阿莱西奥：在宁夏酿造葡萄酒

文/弗特纳多·阿莱西奥（Fortunato Alessio）

宁夏的葡萄有宁夏的性情

2013年，我第一次来到宁夏，那时是来拜访几家中国酒庄，并和我的一个中国学生会面，他和爱人在宁夏经营着一个酒庄。在那之前，我对宁夏略有耳闻，但没有什么直观的认识。虽然我在知名的葡萄酒产区有着丰富的咨询经验，但在意大利，甚至在欧洲都很难获取宁夏的有关信息。所以我来到宁夏后首先分析它的外部条件，如天气、土壤和气候，这些是一个地区是否适合种植酿酒葡萄的先决条件。

榨季时我在宁夏待了近两个月，经验告诉我，宁夏是一个优秀的葡萄酒产区，可以生产出能与如波尔多和巴罗洛等世界最著名的产区相媲美的甚至更优质的葡萄酒。这里的天气条件和欧洲其他地方大不相同，冬季和夏季的天气更加极端。冬季严寒，气温会下降到零下25℃，并持续一个多月，葡萄藤会被冻死，所以在冬季来临之前，葡萄藤被土埋了起来。夏季炎热干燥，白天气温会超过35℃，晚上的温度因地区而有差异，特别是靠近山区的地方气温会下降到15℃—18℃，昼夜温差巨大。除此之外，不同地区的土壤类型也有很大差异，有些地区更接近黏土，而有些地区沙质特征更明显。这里在冬季来临之前葡萄藤就要被埋起来，等到春天再挖出来，导致葡萄藤的植物生长和成熟并不理想，有些地区的葡萄品种如赤霞珠并没有足够的时间成熟。因此，在有些地区，赤霞珠并不是最能表达宁夏“风土”的理想品种。如今随着酿酒工艺的发展，一些人工产品可以用来提升葡萄酒质量，但我个人理想的风格以及酿酒实践告诉我要尽可能少地去使用酿酒产品，尽量让葡萄酒自己说话。我在担任《吉尔伯特&盖拉德国际葡萄酒指南》中国区总监期间，一年间品尝并评价了142种中国葡萄酒，其中大部分来自宁夏，毫无疑问，宁夏有实力成为世界领先的葡萄酒产区之一，但未来酿酒师应该开始种植更适合宁夏风土的葡萄品种，也许研究并种植意大利南部的酿酒葡萄会是一个有趣的选择。

Ningxia Grape Has Its Own Flavour

The first time that I visited Ningxia region was in 2013,in order to visit several Chinese wineries and meet one of my Chinese students that opened a winery there with his wife. Before 2013, I had some pieces of information about Ningxia region but I didn’t have a clear idea of what I should really expect. I have acquired international wine consulting experience from the top wine growing areas of the world, but it is hard to have more data information about Ningxia region in Europe, or at least in Italy. So I started my adventure analyzing Ningxia from the exogenous conditions such a weather, soil and climate. Those are the first things for me to consider evaluating if a place is suitable to grow wine grapes.

I spent almost 2 months in Ningxia during the harvest time, and after my experience, I can definitely say that Ningxia is an excellent production area to make higher quality wines that could compete with the most famous wine area of the world like Bordeaux, Barolo, etc. The weather conditions are different from other places of Europe, where conditions are more extreme during the winter and summer time. The winter is cold and the temperature drops down to -25°C for more than a month. The vine will die in this condition, so it must to be buried before the winter is coming. Summertime is hot and dry. The temperature goes up to +35°C during the day but during the night (depending on the area,but especially close to the hills), the temperature goes down to 15-18°C. This creates a big variance between day and nigh temperatures. The soil types are quite different depending on the region. In some areas the soil is more like clay, and in other areas the soil is sandier.The vine for Cabernet Sauvignon is presently grown in the widest variety of soil and region. In winter the vine must be buried underneath the soil, and it will be dug out in the spring. So I notice that the vegetative evolution and maturation of the vine is not ideal. I am fi rst a scientist and a wine consultant, so I saw that a variety of cabernet sauvignon in some areas have not had enough time to mature because the vine must be buried earlier before the winter. For this reason, in some areas of the Ningxia region, Cabernet Sauvignon is not the ideal variety to present as the best “Terroir” of Ningxia. Nowadays, with improvements in winemaking practices, you can def i nitely use some products in order to increase the quality level of the wine coming from the vineyard, but my personal ideal style and winemaking practices are to use as few as possible oenology products. The wine should talk for itself to us. I tasted and judged for the international wine guide Gilbert & Gaillard around 142 different Chinese wines a year, the majority from this region. Ningxia has everything to become one of the leader wine regions of the world, but future winemakers should consider starting to grow vine varieties more suitable for type of terroir that Ningxia offers, perhaps it will be interesting to research and plant wine grapes coming from south of Italy.

弗特纳多·阿莱西奥，意大利人，中国西北农林科技大学客座教授、西安葡萄酒商会联合顾问、《吉尔伯特&盖拉德国际葡萄酒指南》中国区总监 ( Fortunato Alessio is from Italy. In 2014, he was employed as a visiting professor by Northwest A&F University of China. In 2015, he became a collaboration consultant for Xi’an Wine Chamber of Commerce and China Director for Gilbert & Gaillard)

成为贺兰晴雪大家庭中的一员

我很荣幸能在贺兰晴雪酒庄酿造葡萄酒。贺兰晴雪是宁夏最著名的酒庄之一，也是中国第一家获得品醇客奖项的酒庄。2017年4月中旬，贺兰晴雪与宁夏产区数十家酒庄在波黑的第20届莫斯塔尔经贸博览会上亮相，让我在开始工作之前就对这里充满期待。的确，和酿酒师张静女士以及她的员工一起工作是一种美好的经历。在榨季我和他们一起工作了两个月。一开始，庄主给我买了新的工作鞋，还有一件可爱的印着“加贝兰”标志的夹克，我感觉自己就像是这个家庭中的一员。工作进行得很顺利，在采收季，我们多次去葡萄园检查成熟度，因为我想用100%成熟的葡萄完全体现宁夏葡萄的风土和葡萄酒的风格，在酒窖中尽量少使用人工产品。团队里的人都十分友好，每次都能陪我去葡萄园使用化学分析方法检测成熟度。“加贝兰”团队已经习惯了通过努力工作，生产出更优质的葡萄酒，所以对他们来说，在发酵和陈酿阶段处理任何情况都不是难事。

Being One Family Member of Helan Qing Xue Winery

I had the chance to vinify my wine in Helan Qing Xue Winery, one of the most famous Chinese wineries and the first Chinese winery to receive an award from Decanter. So my expectation of this winery before starting work was high. In fact, it was a great experience to work with the wine maker Mrs. Zhang Jing and her staff. I spent 2 months with them during harvest time. In the first days of working the owners of the winery bought me new working shoes and a lovely jacket with the logo of Jia Bei Lan. I felt like a member of the family and it was a very emotional moment. The beginning of this experience started very well. During the harvest time, we went to check the status of the maturation many times in the vineyard, because I wanted to make sure to get the grape 100% ripe for my vinification style and to use less products in the cellar. The availability of the team was great to spend time in the vineyard with me, checking the maturity level using the analytical method. The Jiabeilan’s team is used to working hard to produce higher quality wines so it was not difficult to manage all situations during the vinification and ageing time.I don’t use a protocol for the vinification because every vintage is different. I taste the grape, and with the analysis, I will determine the best vinification for the type of grape that I got from the vineyard. Sometimes I saw the team of Jiabeilan quite surprised to see me present early in the morning until late night working in the cellar to check my wine status, but most of the time if I had the choice I would perform many operations by myself because I have a great experience by doing it alone. The Jiabeilan’s team was available every time to cooperate and work together, it was a professional exchange between different winemaking styles. When the grapes come to the winery, the team was already trained to destem and select only the best grapes for the vinification. It was an amazing experience be a wine maker in Ningxia. So from both sides, we have learnt from each other: The local people showed me the delicious food coming from the region and the amazing variety of food that you could get there is gorgeous, fresh and delicious.

我没有墨守成规地跟着酿酒方案走，因为每次酿酒都不同，我会不断品尝酒样，根据具体情况作出分析，比如我会依据葡萄类型选择最好的酿酒工艺。有时他们看我从清晨到深夜都在酒窖里检查葡萄酒状态，感到十分吃惊，但大多数情况下我自己都毫无觉察，因为很多操作都是我一个人完成，我很享受这种体验过程。每次需要协同合作时，“加贝兰”团队都能积极配合，我们之间是一种不同酿酒风格的专业性交流。所以，当葡萄到达酒庄时，整个团队已经训练有素，做好准备去梗分拣，挑选最优质的葡萄来酿酒。在宁夏做酿酒师是一个奇妙的经历，在这个团队里，我们相互学习。当地人还向我展示了宁夏特色美食，让我享用到许许多多新鲜美味的食物，真是美妙的享受。我很享受在酒庄的生活时光，容健庄主把我当作儿子看待，视我为家庭的一员。为了让我不想家，他们还给我带来了一些国际食品，像意大利面、果酱，还有奶酪。葡萄酒是这里每个人共同的热爱，我觉得和所有人分享我的经验是一件了不起的事。

I enjoyed my time very much in the winery. The owners treated me like a son and member of their family. So that I would not feel homesick they also brought me some international food like pasta, marmalade and cheese.Everyone had in common the passion for wine and it was amazing to share my experience with all of them.

世界著名葡萄酒大师杰西斯·罗宾逊在贺兰晴雪酒庄橡木桶上签名

请你来发现宁夏酒庄的美妙

一个葡萄酒产区要成为一种标志，有很多影响因素，比如风土、环境、土壤、品种和人。这里的气候和土壤类型有适合发展高品质葡萄酒的潜力。同时，宁夏酿酒师也能在很短的时间内迅速吸收外国专家的建议。

宁夏葡萄酒的质量在逐年提升，我有机会为《吉尔伯特&盖拉德国际葡萄酒指南》品尝了宁夏周边所有地区的葡萄酒，得分最高的就产自这里，品酒的经历充分证明宁夏葡萄酒的质量。世界上没有任何一个葡萄酒产区能在发展过程中得到国家和地方政府如此大的扶持。我在世界上所有的葡萄酒产区都生活过，在宁夏所感受到的是其他国家无法复制的。我十分欣赏中国政府以及宁夏葡萄酒产业发展局在发展宁夏葡萄酒产区中的完美合作。2013年我第一次来宁夏时，通往酒庄的道路尚未完工，而2017年的今天，我能驾车或骑车顺利到达任何一个酒庄。群山环绕酒庄的壮美景观会带来非凡的宁静平和之感。

大部分酒庄设有舒适的中式住宿，让你处在舒适、整洁、健康的环境当中，能满足你的一切所需。来这里旅行三周以上都不会感到厌烦，在舒适的住宿中休息，周围葡萄园环绕，还能享受当地的美味佳肴。当地人温和朴实，即使有些不会讲英文，你也仍然能感受到他们的热情款待。我真心推荐所有喜欢葡萄酒和酒庄的外国人来参观这个美妙的地区，还有更多等待你去发现、去感受。

Come to Enjoy The Amazing of Ningxia Winery

There are many factors that influence a wine region becoming an icon, such as the “Terroir”, environment, soil,variety and people. The climate and soil type are potentially suitable for higher quality wines. At the same time, Chinese wine makers are able to assimilate rapidly and in an incredibly short time, the advice coming from expert abroad.

Wine quality in Ningxia increases year after year. This has been demonstrated during my wine tasting in Ningxia where I had the chance to taste wines from all area of Ningxia surrounding, judging for Gilbert&Gaillard international wine guide with the highest score coming from this region in China. No other wine region in the world got incredible support in term of development from the home state country. I lived in all wine regions in the world and what I saw in Ningxia is something not duplicable in another country. My congratulations to the Chinese Government and Ningxia wine bureau to perfectly work together to develop the Ningxia wine region. The first time that I visited Ningxia in 2013, they didn’t finish building the road to access to the wineries. Today in 2017,it is wonderful going around by car or bicycle from one vineyard to another. The amazing views of the vineyard surrounded by the mountain give you an amazing feeling of comfort and peace.

The majority of wineries have created an amazing Chinese-style accommodation, comfortable, clean and well preserved in the healthy environment. That is all you need. You can travel in the region for more than 3 weeks and you will never feel bored, sleeping in a comfortable accommodation, surrounded by the vineyard and eating delicious local foods. The local people are very gentle and simple, even if some of them do not speak English, you will receive their warm welcome. I kindly suggest to all foreigners that love wine and wineries to visit this amazing region. There is a lot to discover and to fall in love with.

未来，我对宁夏抱有更高的期望。而且我相信不久我们会在世界上顶级的品酒会上见到越来越多产自宁夏的优质葡萄酒。宁夏葡萄酒潜力巨大，一切只是时间问题。如果有一天，越来越多的外国葡萄酒爱好者来参观神奇的宁夏，宁夏的葡萄酒变得和巴罗洛一样出名，我一点都不会感到吃惊。（宁夏回族自治区外国专家局供图）

My expectation for Ningxia is very high and I am confident that in the near future we will see more Chinese quality wines from Ningxia present in the most important wine tasting of the world. It is just a matter of time. The potential is already setup in Ningxia. I won’t be surprised if in the future more and more foreigners who are passionate about wine will visit this amazing region, and that Ningxia’s wine will be famous like Barolo.