Biodynamic wine tasting calendar

The influence of the moon and the star constellations on how a wine tastes on a particular day has already been discussed in Moody burgundy and other (fairy?) stories and on the forum; and in Fruit v root, Richard Hemming describes tasting the same wines on two different days to put the theory to the test.

Now you can try it at home. When wine tastes best is a little booklet/calendar to be published by Floris Books  tomorrow at £3.99. It's an attractive pocket-sized guide to  what are supposedly the best times to drink wine and when to avoid doing so, according to an abridged version of the biodynamic calendar of Maria Thun. It's all clearly laid out and colour-coded for every hour of every day (and night), starting from December 2009. The bad news is that Christmas 2009 is a time to avoid drinking or at least to avoid sacrificing your best bottles, and if you want to celebrate the new year, you'd better taste your best bottles before 3 pm on 31 Dec or between midnight on 31 Dec and 8 am on 1 Jan, which does not sound terribly convenient.

The introduction is divided into a one-page 'How to use this guide', followed by 'I'd like more detail, please' and 'Even more details' so you can read all about it or just try out the calendar.

Whatever you think about biodynamic viticulture, it might be fun to consult the calendar and experiment. All feedback most welcome via the comments box below.

When wine tastes best will be available from 24 Sep in main UK bookshops and online at www.florisbooks.co.uk – and can be delivered internationally. Floris say they are planning to publish this annually.