It’s been a quieter few months on the Dragon Phoenix Wine Blog as Edward has put the finishing touches to a major study of the work of 20th Century American poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955).

Wallace Stevens and the Aesthetics of Abstraction will be published by Cambridge University Press in August and is the culmination of almost a decade’s research based, in part, on an original Ph.D. dissertation and subsequent research trips to the US supported by the British Academy and British Association for American Studies in 2007.

Stevens is perhaps best known for poems such as ‘The Emperor of Ice-Cream’, ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’, his long doctrinal poem ‘Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction’ and his late lyrics, such as ‘Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour’. So what’s the connection with wine?

Stevens was something of a wine lover, especially of the wines of Burgundy and one of the book’s chapters is entitled ‘Food, Wine and the Idealist ‘I” (the ‘I’ is a special case of the first person speaker in several of Stevens’ 1940s poems).

The book proffers a long reading of perhaps Stevens’ most baffling gastronomic poem ‘Montrachet-Le-Jardin’, a text whose relationship with Burgundy and with Occupied France of 1942 is both ingenious and has previously remained tough for Stevens scholarship to decipher.

Part of the book’s argument is that Stevens’ embrace of an abstract aesthetic was not confined merely to poetic or artistic concerns, but involved his everyday imagination, interests and needs, including a love of the finer things in life, with wine being no exception (for initials reviews from Charles Altieri and J. Hillis Miller please click here).

This is, after all, the poet who wrote in ‘Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction’:

We drank Meursault, ate lobster Bombay with mango
Chutney. Then the Canon Aspirin declaimed
Of his sister, in what a sensible ecstasy

She lived in her house. She had two daughters, one
Of four, and one of seven, whom she dressed
The way a painter of pauvred color paints.

The study follows on from a joint project entitled Wallace Stevens across the Atlantic (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pictured above.

Watch this space for updates on our combined wine writing, most recently in Decanter and The World of Fine Wine Magazine. We also have highlights from the 2009 tasting season in Beijing, plus some special Featured Tastings and up-to-date coverage of what’s been happening in China’s capital and further a field.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

2007 Josmeyer Riesling ‘Le Kottabe’, Haut-Rhin, Alsace (RMB421)
Available from East Meets West. Contact: Wendy Jiang, Email: Wendy Jiang wendy@emw-wines.com (www.emw-wines.com)

Josmeyer is one of Alsace’s greatest producers and can trace its roots back to 1854, now under the watchful eye of winemaker Jean Meyer. The winery is also a fervent practitioner of biodynamic viticulture. This Riesling comes from 35 year-old vines close to the village of Wintzenheim.

Medium green-gold in colour, the nose has appealing apple fruit with mineral aromas. The palate is essentially dry with lovely fruit, excellent acidity, moderate alcohol and refreshing length. A superb wine to enjoy now or to age, it will also accompany Chinese cold dishes from various regional cuisines very well.

2006 Dr Bürklin-Wolf Pinot Noir, Pfalz, Germany (378RMB)
Available from Globus. Contact: Oliver Baenninger, Email: oliverbaenninger@globus-wine.com (www.globus-wine.com)

Dr Bürklin-Wolf is one of the top estates in Germany’s Pfalz region. This slightly warmer part of Germany enables Bürklin-Wolf to produce sumptuous white wines, but also this charming Pinot Noir. Another biodynamic producer, great care is taken in the vineyard to make one of Germany’s most attractive Pinots.

Medium red-purple in colour, the nose has very spiced red cherry Pinot fruit (with lots of white pepper, even clove). The palate has refreshing high acidity, low-medium smooth tannins, medium-high alcohol and quite good length. The quality of the fruit and the high acidity here means this Pinot Noir can suit chilli-hot forms of Chinese cuisine, including some Sichuan and Hunan dishes. Or enjoy as a lightly chilled aperitif when the Chinese summer arrives!

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Organic and Biodynamic Wines
Many consumers are increasingly concerned about the chemicals present in the foods and drinks we consume, not least in China; and many are tending to buy nominally organic food and drink products, where possible, although this is only just beginning in the PRC.

But what about organic wine? Just like organic foods, organic wines are produced without the use of man-made chemicals such as artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Instead, producers rely more on natural controls via what is termed integrated pest management: for example, introducing ladybugs to control the numbers of insect pests, on which ladybugs feed, within the vineyard.

However, organic wine is easier to make in some countries and locations than others. Chile, for example, offers a predominantly dry, sunny climate with little pressure from pests, making it, in normal conditions, an ideal place for organics. Other locations are often less than climatically ideal. But even Beijing’s south-east outskirts has its own organic winery: Chateau Bolongbao, which is trying hard to implement organic practices in Fangshan county.

One area of general confusion is the lumping together of organic practice with biodynamics: a (viti)cultural approach bordering on the mysticism of certain schools of religion. This form of agriculture was developed by the Austrian Rudolph Steiner and places the vineyard holistically within its relations with the sun, moon, earth and total environment.

It is organic in principle, but also makes use of biodynamic preparations thought to treat plants and soil in beneficial ways. In a biodynamic winery, everything is carried out with regard to the position of the earth and moon rather like the lunar calendar in China – including all wine-making steps. Some extremely high quality producers have ‘turned biodynamic’ but there is still much research to be done (as a major Australian oenologist remarked to Fongyee recently: ‘Where are the double-blinds?’).

(Photo: conventional spraying in Pernand-Vergelesses. One of the problems for organic or biodynamic producers in Burgundy is maintaining standards downwind from what more chemically-intensive neighbours are up to).

No matter whether organic or biodynamic, it is worth noting that a lot of wineries do not declare, at least on their labels what processes they follow. However, for those that do, be suspicious of wines that sell themselves on organic or biodynamic principles but have no reputation for quality. After all, it is no surprise that some of the top domaines of Burgundy - with winemakers who were already highly talented - have also continued to make very good wines biodynamically. But the question remains as to whether the wines are greater because of biodymanic practices.

For many good and great winemakers, the goal is to make the best wine possible by whatever means and in most keeping with whatever part of the world one is producing wine in in the first place. Most are agreed, however, that the best way to make great wine is in a sustainable fashion, keeping soil and the surrounding vineyard environment in good shape.

This month we are recommending two wines that happen to have been produced biodynamically.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.