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Depardieu: Biodynamics 'doesn't exist'
December 1, 2008
Maggie Rosen
French actor-winemaker-restaurateur Gerard Depardieu disdains biodynamics, Jamie Oliver and 'bullshit industrial wines'.
In an interview in the January 2009 issue of Decanter, the man whom Marguerite Duras dubbed 'a rather attractive truck' says the world of food and wine are 'more real' than film, but claims 'biodynamics doesn't exist.'
'They've got to stop. It's a sect,' he said.
'You can work the soil, you can remove weedkillers, but you'll always be obliged to treat your vineyard. In Bordeaux, they treat their wines to death because they've got the means. Treatment costs a lot of money. I only use biodynamics in Anjou because I'm poor.'
He also prefers to share bawdy jokes with the kitchen staff than to schmooze clients at his Paris restaurant, and sweet-talks animals before slaughtering them.
'Before killing something, I always talk to it,' he says. 'If an animal that's been caressed before it's killed dies peacefully and its muscles don't contract with adrenaline.'
The Slow Food devotee disdains celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his ilk as 'all about marketing'.
'It's not money that gives you taste – it's in your head,' he said. 'When you have money, you can buy anything you want. But it's not what you buy that's important, it's your palate.'
Depardieu, who has his own vineyards as well as numerous partnerships with wine consultant Michel Rolland and mogul Bernard Magrez, believes it's quality – rather than his name – that sells his wine.
'There are many wines at the same price that are bullshit industrial wines,' he said.
'[Mine] is complete honest wine. It's not a question of marketing.'
Have your say...
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 If Gerard was minding the phases of the moon, I don't believe he'd have said all those nasty things about biodynamics.
Dan Friedman, New York City
Maybe if his wine tasted better, M. Depardieu wouldn't be so angry.
Louis Villard, UK
While I might not be so blunt in my characterization of the current situation as is the ever-outspoken Gérard Depardieu, it is increasingly clear that there is a growing rift between industrial wines and those that I would call artisanal. And the difference is not just in the relative quantities produced so much as it is in the passion with which they are crafted.
The production of organic wines is a worthy goal and most serious (artisanal) producers are aiming in that direction, though they may be thwarted occasionally in that noble pursuit by the vagaries of weather, especially in the more humid viticultural regions of France such as Bordeaux and Burgundy.
I know of no serious wine (artisanal) producer today who is not pursuing sustainable agricultural practices, locally called lutte raisonnée, in his or her vineyards. I must confess that I am less convinced about biodynamics and some of its mystical foundations. But clearly, wherever growers use less (or no) chemicals in the treatment of their vineyards, the better off we will all be. And that ees no bullsheet !
These differences – industrial vs. artisanal - are equally applicable to today's restaurant kitchens: indeed, it is painful to read the recent article by Bordeaux-based journalist, Michael Johnson, in the November 28th edition of The International Herald Tribune. It is entitled, ominously, 'Want a good French meal? Don't go to France'.
Vive 'Slow Food' and Vive Artisanal Wine !
Jeffrey M. Davies, Signature Selections, Bordeaux, France
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