Massive migraine from a biodynamic wine

[jal]

With pan grilled chicken breast and a tomato cucumber salad, Jill and I drank an Abbatucci Gris Imperial (no year on the bottle). This was an 11.50% alcohol rose, nice, fruity, good decent quaff but an hour later, I was suffering from a massive migraine headache.

I like Abbatucci's reds, esp the Cuvee Faustine, and I don't really care that a wine is biodynamic or not but I never felt anything like that except when drinking an over-extracted 15% alcohol Oz Shiraz from the late 90s.

I guess I'm showing my age.

[AlexR]

Count me, as always, as very politically incorrect... I prefer NOT to drink organic and biodynamic wines.

I find the quality sub-standard.

Just last week I returned a bottle of organic wine from the Arbois. It had started to referment and was undrinkable.

Proponents of these wines always refer to Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Leflaive, and La Coulée de Serrant.

These are hardly typical !!!

And, as for La Coulée de Serrant, you can have it...

Alex R.

[Rieslingfan]

As with any movement there are good and bad examples. One instance of a headache is not data about biodynamics. Sooty you are hurting, but there is only an anecdotal link.

As for hardly typical, let's add Nikolaihof, Leroy, Dujac (organic), Lafarge, Lapierre, ZH, Weinbach, Pontet Canet, Wittmann, etc. There are lists out there, and many great estates are organic or bio, and many others are converting.

[jal]

Alex, I never pick a wine based on that, like I said, I've had good experience with the producer in the past. I was just surprised how bad it hit me.

As with any movement there are good and bad examples. One instance of a headache is not data about biodynamics.

I totally agree, I am sorry if I explained myself badly, I didn't mean to infer in any way that biodynamic wines cause headaches. It was just a particular incident I was puzzled about.

[DavidG]

Sorry to hear of your suffering Jaques. Migraines really suck. Possibly more biogenic amines in that bottle vs your typical drink, not that that has anything to do with biodynamie. Or maybe some other concurrent trigger combined with something in the wine. Hope they are few and far between.

As to biodynamie and quality, one is no guarantee of the other. I believe that BWE favorite Pontet Canet is now farmed biodynamically. And yet made in a modern style. So much for stereotypes.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

You probably just drank it during the wrong phase of the moon. Or you didn't have your magnets properly spaced. That's the thing most people don't realize about biodynamism. It's not just about organic fertilizers and free-range, horse drawn ploughs.

[Nicklasss]

Jal, can it be the chicken and/or the salad?

Me two, sometimes I have headache after a dinner with wine, but always associate the headache with Marie-Claude's cooking...

I'm happy she never look on that board!

Nic

[JimHow]

Ha ha now I know how to get your vote at the DC blind tasting Nicolas!

[Tom In DC]

More sleazy politics, Jim? I'm shocked and appalled!

[JimHow]

Who, me?