Wellness is balance. In our bodies, our soils, our farms and the systems that sustain us. Biodynamics asks a simple question: how do we help a living system find and maintain that balance?
We tend to think about wellness as something personal—how we eat, move, sleep and care for ourselves. But step into a vineyard and the idea becomes much bigger.
A farm is a living system. Soil, plants, microorganisms, insects, water, weather and people are all connected. When one part moves out of balance, the effects can ripple through the whole.
Biodynamics asks us to pay attention to those relationships.
From Human Health to the Health of the Land
This way of thinking has been part of Cooper Mountain from the beginning.
Our founder, Dr. Robert Gross, was a traditionally trained physician who later studied acupuncture and homeopathy, with the intention of bringing Eastern and Western approaches to medicine together.
His interest was in looking beyond a symptom to understand the whole person. When he began farming, he brought that same thinking to the vineyard.
Rather than simply asking, How do we get rid of this problem? the question became:
What is out of balance—and how can we help restore it?
That philosophy eventually led us to biodynamics.
It Starts With Living Soil
Balance in the vineyard begins beneath our feet.
Healthy soil is alive with bacteria, fungi, microorganisms, roots, insects and organic matter. Rather than trying to control every interaction, we work to create conditions that allow this underground community to function.
We build compost, grow cover crops, encourage biodiversity, return grape pomace and other organic material to the farm, and use biodynamic preparations.
The goal isn’t a perfect vineyard. Nature doesn’t work that way.
The goal is resilience: a living system better able to adapt, respond and find its way back to balance.
Sometimes Balance Means Doing Less
There is another part of wellness that matters to us: knowing when not to intervene.
We don’t use the synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers prohibited under organic farming standards. Instead, we focus on supporting the health of the system itself.
That same philosophy follows the grapes into the cellar.
We believe the vineyard should do the heavy lifting. When healthy, balanced fruit arrives at the winery, less correction is needed.
How much do we want to add?
Very little.
Our goal isn’t to manufacture balance in the cellar. It is to preserve the balance that began in the vineyard.
Why Certification Matters
Our vineyards are independently certified organic and biodynamic, with our farming practices reviewed and inspected each year.
For us, certification is simple: it creates transparency and accountability. What we say about how we farm can be verified.
From Soil to Glass
So what does wellness have to do with biodynamic wine?
For us, everything.
It begins with the soil and extends through the vine, the farm, the people who care for it and ultimately the wine.
Biodynamics isn’t about controlling every part of that system. It is about paying attention to the relationships within it and helping create the conditions for balance.
Wellness is balance.
And our work, vintage after vintage, is to help the living system we farm find and maintain it.