From Healing People to Healing the Land
People often ask how a physician became one of America’s earliest champions of biodynamic farming. For our founder, Dr. Robert Gross, the connection was natural.
He didn’t leave medicine behind—he simply applied the same philosophy to a different living system.
Long before organic and biodynamic farming became mainstream, Dr. Gross believed true health comes from strengthening the whole organism, not simply treating symptoms. His studies in homeopathy and acupuncture reinforced a simple idea: when the conditions for health are restored, living systems have an extraordinary capacity to heal.
That philosophy became the foundation of Cooper Mountain Vineyards.
A Vineyard Is a Living Organism
When Dr. Gross discovered biodynamics, he recognized the same principles he had embraced in medicine.
Rather than asking how to eliminate problems, biodynamic farming asks why they appeared in the first place. It focuses on restoring balance instead of relying on synthetic solutions.
A vineyard is viewed as a living organism where soils, vines, microbes, insects, animals, and surrounding ecosystems work together. Healthy soils create healthy vines. Healthy vines produce wines that more faithfully express the place they come from.
A Shared Philosophy
Though homeopathy and biodynamics are different disciplines, both encourage us to:
Look beyond symptoms to underlying causes.
Strengthen natural resilience.
View living systems as interconnected.
Prioritize long-term vitality over short-term fixes.
Work with nature rather than against it.
These principles inspired our commitment to organic farming in the early 1990s and our decision to become the Pacific Northwest’s first certified biodynamic winery in 1999.
Stewardship Above All
Dr. Gross believed medicine and farming share the same purpose: caring for living systems.
A physician cares for a living body.
A farmer cares for a living landscape.
Neither creates health—they cultivate the conditions where health can flourish.
That remains the heart of how we farm today.
More Than Farming
For us, biodynamics is more than a farming method. It is a way of seeing the world.
It reminds us that healthier soils lead to healthier vines, healthier vines produce more expressive wines, and patient stewardship always leaves the land better than we found it.
Whether caring for people or vineyards, the goal is the same: not to overpower nature, but to help it flourish.