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I don't read horoscopes or believe in werewolves, so I'll admit that I expected a bit of a freak show upon arriving at last Saturday's biodynamic winemakers' gathering in Toronto. And on that score, the Return to Terroir event, with an additional stop in Montreal, delivered.

Halfway through an otherwise sensible and lucid seminar about sustainable, organic farming practices, biodynamic bigwig Nicolas Joly of France veered into la-la land with talk of invisible energy forces zapping down from the sky and of the significance of "le zodiac" on the flavour of our merlots and chardonnays.

It was then I beat a slack-jawed retreat out of the seminar room to make my way back to the main tasting hall, where about 45 premium producers from such countries as the United States, Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand were pouring samples that did more to convert me into a biodynamic believer than the space cadet manifesto of Mr. Joly and his extremist cohorts.

Dismissed by many for its astrology-speak and witches of Macbeth compost mixture that includes stags' bladders, cow horns and animal skulls, the biodynamic movement has been gathering steam with quality-minded producers, including Le Clos Jordanne and Southbrook in Niagara.

The main reason is its more mainstream organic gospel, which calls for zero additives and gentle, manual handling in the winery, and casts the vineyard as a self-contained ecosystem requiring no pesticides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers.

Though still a fringe movement, the biodynamic fraternity includes some estimable international producers. Among those who have come out of the closet, at least without their cow skeletons, are Domaine Marcel Deiss and Zind-Humbrecht of France's Alsace region, Frog's Leap, Grgich Hills and Benziger Family Winery of California, Castagna of Australia, Millton Vineyard of New Zealand and Descendientes de J. Palacios of Spain.

With due respect to Mr. Joly, owner of Clos de la Coulée de Serrant and author of the biodynamic sourcebook Wine from Sky to Earth, I would choose an entirely different poster boy for the cause. Someone like the young winemaker at that last winery, Ricardo Perez Palacios.

For one thing, Mr. Perez Palacios comes across as decidedly down to earth. In the course of an hour-long interview, the 32-year-old didn't once bring up cow horns or deer bladders.

For another, Mr. Perez Palacios clearly cares more about crafting wines of high quality and simple purity, wines that reflect the natural ecosystems of his vineyards, than waving the biodynamic flag in the name of marketing exposure.

The soft-spoken Spaniard is one of the brightest European winemaking stars to emerge in recent years. His wines, from the obscure Bierzo region of northwest Spain, are darlings of international critics because of their fashionable balance between old-school, manual field practices and clean, modern winemaking techniques. And, yes, all five of the wines are biodynamic, though you'll rarely hear him describe them as such.

It helps, of course, that Mr. Perez Palacios also has a famous last name. Since 1998, he has been partner with Alvaro Palacios, his uncle and the man behind l'Ermita, a hugely sought-after $700 red launched in the mid-1990s that is now rivalled in price in Spain only by the country's No. 1 cult wine, Vega Sicilia.

Ten years ago, Bierzo (pronounced bee-ER-thoe) was another terra incognita to global wine collectors, largely tilled by horse and devoted to jug wines made from a lowly local grape called mencia. After passing through the region by chance and sizing up the quality-wine potential of the old-vine vineyards, Mr. Perez Palacios urged his uncle to invest.

Today, thanks largely to the dynamic family duo, Bierzo is on the cusp of becoming the new Priorat, one of the most happening wine regions of Europe where old-vine grenache grapes for l'Ermita are grown, and the mencia grape (pronounced men-THEE-ya), is turning into a cause célèbre among the growing number of wine drinkers who are critical of the global domination and boring sameness of "international" varieties such as cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.

Wine Spectator magazine and the influential U.S. critic Robert Parker have sung the praises the Palacios family's Bierzo project, regularly awarding vintages of the entry-level red called Petalos del Bierzo scores of up to 93 out of 100, remarkable for a wine costing about $24. "This smells like a great Chambolle-Musigny," Mr. Parker wrote of the 2005 vintage, citing a famed pinot noir of France's high-priced Burgundy region.

Mr. Perez Palacios says he attributes much of that perfume to biodynamic farming, which he adopted from the start. "All the biodynamic wines are more floral," he says.

Curiously, unlike most biodynamic converts, Mr. Perez Palacios didn't really need to read up on the subject. He simply embraced practices that many of the elder local grape growers in Bierzo, some of whom now grow grapes for him on contract as a supplement to his own estate fruit, had been following for as long as they could remember. "They teach me," he says.

One practice is to maintain cherry and chestnut trees interspersed among the vines. They act as buffers in preventing the spread of disease and pestilence, and encourage a broader array of organisms to keep the vineyard ecosystem healthier.

To Mr. Perez Palacios, biodynamic farming should not be a fundamentalist religion or goal in itself. His objective is to make good wines, not "healthy" wines that appeal to additive-phobic consumers. That's a demographic for which he has little time. "In Spain, there are people who think organic wines don't have alcohol," he says, rolling his eyes.

Another reason he doesn't like to wear the biodynamic or organic banners on his sleeve: "There are too many bad organic wines."

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Tasting notes

Biodynamic and/or organic wines from Ricardo Perez Palacios and Alvaro Palacios of Spain:

PETALOS DEL BIERZO 2006,

DESCENDIENTES DE J. PALACIOS

$23.75 (available in Ontario Vintages stores, No. 675207). Also available in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.

Light-bodied and floral with a youthfully grapy flavour, stone-like minerals and fine tannins.

LAS LAMAS, BIERZO 2005,

DESCENDIENTES DE J. PALACIOS

$175 (available through private

order in Ontario by calling Woodman Wines & Spirits Inc., 416-767-5114). Also available in Quebec.

Violet and spices on a silky, medium full-bodied frame, supported by fine tannins and firm acidity.

PALACIOS REMONDO

PROPIEDAD RIOJA 2005

$37.75 (available in Ontario Vintages stores, No. 597880). Also available in Alberta and Quebec.

Medium full-bodied and deliciously chunky with lovely spice, cedar and tobacco overtones complementing the sweet dark fruit. This property was undergoing organic conversion in 2005 and will be fully organic with the 2007 vintage.

Beppi Crosariol

bcrosario@globeandmail.com