實訪雲南藏區葡萄酒新產地

“I bet you think we’re crazy,” said Jean-Guillaume Prats ruefully. The CEO in charge of LVMH’s project to make the best wine in China was looking at the rudimentary building site – many a hairpin bend above the Mekong River and four hours’ white-knuckle drive from the nearest airport – that will be Moët Hennessy’s winery and guest lodge. Tibetan women were working with pulleys and wheelbarrows. The electricity supply was far from reliable. We were at an altitude about 20 times higher than the highest vineyard in Bordeaux. Prats then resumed his interrogation of Stephen Deng, the estate director, as to whether the buildings could really be ready in time for the scheduled opening in September.

“我敢說你們肯定覺得我們腦子進水了，”讓-紀堯姆•普拉(Jean-Guillaume Prats)苦笑着說。這位在中國負責爲路威酩軒(LVMH)釀造頂級葡萄酒的CEO眺望着開工不久的建築工地，那兒將成爲酩悅軒尼詩(Moët Hennessy)的釀酒廠與客棧所在地。若要抵達那兒，得繞過瀾滄江（Mekong River，出中國國境後叫湄公河）河谷上的諸多險彎，到最近的機場需要4個小時心驚肉跳的車程。藏族婦女正用滑輪與獨輪手推車在工地上忙碌着。這兒時常停電，我們所處的海拔約是波爾多地勢最高葡萄園的20倍之多。而後普拉繼續問酒莊總經理鄧思迪(Stephen Deng)：所有建築是否能趕在今年9月份酒莊正式開張前完工。

If they are not, it is Deng who stands to lose most face. While Bordelais Maxence Dulou is in charge of the vines and wines, Deng has to keep local government and other relevant bodies, all 23 of them, happy. On the day of our visit he was suddenly called away to meet a representative of one of them to reassure him that the project would indeed bring great prestige to this remote corner of the Himalayan foothills in Deqin county in Diqing prefecture, at the western limit of the province of Yunnan, 35km from Tibet’s border.

如若不能按期完工，屆時大失顏面的將是鄧思迪。儘管杜魯(Bordelais Maxence Dulou)是酒莊總管，但鄧思迪得負責協調好與當地政府及相關機構（總共有23家之多）之間的關係。就在我們參觀工地的那天，他突然又被叫走，去會見政府機構的一位代表，旨在給對方吃定心丸：這個合作項目的確會大大提升喜馬拉雅山麓(Himalayan)這個偏僻旮旯地區的知名度。這兒是雲南省最西部的迪慶州德欽縣(Deqin county in Diqing prefecture)，距離西藏自治區地界只有35公里。

The story begins with a conundrum. China has a burgeoning future as a wine producer and consumer but all Chinese wine regions have one major disadvantage. They are either, like Shandong on the east coast, so wet in summer that it is a struggle to harvest fully ripe, healthy grapes – or they are so cold in winter, like Ningxia, where Moët Hennessy recently established a sparkling wine operation, that the vines have to be laboriously buried every autumn to protect them from freezing to death. Quite apart from the damage it can do to vines, the continuing urbanisation of China suggests that eventually this may become rather expensive. It was the fact that Yunnan is free of both these disadvantages that led me to ask Moët if I could come and see for myself.

雙方的合作項目始於一個複雜難解的問題。中國正飛速成爲葡萄酒生產與消費大國，但中國所有的葡萄酒產區都有一大劣勢——不是夏天太過溼熱就是冬天太過寒冷。前者如東部沿海的山東省(Shandong)，每到夏天就必須爭分奪秒地收穫熟透的葡萄；後者則如寧夏（酩悅軒尼詩最近剛在此建起了起泡酒廠），每到秋天就得費盡周折地埋藤，以防凍死。除了氣候對葡萄樹造成的破壞外，中國如火如荼的城市化進程表明葡萄酒最終可能會成本昂貴。很顯然，雲南沒有上述兩大劣勢，所以我請求酩悅集團：自己能否去實地考察。

Moët Hennessy had bought a producer of the Chinese spirit baijiu in 2007 and went on to see China become their most lucrative market overall. Thus they learnt how to operate joint ventures there and were keen to deepen their involvement in China’s famous thirst for alcoholic drinks. Accordingly, they gave Dr Tony Jordan, a wine scientist who had just stepped back from full-time responsibility for their Australian and New Zealand operations, four years to find a place where they stood the best chance of making world-class red wine. Jordan was keen to avoid the winter freeze problem and recommended the low-latitude-plus-high-altitude combination that has proved so successful for them in Argentina, which he eventually found in these tiny villages with a few vineyards in the far west of Yunnan. He narrowed down his search to the southwest after talking to China’s top wine academics and painstaking climate analysis.

酩悅軒尼詩集團於2007年買下了一家中國白酒廠，進而看到中國成爲了公司最爲贏利的市場。集團因而學會了如何創建合資葡萄酒廠，並且希望能不斷深入開拓中國市場，滿足其國民對於酒類產品的狂熱需求。於是，集團給予剛從澳新市場全權負責人位置上退居二線的葡萄酒專家託尼•喬丹博士(Dr Tony Jordan) 4年時間，請他找尋一塊能釀製出頂級紅葡萄酒的地方。喬丹博士希望能解決葡萄樹冬天受凍的問題，於是推薦了低緯度與高海拔並舉的辦法（此法在阿根廷已大獲成功），他最後找到了雲南最西部種着少量葡萄樹的這幾個小村莊。他是與中國頂級的葡萄酒專家接洽、自己又做了艱苦仔細的氣候分析後，才把搜尋目標縮小至中國的西南邊陲。

From 1999 the local government had encouraged the Tibetan farmers here to switch from barley to vines on the few terraces flat enough for cultivation in the narrow upper Mekong and Yangtse Valleys, as part of a programme to develop remote parts of China. According to Deng, “The Deqin government persuaded some local farmers to plant 150 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, using subsidies to farmers as an economic incentive.” A winery named after the old Tibetan town of Shangri-La, which had previously focused on the very different liquid that is Tibetan barley wine, was persuaded to process the grapes in exchange for being granted a monopoly on all Yunnan grapes. (There is one exception to the monopoly: the Sun Spirit estate run by a local mining magnate a few miles downriver of the Moët project, whose sweet red and white wines fetch quite high prices in Beijing.) As so often, it was missionaries, French in this case, who originally brought the vine to the region, here a non-vinifera variety called Rose Honey that is still made into distinctly odd sweet reds by the province’s only other winery, Yunnan Red.

從1999年起，作爲開發中國偏僻落後地區計劃的一部分，當地政府就鼓勵藏族農戶在瀾滄江與金沙江上游的狹窄河谷(Yangtse Valleys)中少量平坦坡地上改種葡萄（而非原先的大麥）。鄧思迪說，“德欽縣政府把農業補貼當作經濟激勵進行派發，成功說服當地藏民種植了150公頃的赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)葡萄。”政府說服香格里拉酒廠（Shangri-La，名字取自藏族古鎮香格里拉，原先主要釀造截然不同的藏式大麥酒）改釀葡萄酒，條件是壟斷雲南境內全部葡萄的釀製權。（只有一個例外：順着瀾滄江河谷、距離酩悅合資酒莊幾英里遠的地方，當地礦業巨頭經營的Sun Spirit酒莊，釀造的甜紅與甜白葡萄酒在北京賣出了高價。）中國的葡萄酒釀製業通常由傳教士傳入，雲南的葡萄種植最初則是由法國傳教士引進來，如今這兒仍種着一種名爲玫瑰蜜(Rose Honey)的非釀酒用葡萄，雲南另外一家葡萄酒廠——雲南紅葡萄酒廠(Yunnan Red)——則把它釀製成了特甜紅葡萄酒。

Thanks to the mountainous terrain, the vineyards here are all small and dispersed. After leaving climate sensors in all the villages he thought had potential, and returning to taste grapes during the 2011 and 2012 harvests, Jordan identified four villages he thought stood the greatest chance of growing good-quality grapes. After much negotiation, Moët have taken a 50-year lease on the four villages and the relevant farmers’ input, making a total of 30 hectares of vines – in no fewer than 320 different blocks. Much of Maxence Dulou’s time is spent liaising with the dozens of farmers involved, persuading them to focus on wine quality rather than grape quantity. Dulou, who has worked in South Africa, Chile and Burgundy, told me: “Tibetans are very good farmers and sometimes find solutions to our practical viticultural problems themselves. They make a very good team and are extremely proficient.”

正是由於地處山地，這兒的葡萄園規模小且較爲分散。喬丹先把記錄氣候數據的傳感器留在自認爲有種植價值的村莊，然後在2011年與2012年葡萄收穫季節再回來實地品嚐，最終確定了有高品質葡萄種植價值的4座村莊。經過艱苦的談判，酩悅集團簽下了4座村莊土地以及相應勞力爲期50年的租用期，葡萄總種植面積達30公頃土地（不少於320塊地塊）。杜魯的多數時間都花在了與相關農戶的聯絡上，努力說服他們關注葡萄品質而非產量。曾在南非、智利以及法國勃艮第(Burgundy)工作過的杜魯對我說：“藏族農民十分優秀，有時自己就能解決葡萄栽種的實際問題，他們配合默契，做事高效。”

Needless to say, the grapes are virtually all Cabernet, Merlot with a little Chardonnay, as is the unimaginative Chinese norm. But being grown at such high altitudes, between 2,200m and 2,700m, they have skins that have proved usefully thick for the long journey south to the Shangri-La winery where the 2013 grapes were vinified. This year, with luck, they will travel only as far as Adong, the highest village, where the winery and lodge are being built.

不用說，實際種植的葡萄品種除了少量霞多麗(Chardonnay)外，幾乎都是解百納(Cabernet)與美樂(Merlot)，這往往就是循規蹈矩中國人的通常做法。但在2200米-2700米高海拔地區種出的葡萄皮很厚，完全經得起往南運至香格里拉酒廠（在此釀造2013年產的葡萄）的長途顛簸。幸運的是，今年的葡萄最遠只需運至阿東村(Adong)，它在4座村莊中海拔最高，如今這兒正在興建酒廠與客棧。

Because Adong and the other three villages are so inaccessible, the winery has been designed to be practical: no fancy computers that may need spare parts or engineers shipped in. To reach it from Shanghai you have to fly three hours to Yunnan’s capital Kunming (where the rail station massacre took place earlier this year), then an hour over the mountains to Shangri-La, then four hours along the twisting road, avoiding fallen rocks and jockeying with trucks carrying Tibetan iron ore into China and pilgrims on their way to Lhasa. Each village is a hair-raising climb on tracks so rough I cannot imagine trucks full of grapes making it but locals must be made of stern stuff.

因爲阿東村與其它三個村莊交通特別不便，因此酒廠設計務求實用：這兒既沒有高檔電腦（因爲可能需要備件），也無外請工程師。從上海抵達這兒，得先坐3小時的飛機到雲南省會城市昆明（Kunming，今年3月昆明火車站發生了新疆維族人發起的屠殺慘案），然後再坐1小時飛機飛越高山抵達香格里拉，最後還得沿着蜿蜒曲折的盤山公路（路上隨時得提防滾落的山石、躲閃迎面開來的運載西藏鐵礦石的大卡車以及去拉薩(Lhasa)朝拜的信徒）開上4個小時車。通往4個高原村莊的道路都是既陡又差，坐在車上不禁讓人毛骨悚然，因此我實在無法想象滿載葡萄的卡車如何成功運到酒廠，看來本地藏人定是由特種材料做就，否則難以解釋這一切。

Adong is relatively lively, with people sitting outside the village café under flapping prayer flags, playing cards and waving as we passed in two white Land Cruisers. We also visited Shuori, the village thought to have the greatest potential for quality grapes. Moët has leased every vine they could get their hands on in this extraordinary settlement. There was no one to be seen and no sounds other than fast-flowing water and the hum of insects. Even though the vineyards were surrounded by substantial houses, all we saw were butterflies, walnut trees and promising, well-tended vines awaiting their spring growth. Perhaps the Shuorians were all off gathering mushrooms: Dulou has to vie with the profusion of funghi in these mountains when trying to recruit for the vineyards.

阿東村還算熱鬧，幾個村民正坐在飄舞經幡柱下的村咖啡屋外打牌，看到我們乘坐的兩輛豐田白色陸地巡洋艦(Land Cruiser)經過時，還向我們揮手示意。我們還造訪了Shuori村，據信這兒最適合種植優質葡萄。在這片不同凡響的淨土世界，酩悅集團把能搞到的每一棵葡萄樹悉數租下。除了湍急的河水與昆蟲的低鳴聲外，這兒不見一人，萬籟俱寂。雖然葡萄園四周都是結實的房屋，但我們只看到飛舞的蝴蝶、核桃樹以及經過悉心打理、長勢喜人的葡萄園。Shuori村民或許都已到山上去採摘蘑菇：杜魯商討葡萄園租賃事宜時，還得力阻村民採摘漫山遍野的蘑菇。

Although the nights in the mountains are cool, the upper reaches of the Mekong Valley have similar summer temperatures to Bordeaux. They are so protected from the cold and monsoons that affect Yunnan to the east that summer rainfall is only about two-thirds that of Bordeaux. But there is no shortage of potential irrigation water in terrain that is dramatically overlooked by the snow-covered Himalayas. Autumns are also drier, so grapes can be left to ripen on the vines longer. This will probably make up for the fact that, in such narrow valleys, the vines are in sunshine for fewer hours per day. And in the dry mountain air they are plagued by fewer pests and diseases than in Bordeaux.

儘管山裏夜晚氣溫很涼，但在夏季，瀾滄江上游河谷地段的氣溫類似於法國的波爾多地區。影響雲南東部地區的寒冷氣候與季風無法到達此處，因此這兒的夏季降雨量只有波爾多地區的大約三分之二。但這兒的坡地並不缺少灌溉用水，因爲它們四周就是高聳入雲、白雪皚皚喜馬拉雅山。秋季也很乾燥，因此成熟的葡萄可在樹上保存更長時間。這或許可以彌補以下缺憾：在如此狹窄的山谷地帶，葡萄樹每天的日照時間十分有限。在山區的乾燥空氣中，相比波爾多地區，葡萄樹更少受到蟲害的侵襲。

There are advantages to the somewhat unlikely big company connection. Dulou’s chief viticulturist had just returned from a study trip to Moët’s Argentine operation Terrazas de los Andes. And when it came to making the trial vinifications of the first, 2013 vintage, Dulou was able to use the neutral earthenware jars traditionally employed by the company’s baijiu producer in Chengdu – once he had invented special floating lids for them that would keep harmful oxygen out of the wine to be fermented.

大公司強強聯合（從某種程度說不太可能）具有明顯優勢。杜魯的首席葡萄栽培師剛從酩悅位於阿根廷的安地斯之階酒莊(Terrazas de los Andes)考察回來。試釀首批葡萄酒（即2013年份酒）時，杜魯在發明了隔絕氧氣、防止酒發酵的特製浮動蓋子後，使用中性陶罐（原先用於公司在成都的白酒釀造廠）來釀製葡萄酒。

I tasted six lots of these experimental 2013 reds and was very impressed by five of them – quite an achievement since only a few days before I had tasted 53 of China’s better wines. They are first and foremost mountain wines, with the dense colour and vivid, finely etched flavours that you find in the high-altitude wines of Argentina or even in the best of Spain’s Ribera del Duero wines grown at a mere 300m or 400m. But the most exciting thing for me was that the oak influence on most of the samples was minimal. I tasted wines influenced by the pure vineyard characters, fully ripe but well balanced with real, confident, unique personalities of their own.

我品嚐了6種試釀的2013年紅葡萄酒，對其中的5種印象深刻——這是相當了不起的成就，因爲就在幾天前，我剛品了中國的53款上乘葡萄酒。這6款葡萄酒首先是貨真價實的山區酒——顏色濃稠，而且具有阿根廷高海拔葡萄酒那種精心釀製的醇厚味，甚至可以與西班牙海拔300-400米杜羅河區(Ribera del Duero)釀製的美酒相媲美。但最動人心魄的莫過於橡木塞對樣酒的影響微乎其微。我品鑑的美酒混然天成——不但葡萄自然長熟，而且與率真、自信以及獨特個性的釀酒師珠聯璧合。

The project has no name yet, nor a definite launch date. No decision has been taken as to whether to launch with the experimental 2013s or to wait for the 2014s in which the Shangri-La winery will be involved as a transactional intermediary only, thanks to that monopoly agreement. But Dulou wants to retain at least some earthenware jar influence, as being a distinctly local ingredient. Not that in a landscape like this, both natural and human, there is any shortage of distinctive local character.

這個合作酒莊目前還未取名，也未定推出葡萄酒的確切日期。是推出2013年試釀的酒，還是靜等2014年釀出的酒（根據雙方簽訂的壟斷協議，香格里拉釀酒廠將是唯一的中間加工廠），目前還不得而知。但杜魯希望葡萄酒味至少能留有一絲陶罐釀製的影響，使它具有更獨特的本地元素。當然，產自這樣一個自然風光與人文氣息濃厚的地區，這酒最不缺的就是地方風情了。