Moon is passing through: fire signs bring fruit days, earth signs root days, air signs flower days and water signs leaf days. Her book "When Wine Tastes Best", with Matthias Thun, carried this over to wine: on fruit and flower days a wine is said to taste more open and fruity, on root and leaf days more closed.

The idea has followers in the trade: in 2009 Tesco and Marks & Spencer, which then sold about a third of the wine drunk in Britain, had critics taste their ranges only on favourable days.

What a study found

In 2017 researchers in New Zealand put it to the test: 19 wine professionals tasted twelve Pinot Noirs blind, twice on a fruit day and twice on a root day. The wines were judged differently, but not by the type of day (Parr and others, PLOS ONE, 2017). So the calendar is tradition, not a measurement. If you like it, it is a fine reason to open the next bottle.

The next twelve months

Fruit and flower days count as the good days for wine. Calculated for midday, Central European Time; when the Moon changes sign during the day, its noon position counts.

October 2026

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

July 2027

August 2027

September 2027

October 2027

Sources

• doi.org
• www.decanter.com
• florisbooks.co.uk