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Science and sensibility

The world of wine can be a confusing one for fans of the grape who are not as adept at distinguishing an aroma of citrus blossom from a burst of geranium or violet, as they might wish to be. Fortunately, Campo Viejo’s chief winemaker Ignacio (Nacho) López is adamant that a mastery of poetic wine descriptors is not needed to enjoy this most natural of beverages. Enjoyment, not elitism, is his firm philosophy

“I think that’s something we have been doing very much the wrong way as a wine industry and it can be intimidating,” Argentina-born López tells ShelfLife “Wine is the most natural drink except water so my advice is, there are no right or wrong answers. Of course, drink responsibly but scents and aromas are all very subjective.” Instead of being offput by a failure to detect any particular aroma, López emphasizes wine’s simplicity: “Wine is for you; you just have to drink it, enjoy it, share it. My advice is to practice. It’s always good to keep trying. If you started with one wine and don’t like it, keep trying, go to another one, you will find your own way, and you don’t need anybody to tell you that way; it’s a personal journey. For me, wine is very simple, and we have to be honest about that; it’s just grape juice fermented, it’s simple!”

While the process of enjoying wine might be simple however, the science that goes into producing great wines sustainably has become increasingly complex. As chief winemaker, it is López’s responsibility to combine sprawling data sets with traditional artisanal winemaking methods and his own personal wealth of knowledge to produce the best possible results at every price point. “The key is to have a certain sensibility; to be in the fields and vineyards to see what is happening there so you can predict how that grape will turn into wine.” While he concedes that the term ‘sensibility’ “can sound a little bit too romantic”, especially considering that Campo Viejo has one of the industry’s most powerful data-generating laboratories at its wineries, he is nevertheless clear that “what makes the difference between a great wine and a regular wine is just to have that sensibility to pick the grapes at the right moment and to take great care in the winery”.

Indeed, López likens his role to that of “a shepherd of a biological process” and the challenge is to keep his “human ego” from impacting the wine. “It’s never like a maths equation,” he continues, explaining that many factors such as ageing can prove unpredictable. “To me that’s the most challenging but also the most beautiful thing about the process.”

Extensive data

That said, an important tool in aiding Campo Viejo with this process is its aforementioned extensive data generation. “Right now, we have reached a point that we have so many data, we are starting to work with artificial intelligence to help us read that,” says López. While Campo Viejo is determined to keep its winemaking as an artisanal process, he emphasizes that with more than 5,400 different blocks – each with its own grape analysis – “it’s impossible to just have a lot of technicians trying to understand that and you will have delayed the results so we are working to use all this data to [enhance] our artisanal process and to take the right decisions in the right moment”.

He explains more about the type of data Campo Viejo uses. The company actually has an app “with all 5,400 different blocks, geolocalized with all the quantities of vines that are in each one” which details factors such as altitude. The grapes are analysed within an index, which looks at sugar level, acidity and age; all the factors which show the grapes’ ripeness and this is repeated every week. “In our tanks, we have censors that are taking readings every 20 seconds, so we have a dynamic online view of fermentation,” he adds. This all adds up to a huge bank of data across every step in the process; “from pruning to picking to winemaking, fermentation, ageing and bottling”.

How then does López combine this huge bank of data with his own “sensibility”?

“That’s a great question because sometimes it’s one of the most difficult decisions,” he replies emphatically “You sometimes have a feeling that’s going against all the data and I just go for it, because sometimes data points you in a particular direction, but it’s a direction that was traced many years ago with different conditions and things have changed. Sometimes you just have to follow your instinct.”

Impact of climate change

Undoubtedly, conditions have changed in recent years as a result of climate change, with hotter summers leading to ever-earlier harvests. “For example, the last vintage was 15 days earlier [this year] than the previous one and if you look at the historical data, it’s probably one month earlier than it used to be 20 years ago,” says López. “It’s a big change. The latest hot summer was not an exception; we know we will have more of them in the future.”

“In fact, in the last year, we had the earliest harvest since records began in Rioja, so there is a change and it is happening right now We have to be smart enough to take actions in two directions, one is winemaking but the other one is to see what we can do to be part of the good change.” Sustainable practices are therefore a key focus for Campo Viejo, which is already carbon neutral certified. The company is working with many vineyards in an attempt to bring natural flora back into them once more, as well as monitoring which vineyards are most resistant to the current lack of water and ensuring a smarter and more responsible use of water “First, as a winemaker you check on the levels of acidity and alcohol that are changing, and you have to take different decisions on that,” explains López. “We are doing a lot of trials, inside and outside the winery, about pruning, and about picking points [for the] earliest vintages. We are analysing that data to see how it fits with our profile and what we need to do to be part of the solution and not the problem.”

Likewise, nurturing its terroir is one of Campo Viejo’s group guidelines and the company is working with regenerative agriculture to increase year-by-year its surface in organic production. In fact, last year in Rioja, the group introduced a zero herbicides policy for all its producers. “For us, sourcing for more than 10% of the whole Rioja, this was a [major development], and it brought a lot of challenges, but we are 100% sure this is the right direction to go in and we will continue to do so.”

A wine for everyone

Indeed, on the subject of Rioja, López’s enthusiasm leaps out. “It’s one of the most amazing regions,” he says, “because you can produce pretty much wines for every wine lover, from refreshing whites to rosés, garnachas and tempranillos. Light, fresh and vibrant,” Rioja has it all, according to López, with an abundance of potential stemming from different altitudes, climates, an extreme difference in soils and sea influence. “You can have a wine for every occasion,” he continues. “It’s not a niche region; we can produce wines for many, many different styles and that’s what I love about Rioja.”

López’s innate enthusiasm for his role certainly doesn’t dampen at all when he proceeds to discuss his team. “We all learn from each other,” he tells ShelfLife “I strongly believe that you need to build your team with better people; better professionals than you because they will push you higher So, every one of the girls - because they are all girls in our team - they are better than me in many ways. We take every decision as a team although I fully assume responsibility when something is wrong. However, when something is really good, the benefit is for all of us. It’s very open that relationship; every decision that we put on the table; each person’s decision has the same weight in tastings.”

A willingness to learn from others from the ground up, appears to be a hallmark of López’s career to date, right from his schooldays when he was given a “lucky shot” in being assigned to do work experience at a winery, which was originally meant to be for just one month, but actually turned into three. López quickly realized this was the job of his dreams. “You spend a lot of time on the vineyards, and in nature. I didn’t want to be in an office and that’s where my love of winemaking began, because it’s something almost like magic. You start with just fresh fruit and then it ferments, and you have something durable and beautiful. I still find it’s like living inside a dream.”

Led by tradition

His first role was that of a cellar hand; in fact, he was the youngest in the winery

“When you are new and the youngest one, you do all the things that nobody wants to do because that’s like the law,” he laughs. After working as a cellar hand for five years and practicing at various wineries, he started as a winemaker assistant, then as a winemaker, and next a chief winemaker in two different wineries in Argentina, one located in Cafayate – an extreme highaltitude terroir in Argentina, about 2,000m above sea level, and one in San Juan. Next López moved to Spain three years ago, so he has been working for Pernod Ricard an impressive 18 years making wine. At the time of our interview, two weeks previously in Argentina, he had the good fortune to meet the man who he credits as the biggest influence in his career once again. Namely, Chero Gonzalez, one of the cellar masters of a winery in Cafayate, whom he says has “that sensibility; taking good care of the grapes and taking good care of the wine”.

Armed with his knowledge and sensibility, López is confident that Campo Viejo will continue to produce the best results yet.

“Every day for me, the best wine is the wine that we’re going to be making the next vintage,” he asserts. “What is really right now pushing me for the future is to produce grapes and wines in the most sustainable way I think that we have to get back to the origins. While we at Campo Viejo produce high volumes, we have a very strong idea of producing wine the old artisanal way and we are going for that. We are backing ourselves up on technology and investing in microbiology to see which the best yeasts are to work with. We are getting back to nature and we are getting back to our origins.” ■