Over the last few years, I’ve found that wine DOES taste better on some days vs. others. When I tasted a disappointing wine, I often couldn’t understand why. I was perplexed as to why a wine, many times one I was familiar with, could be so different than what I was anticipating or expecting.

Somewhere, during my wine travels, I was introduced to a wine app that proclaims whether or not the day is either bad or good for drinking wine. When I came across a wine that I found distasteful, I occasionally remembered to check the wine app… and voila! It was a bad wine day! So, in the most unscientific of manners, I began making a guess at the type of day, then checking the app to see if I was right or wrong.

When Wine app

The When Why app compiles data on Lunar cycles and astrological signs to specify the type of day outlined in biodynamic practices. There are four types of days; fruit, flower, leaf, and root– which dictate if a specific task should be done or avoided. Before learning about the When Wine app, I had only heard of farmers using the biodynamic calendar to determine when they should plant, prune, or harvest.

According to the app, fruit and flower days are also days on which wine will taste better. Wine should be avoided on root and leaf days when more bitter and astringent notes are prominent.

Root Days:

When the moon is in any EARTH sign: Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo. Following the philosophy of the Biodynamic calendar, these days are the worst for tasting wine as the wine will appear more subtle on this “earthy” day.

Flower Days:

When the moon is in any of the AIR signs: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. These days are said to be better days for tasting aromatic wines, especially those white wines with floral aromas.

Leaf Days:

When the moon is in any of the WATER signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. Wines are experienced to be less sweet, with a dominant, earthy minerality. This could be due to the fact that according to the Biodynamic calendar, the plant is more focused on producing chlorophyll on Leaf Days.

Fruit Days:

When the moon is in any of the FIRE signs: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. Fruit days are said to be the optimal days for tasting wine as the fruit flavors are more vibrant, and the wine is rich and full.

For years now, I’ve made it a game, first taste the wine and then proclaim whether or not it was a good wine day. Then pull out my phone to check the When Wine app to see if my tastes align with the type of day stated in the app. Amazingly, my preferences always match the app! I honestly can’t tell you how or why my palate perfectly aligns with the calendar– it just does! I even went back through my calendar, recalling if I enjoyed wines on past days or not– and everything matched the When Wine app.

I probably don’t have to tell you that I now use the When Wine app to decide whether or not to open a bottle of wine. On the “bad” wine days, I instead opt for a cocktail or some other beverage. And, you can rest assured that all the tasting notes published on Winerabble are of wines that were opened on “good” wine days.

Now that I’ve told you about my experience, I want to share the views of the other Winerabbler, Matt… HE TASTES ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD WINE DAYS! How is this possible? I’ve got no stinking idea! Seriously, I don’t know how that could be possible. I suppose this is a matter of “your results may vary.”

I did more online research, of which there is very little, and found a group of scientists who had an “aim of the present study to investigate a central tenet of biodynamic philosophy as applied to wine tasting, namely that wines taste different in systematic ways on days determined by the lunar cycle.” So they compiled a study to measure whether or not people perceived a difference in the wine tasted on good or bad days.

Spoiler alert! They found, “the findings reported in the present study provide no evidence in support of the notion that how a wine tastes is associated with the lunar cycle.” Click here to read the entire study. I would love to see more studies done on the subject!

I also spoke with two biodynamic grape growers who believe that the calendar is solely for dictating farming practices and not for dictating when wine might taste best. But I have talked with other wine industry folks who have played with the app, much like I did, before making it a primary part of my life. They all believed there was some merit to the idea of good and bad wine days but no one was 100% sold on the subject…

To download the app, search When Wine in the app store. There’s a free version that shows you today as well as days in the past. If you want to spring for the paid version, it’s a few bucks and allows you to look into the future– great for planning when to open what.

Please note that this is not a paid post, I just love the app and wanted to share it with you.

Do you have any experience with good and bad wine days? Do you think this is a bunch of hooey hocus-pocus? Please share your thoughts with me in the comments! I would love to hear your stories and whether you love or hate the idea of bad and good wine days.

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