【英语生活】前进中的中国葡萄酒 Chinese wines

I got an email recently from a friend in France who had just lunched with the famous but reclusive Meursault producer Jean-Fran?ois Coche of Coche-Dury. Could I get hold of some Chinese wine, he pleaded, because Jean-Fran?ois is extremely keen to taste it. I encounter this sort of curiosity all over the wine world now because China is already the fifth-biggest producer of wine globally and yet Chinese wine is rarely seen outside its borders. Exports may be minimal at the moment but as production volumes continue to grow, it is likely that Chinese wine will increasingly find its way to palates more sophisticated than the average Chinese ones and its quality intrigues many of us wine professionals.

I’ve been visiting China about every two years since 2001 and every time I try to go to a different wine region and taste as many Chinese wines as possible recommended by trustworthy fellow wine lovers living there. I didn’t detect much qualitative progress during the first decade of this century (unlike the dramatic increase in the quantity of wine produced) but in recent years the number of entirely respectable reds has grown at an impressive rate. While in Asia last month I was asked when I thought China would produce world-class wine. I said I thought that on the basis of what I had tasted so far it would probably be within five to 10 years but added semi-facetiously, in a reference to the extraordinary speed with which the Chinese tackle their objectives, that in practice it would probably be three to six years. (This wound up as a headline in the Shanghai press that I had confidently predicted China would be producing great wine in three years.)

There is still a great deal of very ordinary, often faulty, sometimes extremely questionable liquid on sale in China labelled as wine. The blending of local ferment with wine imported in bulk is notorious and some of what is on sale is not even grape-derived. I’m constantly amazed that the Chinese don’t complain more about the thin, fruitless reds that make up the great bulk of the “Chinese wine” on offer. But what I’m interested in when I visit are the wines with real ambition.

I was very pleased, therefore, to take part in a blind tasting in Shanghai recently of 53 representatives of this group, which offered a snapshot of where China has got to. (On my first visit in 2001, only two or three examples were fielded, and pretty unimpressive they were, too.)

The first thing to say is that Chinese wine is still essentially Cabernet. It is quite remarkable that a country making so much wine offers so little diversity. This was explained later by Hao Linhai, deputy chairman of the government in Ningxia, the north-central province most liberally represented in our tasting, having provided 34 of the 53 wines, and which is most determinedly trying to become the wine province in China. He suggested that it was because wine production was originally controlled by the government that a certain groupthink prevailed. And we all know how much effort the Bordelais put in to travelling to China to promulgate the idea that the archetypal wine was red, made from Bordeaux grape varieties, preferably grown in Bordeaux. The only relief from our Cabernet and Merlot diet in the red wines was a pair of wines from a Ningxia producer specialising in a local grape speciality they call Cabernet Gernischt, which has been shown to be the old Bordeaux grape, Carmenère, now common in Chile. These wines initially gained an extra point or two for novelty value but on retasting them I found the green streak that characterises this variety just a bit too obvious.

This was especially grating since the two most common faults in Chinese wines is a lack of fruit concentration (most of the grapes are grown by farmers keen to maximise yields rather than ripeness) and the clumsy use of oak, or at least flavours designed to taste like oak. Quite a few of the wines we tasted had their fruit submerged by extremely unsophisticated, heavy, almost oily oak aromas – almost as though some sort of “oak essence” had been used. If that flavour did come from barrels, those barrels were far from the top of the tree. And since the generally high yields often result in wines with a fair amount of acidity, some winemakers seem to decide to compensate by making uncomfortably sweet reds.

The very first red we tasted turned out to be a Chateau Nine Peaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 from a new, Luxembourg-financed, French-influenced small winery in Shandong on the humid east coast, which is far from the usual giant, marble-floored edifice that has become the norm for Chinese-owned wineries. Disconcertingly, it tasted just like a rather delicious, fully mature – far older than 2011 – right-bank bordeaux, and it somehow came as no surprise to find that the estate has links to Chateau Canon La Gaffelière in St-émilion.

The wine that I thought was best of all turned out to be made by a Chinese woman called Crazy Fang on a new Ningxia estate called Kanaan. This brings to three the total of gifted female winemakers in Ningxia that I have met, the others being at Silver Heights and Helan Qingque whose Jai Be Lan won a Decanter magazine award in 2011.

The other region that provided two very decent wines was Xinjiang, with China’s biggest area of vineyard, five hours’ flight away in the far west. The climate in Xinjiang is even more continental than Ningxia’s and so the growing season is that much shorter and the wines, arguably, are a little more flamboyant and less subtle. Two of the Xinjiang producers, Zhongfei and Skyline of Gobi, are advised, like Helan Qingque, by the talented, Bordeaux-trained Chinese wine consultant and academic Li Demei.

Our tasting included nine whites (mostly – surprise, surprise – Chardonnay) and even one rosé (Cabernet Sauvignon of course) but they were generally rather ordinary. Only the Pernod-Ricard-owned Helan Mountain had harnessed their Australian winemakers to produce a white I would drink with any pleasure.

The number of good Chinese wines is definitely rising fast. This range would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. France, watch out.

Tasting notes on Purple Pages of JancisRobinson.com. Stockists from winesearcher.com

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Recommended Chinese wines

These were my personal favourites from 53 better-than-average Chinese wines tasted blind in Shanghai. But they will be difficult to find. Many Chinese wines have been made specifically for the (now much restricted) official “gift” market and are never offered to the public.

● Ningxia Kanaan Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Ningxia

● QingDao Great River Hill Winery, Chateau Nine Peaks Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Shandong

● Citic Guoan Wine Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Xinjiang

● Xinya Wine Co Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Xinjiang

● Chateau Jin Sha Ya Lan Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Ningxia

● Xinjiang Zhongfei Winery, Chateau Zhongfei Merlot 2013, Xinjiang

最近我收到了一位法国朋友的邮件，而且是在与美素(Mersault)地区大隐于市的科施?杜里(Coche-Dury)庄园的让-弗朗索瓦?科施(Jean-Fran?ois Coche)共进午餐之后就立刻发给我的。在邮件中他恳求能够得到一些中国葡萄酒，因为让-弗朗索瓦非常渴望尝一尝。如今我在全世界范围内都能遇到类似对中国葡萄酒的好奇者，因为中国已经成为全球第五大葡萄酒生产国，而这里生产的葡萄酒极少出现在国外市场上。尽管中国葡萄酒目前的出口量非常低，但随着产量的持续提高，将来应该会有越来越多的比本国消费者更挑剔的外国人尝到他们的酒，同时其质量水平也会引起我们这些专业人士的兴趣。

自从2001年起，我大概每隔一年就去中国一趟，而且在每次的中国之行中，我都会尽量前往不同的产区，尽可能多地品尝当地我比较信得过的葡萄酒爱好者所推荐的葡萄酒。自2000年起的这十年，我没有发现中国葡萄酒在品质的提高上有什么进展（和他们产量的提高之快比起来真是大相径庭），不过近年来值得敬仰的葡萄酒的数量增长得很快。不久前在亚洲时，有人问我中国酿造出世界级葡萄酒将会是什么时候，我当时回答说，根据目前已经尝过的葡萄酒进行判断，这个时间应该是五到十年，不过这个时间是我往长了说的，因为考虑到中国在达到期望目标方面速度一直都很快，实际上应该是三到六年（结果上海媒体把这个回答作为了头条，称我自信满满地预测中国将在三年内酿造出世界级的葡萄酒）。

现在的中国市场上还充斥着大量水平非常一般的葡萄酒，而且常常带有缺陷，有时候甚至是酒标上标注葡萄酒而瓶中的汁液却令人极度起疑。将本土发酵汁和进口散酒进行调配的做法可谓是声名狼藉，有些在售的甚至都并非以葡萄为原料。让我总是感到惊奇的是，中国国内市场上在售的绝大多数“中国葡萄酒”都是酒体孱弱且果香黯淡的产品，可中国人却对此不怎么抱怨。不过每次来访中国，我所关注的重点都是那些有着真正雄心壮志的葡萄酒。

所以，我非常开心地参加了一场不久前在上海举办的盲品(blind tasting)活动，有五十三款葡萄酒供品鉴，正好这些酒也能够简单地反映一下中国葡萄酒目前的发展水平（2001年我第一次造访中国的时候，场上只有两三款葡萄酒，而且没有给我留下什印象）。

首先要说的是中国葡萄酒大多数还是解百纳(Cabernet)，一个酿酒量如此之大的国家却没有什么多样性，确实让人觉得很怪，不过宁夏政府特邀顾问郝林海(Hao Linhai)后来给我解释了其中的原因。宁夏位于中国北部的中央地带，是目前最有决心成为本国葡萄酒大省的地区，在此次的盲品中非常慷慨地提供了五十三款样品中的三十四款。郝林海解释说葡萄酒的生产最初是由盛行集体审议的政府部门掌控的，而且我们也都知道波尔多人(Bordelais)在中国的推广是多么不遗余力，他们走遍中国大江南北，努力宣传一个概念：葡萄酒的原型就是由适宜种植在波尔多(Bordeaux)的当地葡萄品种酿造的红葡萄酒。盲品中唯一值得安慰的是，在解百纳和美乐(Merlot)调配大军中有两款来自于擅长酿造当地被称为蛇龙珠(Cabernet Gernischt)品种的宁夏生产者的葡萄酒，事实上它就是波尔多的古老品种嘉美那(Carmenère)，目前在智利非常常见。这两款酒在众多样品中显得很新奇，所以得分高出了一两个点，但是在重新品尝后我发现样品中有些过于明显的生青(green)味道，这正是蛇龙珠品种的典型特征。

这个问题听起来尤其刺耳，因为中国葡萄酒最常见的两个问题是果香缺乏浓郁度（在中国，绝大多数葡萄原料由农民种植，他们更在意产量的最大化而非成熟度）和橡木桶使用的拙劣，很多葡萄酒的味道尝起来跟橡木一样。我们尝过的不少葡萄酒都是果香被极不精细的、浓厚甚至都有油质感的橡木味道掩盖，几乎像是添加了“橡木香精”。如果那种香气的确来自橡木，那么木桶所采用的原料应该来自于树的底部。除此之外，由于高产量常常导致葡萄酒的酸度含量比较高，一些酿酒师好像更喜欢做一些甜红葡萄酒来补偿过高酸度，但这种酒喝起来让人感觉很不悦。

我们品尝的第一款红葡萄酒是九顶庄园(Chateau Nine Peaks)2011年份的赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)。拥有大理石地面且规模宏大已经成为了中国人所拥有的酒庄的典型标准，而九顶庄园却特立独行，这是一座由卢森堡方面出资且受法国风格影响的山东小型酒厂，位于潮湿的东部沿海地带。令人尴尬的是它在盲品中尝起来更像是一款相当好喝且完全成熟的波尔多右岸(right-bank Bordeaux)风格葡萄酒，口感要比2011年份老得多。考虑到这座庄园(estate)和圣艾米利永(St-émilion)地区的大炮嘉芙丽庄园(Chateau Canon La Gaffelière)有一定的关联，出现这种情况也就显得不足为奇了。

盲品中我认为最好的酒是出自一位被称作“疯狂芳”(Crazy Fang)（本名王芳——译者注）的中国女士之手，她是宁夏的一座新庄园迦南美地(Kanaan)的主人。这样一来，现在我遇到的宁夏酿酒才女已经增加到了三位，另外两位分别来自银色高地(Silver Heights)和贺兰晴雪(Helan Qingxue)，后者的加贝兰(Jia Bei Lan)葡萄酒在2011年赢得了《品醇客》杂志(Decanter)的大奖。

还有一个地区的样品中有两款葡萄酒相当好，那就是西部边陲新疆，那里拥有全中国最大的葡萄种植区域，需要乘坐五个小时飞机才能够到达。新疆的气候比宁夏更加具有大陆性特征，因此生长季节更短，当然葡萄酒也更加开放且略缺乏精细度。中菲(Zhongfei)和天塞(Skyline of Gobi)这两个新疆品牌值得推荐，它们与贺兰晴雪一样，由曾受训于波尔多的中国学院派多才酿酒顾问李德美(Li Demei)酿造。

盲品中还有九款白葡萄酒，多半采用霞多丽(Chardonnay)酿造（真是惊喜啊惊喜），除此之外居然还有一款桃红葡萄酒(rosé)，葡萄品种当然仍旧是赤霞珠。不过这些葡萄酒还是比较普通，只有保乐力加(Pernod-Ricard)旗下的贺兰山(Helan Mountain)充分发挥了澳大利亚酿酒师的才智，它的白葡萄酒让我喝起来还有些乐趣可言。

当然，好的中国葡萄酒正在迅速涌现，这在十年以前可是难以想象的。法国可要当心点了。

欲查更多品尝记录请访问的jancisrobinson.com的紫色页面。

欲查库存情况，请访问winesearcher.com。

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中国葡萄酒推荐

我所推荐的是在上海进行盲品的那五十三款高于平均水平的中国葡萄酒中我个人喜欢的产品，不过它们很难在市面上找到，因为很多中国葡萄酒一直都属于为官员送礼的特供产品（现在中国正在禁止这种行为），从来不推向公众。

● 宁夏迦南美地酒厂，2011年份赤霞珠，宁夏产区(Ningxia Kanaan Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Ningxia)

● 青岛大好河山葡萄酒业公司，九顶庄园2011年份珍藏赤霞珠，山东产区(Qing Dao Great River Hill Winery, Chateau Nine Peaks Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Shandong)

● 中信国安葡萄酒业股份有限公司，2012年份赤霞珠，新疆产区(Citic Guoan Wine Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Xinjiang)

●新雅酒庄，2008年份赤霞珠珍藏，新疆产区(Xinya Wine Co Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Xinjiang)

●金沙雅兰酒庄，2012年份赤霞珠，宁夏产区(Chateau Jin Sha Ya Lan Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Ningxia)

●新疆中菲酒厂，中菲庄园2013年份美乐，新疆产区(Xinjiang Zhongfei Winery, Chateau Zhongfei Merlot 2013, Xinjiang)

译者/马钊