Lorenzo Landi: the wine belongs to the producer, not the winemaker

Lorenzo Landi, born in Tuscany in 1964, has a popular expert profile in the Italian agronomic-enological sector, with over thirty years of experience serving a few of the most popular wineries in the nation.

Having actually finished in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Pisa, he advanced his education with a University Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology from the very same organization, followed by an additional Master’s Diploma in Oenology from the Catholic University of the Spiritual Heart of Piacenza, with leading marks. His instructional course was improved by courses at the Professors of Oenology of the University of Bordeaux, concentrated on numerous essential locations of red wine production, such as white and red wine making, red wine improvement and viticultural pathology.

These research studies were performed as part of a twenty-year partnership with the University of Bordeaux, which started in 1996 with the popular oenology teacher Denis Dubourdieu and continued with his group after his death in 2016.

He likewise improved his experience with 2 internships in the Côte d’Or area of Burgundy at the popular Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Tollot-Beuault wineries in the duration in between 1992 and 1993. Substantial acknowledgments have actually marked his profession: in In 2004 he was granted as a Young Wine maker with the “Vini di Toscana” award from the Tuscany Area. In 2017, his devotion to valorising the area and its creativity in the item made him the title of Wine maker of the Year 2017 for Physician White wine’s 2017 Necessary Guide to Italian White Wines.

In 2023, he got the very best Italian Wine Maker Award from Vinoway throughout the 2024 Vinoway Choice, validating his function as a leading figure in the nationwide red wine scene.

I begin the interview with an interest of mine. When you present yourself, what title do you choose to utilize to explain your function on the planet of red wine? Do you determine yourself more as an oenologist, agronomist, red wine maker or another term?

I have actually never ever liked Wine maker quite, it constantly appeared to me that this term highlighted the function of the service technician excessive instead of that of the manufacturer. On the other hand, I like wine maker, in its suggesting it incorporates what, considering that I was a teen, I have actually liked most in life, the research study of red wine. Nevertheless, I believe that the oenologist can not disregard agronomy, red wine originates from the area and the vineyard and should constantly stay totally connected to these origins, otherwise it ends up being simply another beverage. For that reason oenologist and agronomist need to be one and part of the very same course.

You can dig much deeper into the idea when you state that the work of the agronomist-oenologist should add to recognizing the design that the manufacturer intends to accomplish, what are the crucial elements of this partnership and how your activity incorporates with the goals and maker’s expectations?

I think that the wine maker should constantly appreciate 2 basic elements that come before us and should direct our work. The very first element, the most essential of all, is the area in which we run. Each area has its own creativity and occupation that everybody, consisting of manufacturers, should think about and regard. The 2nd, which comes instantly after, is the manufacturer’s will and option concerning which design to embrace and which red wine to produce, constantly appreciating the area in which he runs. The red wine comes from the manufacturer who should feel it is his, not the wine maker. Quiting this would suggest losing the creativity, creativity and drive that those who produce red wine can offer and this would be a lot more severe if we think about that the red wine manufacturer is driven in numerous cases by an excellent enthusiasm, which is not discovered in others sectors. Naturally, the wine maker can offer guidance however he should do so, at this phase, with terrific small amounts. Our work needs to rather be more vital in the next stage, that is, in assisting the manufacturer, as soon as he has actually developed a design and a design, to develop it while appreciating the area. In this method our activity can be incorporated with that of the maker, without intrusions of the field. To do this, nevertheless, it is required to take an action back from the manufacturer and contribute of guardianship, defense and care, in the greatest sense of the term, of the creativity of the area and of the will of the manufacturer himself.

In what method do you believe it is possible to improve an area, a grape range and, subsequently, a red wine? Could you show the goals that a prominent wine maker like you sets himself?

I am really delighted with your method of asking the concern, beginning with the area and not from the red wine. A white wine can be valorised in an enduring method just through the valorisation of the area. And here we require to be exact. Each area has its own creativity and occupation, as I stated in the past. And the method to improve and secure it can be various depending upon the area itself. Nevertheless, there is one constant that is constantly legitimate: to improve an area it is required to secure what nature produces in the grapes and which identifies it from other locations. This should be performed in the vineyard, in the change of the grapes into red wine and in its improvement and it is not a specifically natural thing, human intervention is required, which need to not be demonized. I see that, over the last few years, there has actually been a propensity to prohibit innovation and human intervention in wine making. I comprehend, a lot of white wines have actually been standardized in this method in the past (I’m believing for instance of using fragrant yeasts, over-maturation, extreme wood), with contempt for the area. However it is a shallow analysis, which takes a look at the finger and not at the moon: simply as male can eliminate individuals however likewise develop amazing artworks, he can definitely utilize innovation to standardize however likewise to improve areas and their white wines and secure variety. It depends on us to select the ideal course without taking sanctuary in reactionary ideologies and self-rejection. Otherwise what we have actually ruined in many cases with the incorrect usage of innovation we will similarly ruin with the rejection of our work.

After having studied and teamed up with agents of the University of Bordeaux and having performed internships in Burgundy, could you share your observations on the significant distinctions in between French viticulture and enology compared to Italian ones?

The significant distinction in the past was, in my viewpoint, really basic: in France, compared to Italy, more value was offered to the area and viticulture while less attention was paid to innovation, specifically that which was planned to customize and not secure nature, as we saw in the past. I believe the factor was similarly basic. In Italy, in spite of the terrific custom, we had actually gone through a duration of strong obscurity and our existence on the high quality market was really restricted. As a result we were trying to find whatever that, in a somewhat distorted however reasonable vision, might permit us to rapidly offset wasted time, maybe by mimicing designs that did not come from us. After all, we understand that times in viticulture are longer … The outcome was doubtful even if it enabled us to recuperate market area. Nevertheless, in a reasonably brief time (and this was our terrific strength) we understood that this design was wrong and now our vision has actually come really near the French one, in many cases even exceeding it.

How did you use and incorporate the experience obtained throughout your journey in France in the context of Italian viticulture and oenology?

I believe that the Italian pedoclimatic, and in specific weather, circumstance is rather various from the French one, so the useful application can not be and has actually not been instant. Nevertheless, the ideas stay and for that reason this response obtains rather from the previous one: I think that the French experience taught me to think in the area and in viticulture in a duration in which these appeared practically abstract ideas for us. Possibly this produced some issues for me at the start however in the end I believe it was a benefit.

What guidance would you provide to a young wine maker who is at the start of his expert profession?

It’s hard to offer guidance, we undoubtedly wind up providing it believing that youths resemble us, and certainly they’re not. The only guidance I can offer is to follow this course just if you have an excellent enthusiasm for red wine and its areas.

Do you think it is possible to produce quality red wine without the guidance and assistance of a wine maker?

Definitely, however I think the aid, instead of the assistance, of a wine maker is favorable, not a downside. Naturally if the wine maker positions himself in the proper way, without wishing to get into the manufacturer’s field, and if it is utilized in the proper way. I understand that there have actually likewise been distortions in the past and this can partially validate today attacks, however one can not believe that it is more suitable not to study red wine to produce it much better. This is a reactionary position that I can not comprehend, it would resemble declining medication since some error has actually been made, without acknowledging, for instance, the boost in the typical life-span of male.

If you were to review the development of your expert profession, exists anything you would not do once again or would alter, what are the objectives or obstacles you still wish to deal with in the future?

I am rather pleased with how it went and I still think I chosen which, even if they might have most likely hurt me, were in fact ideal for me as an individual. I still have numerous objectives, I wish to assist comprehend the identity of some terrific Italian areas and assist develop white wines that represent this identity. And after that comprehend how to handle environment modification, the really terrific difficulty of the future. We will need to work a lot on this.

What do you desire me to want you?

I have actually constantly thought, above all else, in dedication. I think it is of terrific value to be able to believe that we have actually done whatever that our capabilities have actually enabled us. So, if you want me the will to continue operating in my work, you want me the most welcome.

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