bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Cybil Huichen Chou

 Since its initial development by the Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s, biodynamic farming has been adopted by several notable vineyards in countries such as France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Canada and the United States.
In the past decade, the movement has spread westwards and taken root in the Ningxia wine region of China, thanks to the arrival of European and Western-educated Chinese winemakers.
Biodynamic viticulture refers to farming practices that create a self-sustaining and sustainable system, using natural materials, soils and composts. Chemical fertilisers and pesticides are forbidden and replaced instead with nine preparation methods (coded as Preparation 500 to 508) made from herbs, mineral substances and animal manure turned into field sprays and compost to sustain soil fertility.

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The best known example is Biodynamic Preparation 500 (BD 500), the original biodynamic soil spray, made from fresh cow manure that is buried in cow horns over winter. It is a powerful soil activator that helps root development and plant growth, as well as humus formation in the soil.
Biodynamic followers coordinate soil treatments with the lunar calendar, believing that plants are more receptive to practices like fertilising or pruning on particular days or phases of the moon.
The continental desert region of Ningxia receives more than 3,000 hours of sunshine a year – more than Bordeaux – with annual rainfall averaging just 300mm or less. Winter temperatures are extremely severe, plummeting to minus 25 degrees Celsius. These climatic features call for wine oenologists to practise biodynamic viticulture by adjusting to the terroir, including burying the vines in the ground through winter for four months until spring to mitigate damage to the vines from chilly winds.
“Ningxia’s climate has its pros and cons, like anywhere else. I think the area is ideally suited as we don’t face problems such as moisture or fungus diseases seen in European vineyards,” says Lenz Moser, chief winemaker of Chateau Changyu Moser XV, which he co-launched in 2013 with China’s largest winery, Changyu.
Chateau Changyu Moser XV announced in 2019 that it was converting its entire 250 hectares of vineyards into biodynamic viticulture in five years. Moser belongs to the 15th generation of a prominent Austrian winemaking family which started in the business in 1610. His father and namesake is credited with having been the first winemaker to launch biodynamic viticulture in Austria in 1978.

Given Ningxia’s desert-style arid lands, sustaining soil fertility in the region is critical.
“Summer is very hot and dry in Ningxia and hence we use cow manure to regulate soils, as cow manure is cool compared to the warmer horse or yak manure, which are optimal for use in both cold and humid weather,” says Sun Miao, who founded Domaine des Arômes with her husband, Peng Shuai. The couple studied in France and worked in biodynamic wineries in Burgundy and the Rhône wine region.

They decided to plant the seeds of biodynamic viticulture in Ningxia in 2011, when the natural form of organic farming was still obscure in China. They bought BD 500 from the daughter of Nicolas Joly, one of the biodynamic wine movement’s pioneers and world leaders, and acquired fresh cow horns and manure from an organic farm in Ningxia.
As we have already taken the decision to go natural, we will go all the way
Lenz Moser
The process of turning over land to bury vines every winter is detrimental to the microorganisms in soil. To assess soil vitality in its vineyards, Silver Heights, a leading family-owned boutique winery in the foothills of the Helan Mountains, solicited help from a Japanese expert and discovered that organic substance accounts for only 0.2 per cent of its soils, compared with an average of 7 and 2 per cent in Japan and Europe respectively.
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So the winery began raising 155 goats, 10 horses, and two mules, as well as cows, and planted two hectares of grass in 2016 to make fermented compost to revitalise soil microbes.
Winemakers imbibing the Chinese wisdom of “24 solar terms”, an ancient calendar that governs agricultural arrangements even today, find it a good reference for practising biodynamic farming, as both systems have much in common.

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“A Chinese book published in the sixth century really comes in handy for deciding when to sow, prune, harvest in vineyards or taste wines, as similarly instructed in the biodynamic calendar. Follow these principles and the vineyards can well be managed in good order,” explains Silver Heights’ Gao.
As more wineries in Ningxia convert to organic farming, and biodynamic wines gain popularity, Domaine des Arômes has developed a Chinese cult following, mainly well-educated, middle-aged male consumers.
Meanwhile, Silver Heights’ biodynamic wines are attracting connoisseurs from Japan, Canada, Singapore and Germany. In October, its 100 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon Emma’s Reserve, and The Summit, a blend of cabernet and merlot, were nominated for Best Chinese Red at the inaugural Singapore Wine Pinnacle Awards.

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Given the more labour-intensive effort and the 5 per cent higher workloads involved, Silver Heights’ biodynamic wines cost 10 to 20 per cent more than conventional ones. It is now applying for certification, which helps to allay the widespread distrust in Chinese food products.
While Chateau Changyu Moser XV is new to the game, its potential impact on China’s future biodynamic wine scene should not be underestimated. The chateau has sold its wines in 40 markets, 25 in Europe. Some obtained favourable ratings, including its cabernet, the only Chinese wine to win three major gold medals in Europe. When the chateau completes its conversion to biodynamic, this is expected to help focus global attention on Chinese organically-produced wine. “Biodynamic wines are currently not very developed in China, yet we’ve seen a lot of interest from consumers in China and Europe,” says Moser.

“It is simply our mindset to contribute to a better world in total,” he adds. “It is an ethical question of saving nature and protecting it for future generations … I feel biodynamics is more in tune with Mother Nature than anything else. As we have already taken the decision to go natural, we will go all the way.”
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Why China’s biodynamic wines are gaining a cult following at home and are loved by connoisseurs from Europe and Japan

Lenz Moser, chief winemaker at Chateau Changyu Moser XV, sorts through harvest grapes. Photo: Changyu Moser

The making of biodynamic wines at one of China's leading boutique wineries, Silver Heights. Photo: Silver Heights | FOR STYLE USE ONLY

The Changyu Moser Chateau. Photo: Changyu Moser | FOR STYLE USE ONLY

Changyu Moser's cellar. Photo: Changyu Moser | FOR STYLE USE ONLY

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Sustainable farming practices that use natural materials, soils and composts are taking root in the Ningxia region, thanks to the arrival of European and Western-educated Chinese winemakers
