重游霍克斯湾（下）

文Tersina Shieh 编、译 张恬熙

霍克斯湾就像一颗沧海遗珠，下一次拜访新西兰时，在这里停留几天吧，相信我，你一定不会失望的。

谢德兰

或许是因为霍克斯湾不像马尔堡或者中奥塔哥那么出名，所以酿酒师们的压力没那么大，不需要特别关注某一种葡萄酒风格或是某一个葡萄品种。我拜访了几家酒庄并看到了不少富有创意的想法，这真让人感到高兴。德拉特雷精品酒庄（De La Terre）给我留下了很深的印象，在仅有5.3公顷的葡萄园里种植着维欧尼、霞多丽、设拉子、蒙特普齐亚诺、巴贝拉、丹娜，还有最新引进的丹魄。庄主托尼·普理查德曾用30年时间给大品牌蒙大拿葡萄酒公司酿酒，这家公司最终被保乐力加公司所收购。他说，作为一名“为公司服务”的酿酒师就像置身于牢笼中，被金手铐耗尽了创造力。在2000年末，他下决心离开酿酒行业，在当地创立自己的酒庄（因此酒庄得名“德拉特雷”），从此开始酿造他想要的葡萄酒。他说维欧尼的名声不好，总会被形容成酒体肥硕、沉闷。因此，他决定要酿出一款优雅、有结构、不受品种本身特性影响的维欧尼。托尼喜欢用所有的非主流品种进行试验，而非梅洛、赤霞珠这类葡萄。他酿造的特级珍藏丹娜葡萄酒真的是棒极了！

托尼不是唯一从“企业酿酒师”转型为自主创业的人，三圣山酒庄（Trinity Hills）的华伦·吉普森在1998年创立了天秤酒庄（Bilancia），克拉吉酒庄（Craggy Range）前首席酿酒师罗德·伊斯托普也加入了他们的队伍。罗德目前拥有两条产品线，分别是在英国酒商“Naked Wine”出售的罗德·伊斯托普葡萄酒，以及100%按照罗德意愿酿造的顶级全手工酒款伊斯托普家族酿酒师葡萄酒。酒庄坐落在恩加鲁罗河上，紧挨着民宅和葡萄园，这里就像是罗德的游乐场。他采用整串葡萄发酵的方式，在500公斤的桶里为他的红葡萄酒进行脚踏破皮工作，在蛋形发酵罐和木桶中发酵白葡萄酒。那些误以为佳美就像博若莱新酒一样只有水果饮料风味的人，可必须要试试罗德的黑佳美葡萄酒，其酒体优雅，与黑皮诺没有什么不同。据说在整个新西兰只有约6公顷的佳美葡萄，而罗德有着近半的使用权。今年他在桶中酿造了自己的第一款白诗南，计划明年将其放入蛋形发酵罐中进行发酵。

圣山酒庄（Scared Hill）的合作创始人—酿酒师托尼·比什也开始创立自己的品牌：托尼·比什葡萄酒，他只做霞多丽葡萄酒，在不同的容器中进行发酵。此外还有城市酒庄（The Urban Winery），一个葡萄酒吧兼托尼·比什酒窖，位于纳皮尔历史悠久的国家烟草公司艺术装饰大楼内。托尼是蛋形发酵罐的忠实粉丝。他在新西兰设计、生产以及销售他自制的蛋形发酵罐，更是新西兰首个也是唯一一个2000升塔兰萨德木蛋形发酵罐的拥有者，在这个容器里，他用14行生长在旱地上的葡萄藤果实酿造了“斯基菲尔德霞多丽葡萄酒”。这只木鸡蛋被放在酒窖中，我在参观时有幸摸了摸它。“斯基菲尔德霞多丽葡萄酒”无疑是霍克斯湾杰出的霞多丽之一，但是在托尼蛋形发酵罐中发酵的“金鸡蛋葡萄酒”也很特别。

最后是珍妮·多布森，同样非常重要的人物。她是特瓦酒庄（Te Awa Winery）的前酿酒师，现在是霍克斯湾内多个酒庄的咨询师，包括和谐酒庄（Unison）。她还是少数酿造皮诺塔奇的酿酒师之一，3年前我有幸品尝了她酿造的2006年份皮诺塔奇葡萄酒，这次又品鉴了1999年份（显然，早期新西兰的葡萄酒产业中有不少南非人，因此种植了皮诺塔奇和白诗南）。不管怎样，珍妮最终开始创立自己的品牌，我也为此感到很高兴。3年前我曾和她在一起，如今又重聚了。她和她的丈夫查理斯知识都十分渊博，让我在新西兰收获的知识倍增。珍妮的第一款葡萄酒是菲亚诺，酒标上有火山喷发的背景，以此强调菲亚诺的起源。我们有几瓶酒，我的评价是4F：菲亚诺—果味十足—燧石—精致（Fiano-Fruity-Flinty-Finesse）。珍妮还在桶中酿造了一部分红葡萄酒，但还没有决定最终的混酿方式。

由于霍克斯湾并不受限于一种葡萄，酿酒师们可以自由地用非主流葡萄品种来酿酒。珍妮、罗德，两位托尼和华伦，这些才华横溢的人在自己的品牌下，用数量有限的不同葡萄品种来手工酿制葡萄酒，这正是霍克斯湾有趣的地方所在。我希望他们能够联合起来，也许就像“杜罗河男孩”一样，大声告诉葡萄酒消费者：新西兰葡萄酒不像人们想象的那样风格单一，除了长相思以外这里还有许多精彩等着被发现！

和谐酒庄的菲利普抱怨说，由于没有直飞纳皮尔的国际航班，这个产区经常被忽视。霍克斯湾就像一颗尚未被发现的明珠，下一次当你拜访新西兰时，试着在这里停留几天，相信我，你一定不会失望的。

View Hawkes Bay as a hidden gem and make an effort to spend a few days there during your next visit to New Zealand. You won’t be disappointed.

Perhaps because Hawkes Bay is not as well-known as Marlborough or Central Otago, winemakers are not pressured to only focus on one style of wine or one grape variety. I visited a few wineries and happy to see creative ideas abound. The most impressed was boutique winery de la terre with only 5.3 ha of vineyards consisted of Viognier, Chardonnay, Shiraz,Montepulciano, Barbera, Tannat with the latest addition being Tempranillo. Owner Tony Prichard spent 30 years making wine for big brand Montana that was eventually bought by Pernod Ricard.He said being a‘corporate’winemaker is like being in a trap with golden handcuffs that drains creativity. In late 2000, he made the decision to get away from industrial winemaking, built his own winery with local earth (hence the name de la terre), and since then made wine the way he wants. He said Viognier has a bad reputation of being fat and clumsy therefore he decided to make an elegant, textural Viognier that is not varietal driven. He loves being experimental hence all these non-mainstream varieties and stays away from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. His Grand Reserve Tanat is just superb!

Tony was not the only‘corporate’winemaker who started his own label, Warren Gibson of Trinity Hills created Bilancia in 1998 and they were joined by Rod Easthope, formerly chief winemaker at Craggy Range. Rod has two lines, Rod Easthope that is available at Naked Wines in the UK and Easthope Family Winegrowers, the top hand crafted wine that Rod has 100% freedom to do what he desires. The winery for this label is perched above the Ngaruroro River next to the family house and vineyard, a playground of Rod where he does 100% whole bunch fermentation and foot treading in 500kg bins for his red wine; and ferments white wine in concrete eggs and barrels. For those who dismiss Gamay as candied fruit drink in the form of Beaujolais Nouvelle, you have to try Rod’s Gamay Noir. It is elegant with profile not dissimilar to Pinot Noir. Apparently there are only around 6 ha of Gamay in the whole of New Zealand, and Rod has access to nearly half of it. He made his first Chenin Blanc this year in barrel but plans to ferment it in concrete egg next year.

Scared Hill co-founder winemaker Tony Bish also ventured to start not only his label, Tony Bish Wines which only makes Chardonnay fermented in different vessels, but also The Urban Winery, a wine bar-cum-Tony Bish cellar in the historic National Tobacco Company Art Deco building in Napier. Tony is a big fan of egg. He designs, produces and markets his own version of concrete egg in New Zealand, and is also the first and sole owner of the 2,000l Taransaud wooden egg in New Zealand where he makes his Skeetfield Chardonnay from 14 rows of dry-farmed vines. This wooden egg was enshrined in the cellar and I had the privilege to touch it when I was visiting. Skeetfield is definitely one of the outstanding Chardonnays from Hawkes Bay but the Golden Egg, fermented in Tony’s concrete egg, is also exceptionally.

Last but not least is Jenny Dobson, former winemaker at Te Awa Winery and now consulting to a number of wineries at Hawkes Bay including Unison. She is also one of the few winemakers who made Pinotage and I was lucky to try her 2006 Pinotage three years ago and this time the 1999 vintage (Apparently there were quite a few South Africans in the NZ wine industry in early days hence the plantings of Pinotage and Chenin Blanc). Anyway, Jenny is finally starting her own label and I was really excited about it. I stayed with her three years ago and again this time. She and her husband Charles are so knowledgeable that I more than double my learning during my stay in New Zealand. Jenny’s first wine is Fiano and the label has an erupting volcano in the background to emphasise the origin of Fiano. We had a couple of bottles and my conclusion was 4Fs: Fiano-Fruity-Flinty-Finesse. Jenny also has a red wine in barrel but has yet to decide on the final blend.

Because Hawkes Bay is not dominated by one grape variety,winemakers are flexible to play with less common ingredients.Jenny, Rod the two Tonys and Warren, talented and experienced,are handcrafting wines from different varieties in small quantities under their own labels; and this is exactly what makes Hawkes Bay interesting. I hope they can join force, perhaps something like The Douro Boys, to shout out to wine consumers that New Zealand is not as homogenous as we think and certainly there is a lot more than Sauvignon Blanc.

Philip from Unison complained that because there is no direct international flight to Napier, the region is often overlooked.View Hawkes Bay as a hidden gem and make an effort to spend a few days there during your next visit to New Zealand. You won’t be disappointed.