麦克斯韦酒庄：麦克斯韦家族酿造的好酒

文|Tersina Shieh 编、译|张恬熙

早在2017年，我就计划好来一次葡萄采收的间隔年。同年1月，我在个人网站上发布了一篇文章申请采收工作。麦克斯韦酒庄的麦克第一个回复了我，这是一家地处麦克拉伦谷的酒庄。2018年3月中旬，我来到酒庄开始为期一个月的工作。上一次来麦克拉伦谷已经是很久以前，当时只在这里吃了一顿午餐。那时候我作为一名游客来澳大利亚旅行，并借机好好地了解这个距离阿德莱德只有1个小时车程的产区。

和大多数葡萄酒产区一样，2017/2018是值得期待的年份。许多地方的采收期都比以往提前了，即使有一些地方开始采收的时间比往年晚，但由于大多数葡萄在短期内熟成，采摘工作依然提早完成。这样的现象也发生在麦克拉伦谷。麦克告诉我，采收期通常在3月中旬开始，但是今年却提早了两周。在我加入酒庄团队时，白葡萄（霞多丽和维尔德罗）已经采收完毕，所以我主要负责红葡萄品种，如设拉子、赤霞珠、歌海娜和穆尔韦德。我的其中一项任务是监督发酵过程，包括喷淋葡萄皮—这项工作的好处就是让我找回了自己的肌肉。

尽管产区受到海风的影响，但是麦克拉伦谷的气候还是比较温暖，普遍种植着红葡萄品种。麦克斯韦酒庄的葡萄园里有设拉子、歌海娜和赤霞珠，也有一小部分维尔德罗种植在贫瘠的土壤上。幸运的是，酒庄可以从其他产区收葡萄。麦克斯韦酒庄的霞多丽就来自于隔壁阿德莱德山产区，酒庄还采集了来自袋鼠岛的设拉子。“麦克斯韦银锤西拉干红葡萄酒”口感丰富，是典型的来自麦克拉伦谷的葡萄酒，也是销量最好的一款酒。旗舰酒“麦克斯韦弥诺陶洛斯西拉干红葡萄酒”则口感馥郁。我特别喜欢冷凉气候下产出的葡萄酒，包括阿德莱德山的霞多丽和袋鼠岛的设拉子。桶中发酵的维尔德罗与亚洲香气浓郁的香草搭配起来更是特别好。

澳大利亚的酒庄效率特别高，这也许是文化不同的原因，但我觉得更像是劳动力问题所导致的现象。麦克斯韦酒庄里，仅4个工作人员就可以处理约350吨葡萄，包括采收期间在酒窖工作的我。每个人都独立工作，并常要完成多个任务。麦克自豪地解释道：虽然葡萄的处理过程包括把葡萄倒入料斗中、除梗、压榨，以及把果汁倒入压榨器或发酵罐里这么多步骤，但整个流程只需要1位工作人员就能够完成。

麦克在20年前就建立了麦克斯韦酒庄，如今家族的两代人都在种植葡萄。日常工作里，他依然亲力亲为，并且是唯一一个负责上述葡萄流程的人，每一天麦克都会亲自品尝发酵中的果汁，并与首席酿酒师安得烈l杰里科密切合作，决定最后的混酿比例。

虽然麦克是一位成功的酿酒师，但他似乎更善于市场营销，我想这就是他成功的秘密。他走访不同的酒窖并在那里工作，热情地与游客交流，吸引他们购买葡萄酒。葡萄酒的质量毋庸置疑，但是有了麦克的推销，游客往往会变成客户，麦克斯韦酒庄的售后服务同样做得很好。

我在酒庄期间，麦克重塑了酒庄的徽标，将Maxwell改成了Max-well，在视觉效果上就是从传统变为了现代风格，这个名字也是个双关语（麦克斯-做得很好、麦克斯-表现出色、麦克斯-很用心，等等）。去看看酒庄更新后的网站，你会发现其巧妙之处。在麦克看来，一个没有悠久历史与传统的新公司需要定期更新形象，这样才能吸引新的客户—这正是一位营销人员的说话方式！

实际上，麦克斯韦家族还是蜂蜜酒的先驱，这是一种用蜂蜜酿成的葡萄酒。麦克的父亲着力研究这种古老的饮料，使用不同的蜂蜜和酵母菌进行多次试验，最终在1961年发布了第一款澳大利亚蜂蜜酒。就像老话说的：接下来发生的事情，大家都知道—麦克斯韦成为了澳大利亚蜂蜜酒最大的生产商，并成功激励其他人的效仿。目前供应的蜂蜜酒有4种：蜂蜜、起泡酒、香料酒，以及利口酒。可供直接饮用、调制鸡尾酒，或者用于烹饪。从最初的蜂蜜酒发展到如今多样化的蜂蜜酒组合，这也是麦克具有市场营销思维的另一个佐证。

I planned my harvest gap year back in 2017 and asked for vintage work in my January newsletter,http://www.tersinashieh.com/newsletter2017-01.html.Mark from Maxwell Wines in McLaren Vale was the first to reply so there I was,for a month from mid March 2018.I only stopped at McLaren Vale for lunch a long time ago when I was visiting Australia as a tourist so it was a nice opportunity to get acquainted with this region which is only one hour drive from Adelaide.

Like most wine regions,2017/2018 was an expected year.Most places started harvest earlier than usual,or even if they started later than usual,they still finished picking earlier as most grapes came in a shorter period of time.This happened in McLaren Vale as well.Mark told me that vintage usually starts around mid March but this year was a good two weeks earlier.By the time I joined the team,the whites(Chardonnay and Verdelho) have been picked so my work was mainly processing red grapes,mostly Shiraz but also Cabernet Sauvignon,Grenache and Mourvedre.One of my duties were looking after the ferment including plunging-down where the side benefit was building my ABD muscles :)

Although moderated by sea breeze,McLaren Vale is still relatively warm and red grape planting is the norm.Maxwell’s vineyard is planted with Shiraz,Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon but there is also a small amount of Verdelho on poor soil.Luckily wineries are free to source grapes from other regions.Maxwell’s Chardonnay grapes come from Adelaide Hills next door and he also experiments with Kangaroo Island Shiraz.Its Silver Hammer Shiraz is generous,typical from McLaren Vale and is the best seller.The flagship Minotaur Shiraz is intense and deep.I particularly like the cooler climate wines including the Adelaide Hills Chardonnay and Kangaroo Island Shiraz.The barrel-fermented Verdelho goes particularly well with Asian fragrant herbs.

Probably because of culture but more likely because of labour issue,Australian wineries are highly efficienct.Maxwell processes about 350 tons of grapes and there were only 4 people including me working in the cellar during vintage.Everyone worked individually,independently and often multi-tasked.Mark proudly explained that the grape receival flow including tipping grapes to the hopper,destemming,crushing and sending the juice either to the press or tank,was designed in such a way that only one person is needed to handle the entire process.The family has been growing grapes for two generations but it was Mark who built the present winery some 20 years ago.He is still pretty hands-on in daily operation.Apart from being that single person responsible for grape receival,he tastes the fermenting juice every day and works closely with head winemaker Andrew Jericho to create the final blends.

A competent winemaker though Mark is,he is more of a marketing man and I think this is his secret of success.He conducts cellar tour and works at cellar door,talking to visitors enthusiastically and charming them to buy the wine.The wine quality is there but Mark’s extra nudge often converts visitors to customers and Maxwell has a loyal following.While I was there,Mark was rebranding the logo from Maxwell to Max-well,a complete makeover from the more traditional visual to a contemporary one that plays on words (Max-well made,Max-well played,Max-well fed,and so on).Visit its revamped website,it’s clever.Mark reckoned a young company without the long history and heritage needs to freshen the image regularly to attract new consumers - a marketing man talking!

The Maxwell family was in fact the pioneer of mead,wine made from honey.Mark’s father studied this ancient beverage and after numerous experimentation with different honey and yeasts,he finally released the first Australian commercial mead in 1961.As the saying goes,the rest is history.Maxwell is the largest producer of mead in Australia and success inspired others to follow suit.Currently there are four meads on offer: Honey,Sparkling,Spiced and Liqueur.They can be enjoyed straight,in cocktail or cooking.The diversification of the mead portfolio from the original honey mead is yet another evidence of the marketing thinking of Mark.