a Documentary Project
This is the story of an intricate web of ECO-minded Vintners and Farmers leading the path forward to Revitalize the Planet through Agriculture. Using Biodynamic and Regenerative Organic agriculture to revitalize their soils, to make better food and better wine. These leaders are restoring a living ecosystem that puts carbon back into the soil and reduces the effect of Climate Change. This is the story of our Survival.
The Vision
This Documentary project is going to show the strands of an Ecosystem web, comprised of multiple players working in their small microcosms, working with nature to create a product they love and want to share with the world.
As we plan the grand scope of this project, there will be rabbit holes. This is the same story, just on different paths, creating this large ecosystem. We don’t have to suffer through extreme climate, we can tame the wild beast, it is a matter of working together.
The stories of each of these players is interlinked, even when they are miles or continents away,
Revitalize the Planet through Agriculture
We find ourselves drawn to biodynamic vineyards and wineries. The wines they produce are just a step ahead in taste and nuance, and we wanted to discover why. We started pursuing interviews with biodynamic wineries. Tablas Creek, Montinore Estate, Syncline, and Hedges Family Wine were all early on our list. We found ourselves drawn to their wine and how they farmed their grapes, the way they expressed themselves, the way they looked at not just their vineyards but the planet.
When we traveled to Australia with the Wine Media Conference, we visited Krinklewood and Lowe wines. Back in the United States, in the Applegate Valley, we discovered Troon and Cowhorn. In the Willamette Valley, we found Johan. On our trip to Italy last year with the Wine Media Conference we discovered, Marcel Zanolari, on a press trip this year, Cirelli and Emidio Pepe in Abruzzo.
Visiting these vineyards and tasting their wines only reinforced the belief that farming biodynamically and applying the extra effort to make the soil and ecosystem better were, in FACT, making these wines better.
Former Cowhorn Vineyard owner Bill Steele told us during an interview on Biodynamics, “in Biodynamics we found our people”. In a sense we also found our own people, and continue to find our own people through winemakers, writers, and advocates, all working separately towards the same goal. What is that goal? To have a purpose that is meaningful, providing better food, making a wine that you are proud to share with family and friends, leaving the farm and planet better than you found it.
Biodynamics & Regenerative Organic Farming
This project started to evolve and come into focus when Robin wrote an article for Jancis Robinson’s Wine Writing Competition on “Regeneration.” We met wineries like Youngberg Hill who are all in on no-till agriculture, and other wineries who, while they may not have the certifications, practice the same methods and are seeing and reaping the results.
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wwc22-robin-renken
All of this comes down to respect for the land. For centuries, small farms had immense biodiversity. There were native plants and animals, crops, livestock and of course the humans, all working together and sharing space. This kept balance on the land. When we started larger farms, the biodiversity was lost. Land became places for crops or livestock and the human connection with the land grew more distant.
Biodynamics, began as a way of closing this gap. Regenerative agriculture is the modern day answer to getting back to this biodiversity, and enriching our soils to create healthier foods and mitigate climate change.
Our Story
After having a year off during the pandemic to research and explore, a path of our own appeared. We started to develop a clear vision of the approach we could take in helping to get these stories and the message about this type of agriculture out to people.
All this coalesced in Michael’s head forming an idea for a project with immense possibilities.
We have been in the entertainment world for over 30 years, and have been doing this wine adventure for over 15 years part time.
It’s time to add another chapter, or book in this sense, and start paying it forward by telling these stories and providing a path for the next generation to help provide a healing change, by developing their own Global Eco System.
We developed a website and concept a few years ago to share stories on a wide range of subjects. Life got busy and we shelved the concept about 3 years ago, to spend more time focused on Crushed Grape Chronicles.
The site was called Floatingboats.org. It was to be a launching point for new ideas.
We are relaunching Floatingboats.org. This will be the start of an adventure which helps build an ecosystem of like minded people, businesses, and solutions.
We have seen there is a growing movement and we want to help tell those stories.
So we have developed a grandiose plan to help to promote educate and implement this idea on a much larger scale.
Our Team is going to be broken down in a little unconventional way. When you think of a movie, you have the director, writer, and producer creating a story creating a script, usually with one theme. A cast that is hired. A movie is made, it is then shown on a screen, or TV. You move on.
We are assembling a team, a little different team. Our team includes a group of writers seeking out and telling the stories of trailblazers in this type of agriculture and viticulture from multiple groups and continents.
Our theme is massive, but to tell the story we need to show you all the threads in this woven tapestry of our ever-evolving ecosystem.
We have assembled a community of writers who like us head toward biodynamic wines because of the energy of the people, the places and the wine.
Our Team Writers and Storytellers (adding more as we grow)
Jeff Burrows, WSET 4 with FoodWineClick
Lynn Gowdy, WSET 3 with Savor the Harvest
Martin Redmond, WSET2 (w/Distinction), & CSWS with Enofylz Wine Blog
Allison & Chris Wallace, WSET 2 & CWS with AdVINEtures
Andrea Lemieux, WSET2 & author of “The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine” with The Quirky Cork
Robin Renken, WSET 3 & CSW, with 42 Aspens Productions & Crushed Grape Chronicles
Our team of Winemaker Advocates
This is a team that includes people who want to experiment, ask questions, evolve learn, grow share, make the world a better place, make a difference.