How many times have we heard the famous words “signature wine”? Too many… Although, honestly, I have never been very clear about the meaning of such a phrase. The first doubt that assails me is who is the real protagonist: the wine or the author? If it is the wine, why is it necessary to add the phrase “author’s” to it, and if it is the author, to what extent does he or she influence the wine to make his or her presence so important? Surely, the author of the wine would question by saying that both are equally key, but, in my experience, when I end up in front of a wine with such a distinction, I can’t help seeing an excessive eagerness of prominence of the man’s hand reflected in the wine, which leads it to lose its idiosyncrasy.
In my opinion, the figure of the winemaker is very important, so much so that his mission should be to extract all the nuances from the vineyard without altering its characteristics. Let us remember that a vineyard is the sum of a series of elements that make up a unique landscape. The composition of the soil, its waterproofing capacity, the angle of sun exposure of the land, the age of the vines, all of this together with the climatic conditions of the area. The wine has only to be the reflection of this landscape and this must be the only protagonist.
Of course, the interpretation of the same vineyard can be different depending on the producer. Harvesting earlier or later; using or not using layers of vegetation; having a greater or lesser density of vines or leaf mass; vinifying or not with stalks; and a long etcetera referring to the different ways of working a vineyard in a natural way and the subsequent winemaking process. All of this is in accordance with the interpretation of the landscape, but never the manipulation of the wine through the addition of chemical products, which distorts the innate scenery from which it comes.
The sole author of the wine must be the setting of the terroir. The hand of man must interpret it, anonymously and unnoticed, so that the wine we are about to drink is only the liquid squeezed from that landscape. As simple and as difficult as getting rid of our vanity.