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The signature on a document, work of art or other created thing is a mark of origination: a sign that associates the object in some definitive way with the individual responsible for its content, or, more fundamentally, its existence. Although it’s common for a signature to take the form of an autograph — that’s Pablo Picasso’s, above — there are many other possibilities. In the pre-modern world, kings kept a great seal under close guard. Pressing it into warm wax reproduced its unique likeness and provided proof of the royal origin of a document. Today, watermarks, fingerprints, iris-scans and DNA analysis all serve as signatures of a sort, helping to establish identity, ownership and authenticity. In the world of wine, signatures are of two sorts. The first is the mark humans affix to their product by means of a specific ensemble of technical and craft processes in the vineyard and cellar. You can call this wine’s how signature. Then there are the signatures inscribed by nature. These are less readily definable and precise, but one could argue that natural signatures are the most important since they are the main reason the human-made ones are necessary. Natural signatures can be neatly organized into the what signature, the where signature and the when signature. Each individual grape varietal has a unique physiognomy and chemical makeup. This profile provides a baseline for what flavors, aromas, and textures are possible in the wine made from it. Some varietals are more readily identifiable than others simply because they’re more familiar. Others are harder to read. Think of varietal character as wine’s what signature. It’s been known since ancient times that the same grape variety grown in different places often shows markedly different character. It’s one of the reasons Chardonnay from California’s warm, sunny spaces is generally easily distinguished from Chardonnay originating under the cool, overcast skies of Chablis in northeast France. Soils, including both their organic and inorganic components, also play a key role. The place where fruit is sourced marks wine with a where signature. Climate, it’s said, is what you expect, while weather is what you get. Since no one growing season is identical to another, the very same wines from the very same places will naturally vary from year to year – sometimes dramatically. Vintage variation is wine’s when signature. These four signatures comprise the simplest and most straightforward way of getting a grip on what makes a given wine what it is. It’s essentially how every professional and serious amateur sizes up a wine and puts it in its proper mental cubby hole. Like journalism’s what-when-where-why-how mantra, this is the basic info necessary to “report” a wine. It’s true that some signatures are less legible than others. But that’s no excuse for not learning to read. |
