巴厘岛制造
2019-01-05TersinaShieh张恬熙
文|Tersina Shieh 编、译|张恬熙
位于赤道以南8度的巴厘岛,一直以来因种植水稻和外来水果而被世界熟知。如果在这里种植葡萄呢?大多数葡萄酒专家会告诉你:这是不可能的,因为这里太热了!但实际上,自20世纪初,巴厘岛就已经开始种植食用葡萄。就像水稻一样,葡萄每年也会有3次采收期,且不需要经历冬季的树藤休眠期。尽管如此,这并不能阻止一些颇具前瞻目光的思想家(也可以叫他们顽固派)去尝试在这个吸引了包括雅加达人在内全球旅游爱好者的热带岛屿上酿造葡萄酒。
哈登葡萄酒庄(Hatten Wines)是巴厘岛葡萄酒的先驱,酒庄于1994年建立,拥有约35公顷的葡萄园并且仍在扩张,这座庄园坐落在巴厘岛东北部地区的新加拉惹,那也是最干旱的地方。一开始,哈登只用原产于法国的阿方斯莱弗宁(Alphonse-Lavallée)葡萄来酿制桃红(静止葡萄酒,接下来还有起泡酒)葡萄酒。直到2001年的第100次采收后,哈登才开始使用当地葡萄品种,包括近乎灭绝的庞月比卢(Probolinggo Biru)和莫斯卡特家族的比利加(Belgia)葡萄。这个系列现在有7款葡萄酒:用传统法酿造的起泡酒(屯荣格白葡萄酒和杰彭桃红葡萄酒),干型阿嘉白葡萄酒,半甜型亚历山大白葡萄酒,半甜型桃红葡萄酒和索雷拉系统酿造的加强型巴厘岛皮诺白葡萄酒。
沙巴贝酒庄(Sababay)是巴厘岛第二“古老”的酒庄,成立于2010年。当时慕莉雅蒂·戈扎利夫人在参观过这家酒庄后,出于对当地葡萄栽培者的帮助给予了支持。在合作模式下,约有300名农民从北方80公顷左右的葡萄园中,提供了当地葡萄品种瓦利尔慕斯卡特(Muscat St Vallier)和阿方斯莱弗宁,酿造了几款葡萄酒:用100%瓦利尔慕斯卡特酿造的丝绒白葡萄酒(又名比利加),玫瑰花桃红葡萄酒,黑丝绒红葡萄酒和珍藏红葡萄酒,巴厘岛莫斯卡托葡萄酒,半甜型露迪西亚葡萄酒和红宝石波特风格的马斯切蒂。沙巴贝的女儿兼酒庄CEO伊娃·戈扎利与农业社合作密切。当沙巴贝酒庄被邀请和“精彩巴厘岛”旅游项目合作这件事,她特别兴奋,因为这一项目能够促进巴厘岛的发展。
康提尼·巴黎塔的伊莎拉酒庄建立于2012年,由印度尼西亚人和意大利人合伙经营。除了瓦利尔慕斯卡特和阿方斯莱弗宁,酒庄还种植了黑玛尔维萨和西拉。目前,酒庄仅酿造3款酒:伊莎拉莫斯卡托白葡萄酒、伊莎拉桃红葡萄酒和伊莎拉红葡萄酒。
这些酒庄的酿酒师都认为将葡萄种植在巴厘岛是一件非常具有挑战的事情。哈登酒庄的澳大利亚酿酒师詹姆斯·凯莱斯可表示,公司用了10年时间来反复进行试验,才有了如今的成果。巴厘岛的葡萄园采用棚架栽培系统,葡萄在棚架上蔓延,而果实则在叶子的保护下生长。这种栽培方式既能让工人们在凉爽的环境下工作,同时也保护葡萄免受日晒雨淋。庞月比卢和比利加这两个白葡萄品种生长得相当好,红葡萄品种阿方斯莱弗宁却经常会出现酚类物质成熟度的问题。哈登有一个用于研发的10公顷葡萄园,詹姆斯和研究员杰米·帕拿马曾试验将40多个葡萄品种以新枝垂直分布形(VSP)来培养,以及长短交替的修剪法来限制采收控制在一年一收的频率。由于活力高,藤本植物形成顶端优势,远端的少数萌芽比靠近树干头部的萌芽更加年长。杰米把葡萄藤向上弯曲,形成一个弧度,减缓营养和水份流往葡萄藤末端的速度,使树藤中部的节点能够正常发育。只是目前丹魄的状况并不乐观,反而白诗南和西拉的生长让杰米感到十分开心。
沙巴贝酒庄的法国酿酒师尼可拉斯·德拉克松对詹姆斯作出了回应。为了提高葡萄的品质,沙巴贝将采收期控制在一年两次并避免在雨季采收。农民采收葡萄的每公斤单位薪资也在提高。虽然阿方斯莱弗宁可以酿成令人愉悦的桃红葡萄酒,但要将它想酿成世界级的红葡萄酒还是不够理想。因此,就像哈登一样,沙巴贝正在与农民合作种植其他葡萄品种。尼可拉斯已经对法国老式思维和严格的规章制度感到厌烦,认为这限制了法国生产商的竞争力。他热爱自己在巴厘岛面临的挑战,因为他善于利用创新技术来提供葡萄酒的质量。他的座右铭是:“昨日的创新就是今天的传统。”
从一开始,康提尼·巴黎塔就种植了黑玛尔维萨来给阿方斯莱弗宁增加酒液颜色和果味。意大利酿酒师贾科莫·安塞米和助手阿贡·威利斯则与农民密切合作,执行严格的葡萄园管理规则,比如进行绿色采摘和控制采收至一年两次,以此来提高葡萄成熟度。他们还计划用其他意大利葡萄品种进行试验,包括歌蕾拉、黑珍珠和普里米蒂沃等葡萄品种来提高葡萄酒的品质。
印度尼西亚有90%的进口税,还有消费税和增值税。考虑到印尼中产阶级的平均收入仅约为250美元/月(约1737元),即使是入门级进口葡萄酒,每瓶的零售价也在360万-400万卢比(170-190元)之间,对于大多数当地人来说就是奢侈品。游客们也发现这里的葡萄酒与本国相比太贵了。巴厘岛葡萄酒每瓶价格约20美元(约139元),因此对他们而言很有吸引力。这3家酒庄均以当地市场为重点,主要销售到巴厘岛,其次是雅加达。
有志者事竟成。大约有2000名生产商决定只用国际葡萄品种来酿造优质葡萄酒,以此来与进口酒竞争。他们并不是在巴厘岛种植葡萄藤,而是从其他葡萄酒种植国进口原材料,并在巴厘岛进行加工。来自探索海角酒庄(Cape Discovery)的澳大利亚籍酿酒师米奇·海伊解释说,一方面一些葡萄酒生产国存在过剩的葡萄;另一方面,一些新兴国家正在寻求价格合理的优质葡萄酒。他所做的就是将这两方面相结合。探索海角酒庄从西澳、美国和新西兰的葡萄园进口冷藏葡萄汁和澄清汁,按需酿造葡萄酒。按照米奇的说法,即使他并不是在酿造风土导向的葡萄酒,但他还是有团队在当地负责管理,以确保葡萄的采收能够按照他的标准进行。他的目标是酿造能凸显葡萄品种本身特色的优质葡萄酒。它的定价在巴厘岛葡萄酒和入门级进口葡萄酒之间,当我向一众马来西亚葡萄酒专家们、进口商、侍酒师和教育工作者等展示该酒庄的葡萄酒时,他们都对它的性价比表达了广泛的认可。探索海角酒庄的葡萄酒还在一些国际葡萄酒大赛上赢得了奖牌,如国泰香港国际葡萄酒与烈酒大赛。实际上,哈登葡萄酒有一款酒标为“双岛(Two Islands)”的葡萄酒,酒液就是由澳大利亚进口的葡萄汁制成。
普拉加葡萄酒庄(Plaga Wine)是另一个在巴厘岛上利用非酒精原料进口税低这一优势来酿酒的厂商。这个团队由一群说西班牙语的人领导,包括来自智利的市场营销员胡安·迪亚兹,来自阿根廷的酿酒师普拉伯·冈萨雷斯和来自西班牙的乔迪·莫雷诺。酒庄从智利中央山谷、意大利西西里岛以及西班牙拉曼查进口浓缩葡萄汁,并在收获期进行实地品质控制,普拉加的主要目标人群是年轻的印度尼西亚人,零售价格与当地种植的葡萄酒持平。在真正的拉丁精神中,传递的讯息是乐观的——无论在何时何地,都要过得开心。胡安给我看了即将发售的莫斯卡托视频,不得不说这是吸引消费者的一个亮点。
用第三国的葡萄品种来酿酒一直以来备受争议。然而葡萄还是经常从不同的产区运到酒窖进行加工。理论上,在冷冻状态下运输葡萄汁和果汁是可以保证质量的(有些人也许还主张保留风土特征)。建立在大都市里的酒庄也正在涌现,比如建在伦敦、悉尼、温哥华和华盛顿等地的城市酒庄(Urban Wineries),他们使用的葡萄通常来自不同的国家,我们在香港也有自己的城市酒庄计划。如果这些大城市的消费者都接受这些城市酒庄,那像探索海角、双岛和普拉加这样的酒庄自然也就没什么问题了。
经过与酿酒师的商讨,观察当地市场并品尝了所有的葡萄酒,我只能表示尊重这些巴厘岛的酒庄以及他们正在做的事情。就像其他亚洲国家一样,印尼还没有发展葡萄酒文化,进口葡萄酒远远超出了普通消费者的承受能力。然而,这些并不应该阻止当地人的好奇心,让他们害怕去品尝和享受葡萄酒。阿方斯莱弗宁或者比利加或许不是主流葡萄酒,但如果印尼人喜欢它们,那就可以了。如果用进口原料酿造的葡萄酒和原产地国家一样好喝,我们为什么要挑战它呢?这至少比很多用合成材料生产的产品好多了。也许,比起其他产业来说,葡萄酒业所缺乏的正是创意和创新吧?
Located just south of equator at 8ºS, Bali is known for growing rice and exotic fruits. But wine grapes? Most wine professionals will tell you impossible because it is just too hot. In fact, Bali has been growing table grapes since the beginning of the 20th century and like rice, there are three harvests per year as there is no winter for the vines to be dormant. However, this doesn't stop some forward-thinkers(or you can say stubborn)to try making wines in this tropical island that attracts tourists from all corners of the world including Jakartans.
Hatten Wines is the pioneer of Balinese wine. The winery was established in 1994 and the vineyards, around 35ha in total and expanding, are located in Singaraja, northeast of Bali where it is the driest. At the beginning, Hatten only made Rosé(still and later a sparkling)from local table grape Alphonse-Lavallée of French origin.Only after the 100th harvest in 2001 then Hatten its portfolio using local grapes including the near extinct Probolinggo Biru, and Belgia in the Muscat family. The portfolio now has seven wines: sparkling made in traditional method(white Tunjung and rosé Jepun), dry Aga white, semi-sweet Alexandria white, semi-sweet Rosé, light Aga Red,and solera-aged fortified wine Pino de Bali.
Sababay, the second oldest Balinese winery, was born in 2010 out of the urge to help local grapegrowers after Mrs Mulyati Gozali visited their farms. Set up in a cooperative framework, about 300 farmers provided local grapes Muscat St Vallier and Alphonse-Lavallée from some 80ha of vineyard in the north to make seven wines: White Velvet from 100% Muscat St Vallier(aka Belgia), Pink Blossom Rosé, reds Black Velvet and Reserve Red, Moscato d’Bali,semi-sweet Ludisia and ruby port style Masscetti. Probably of its close involvement with the farming community, Eva Gozali, daughter and CEO, is super-excited that Sababay has been invited to partner with Wonderful Bali, the tourism body, to promote the island/country.
Isola Wine by Cantine-Balita, an Indonesia-Italy partnership,soon joined the duo in 2012. In addition to Muscat St Vallier and Alphonse-Lavallée, the winery also grows Malvasia Nera and some Syrah. At the moment, only three wines are made: Isola white(Moscato), Isola Rosé and Isola Red.
Winemakers from all these wineries agree that growing grapes is the most challenging in Bali. James Kalleske, Australian winemaker at Hatten, said the company spent the first 10 years of trial and error to finally come to where it is today. Balinese vineyards use Pergola system, an overhead trellis where grapes are hung below the leaves. The system keeps workers shaded and cool, and at the same time protects the grapes from sunburn and rain. While the white varieties, Probolinggo Biru and Belgia grow reasonably well, the red Alphonse-Lavallée often struggle for phenolic ripeness.Hatten has a 10 ha R&D vineyard where James and researcher Jeremy Pramana experimented with over 40 varieties in Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) training and alternating long and short pruning to limit harvest to only once a year. Because of the high vigour, vines develop apical dominance where the distal few buds are most advanced comparing to those near the trunk head. Jeremy bent the cane upward to form an arc that slows down the flow of nutrients/water to the end of the cane enabling the nodes in the middle of the cane to develop properly. Tempranillo is a disaster but James is happy with the progress of Chenin Blanc and Syrah.
Nicolas Delacressonniere, the French winemaker at Sababay,echoed James. To improve grape quality, Sababay limits harvest to twice a year and does not pick in wet season. The farmers are compensated by receiving a higher price per kilogram of grapes.While Alphonse-Lavallée can be made into a delightful rosé, it is not ideal for a world-class red and therefore, like Hatten, Sababay is working with farmers to grow other varieties. Nicolas is tired of the old style thinking and rigid regulations in France that restrict competitiveness of French producers, and love the challenges in Bali as he has freehand to use innovative techniques to improve the wine quality. His motto is,‘yesterday’s innovation is today’s tradition’.
From the onset, Cantine Balita planted Malvasia Nera to give more colour to Alphonse-Lavallée and to increase fruitiness. Italian winemaker Giacomo Anselmi and assistant Agung Willys, while work closely with farmers to implement strict vineyard practices such as green pruning and restrict harvest to two times per year to improve grape ripening, also plan to experiment with other Italian varieties including Glera, Nero d’Avola and Primitivo to up the quality of wine.
Indonesia has 90% import duty on wine and there are also excise and GST. Considering the fact that average income of Indonesian middle class is around US$250/month, even very basic entry level imported wine, retailed between 360k-400k rupiah (US$25-28) per bottle, is a luxury item for most locals.Holidaymakers also find wine too expensive comparing to their home countries. Balinese wine, at around US$20 per bottle, therefore is an attractive option for them. All these three wineries cited local market is their focus, with the majority of sales come from Bali, Jakarta trailed behind.
When there is a will, there is a way. Round about 2000,producers were determined to make quality wine from only international grapes to compete with imported wine. Instead of planting vines in Bali, they import raw materials from other grape growing countries and process them in Bali. Australian Mitch Hayhow from Cape Discovery explained that on one hand there are surplus grapes in some wine producing countries and on another hand, there are emerging countries that are asking for reasonably priced quality wine. What he does is to bring these two sides together. Cape Discovery imports frozen musts and clarified juice from vineyards in West Australia, the US and New Zealand and make wine on demand. Mitch said that even though he is not making terroir-driven wine, he has people on the ground to make sure the grapes are harvested according to his specifications. His goal is to make good quality wine focus on varietal distinction. Priced between Balinese wine and entry level imported wine, it won universal approval on price to quality ratio from a group of Malaysian wine professionals including importers, sommeliers and educators that I showed the wine to. Cape Discovery wines also won a few medals from international wine competition including Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition. As a matter of fact,Hatten Wine also has a second label called Two Islands where wines are made from imported Australian juice.
Plaga Wine is another producer taking advantage of the much lower import duty of non-alcohol raw materials to make wine in Bali.Headed by a spanish speaking team including marketer Juan Diaz from Chile, winemakers Plabo Gonzalez from Argentina and Jordi Moreno from Spain, the company imports both grape concentrate and juice from Central Valley in Chile, Sicily in Italy, and La Mancha in Spain with on-the-ground quality control at harvest. Plaga’s primary target is young Indonesian and the retail price is in par with locally grown wine. In the true Latin spirit, their message is upbeat—— to have fun and celebrate anytime, anywhere. Juan showed me the video of the soon-to-be-released Moscato and I have to say it is spot on in engaging his consumers.
There will always be debate about making wine using grapes from third countries. However, grapes are often transported from across regions to the cellars for processing. Transporting musts and juice in frozen state should in theory preserve the quality (and some may even argue preserving terroir). Urban wineries where grapes are sourced often from different countries are sprouting in metropolitan cities such as London, Sydney, Vancouver and Washington’ and we have our own Urban Project in Hong Kong. If consumers think urban winery is hip, there should be nothing wrong with Cape Discovery,Two Islands and Plaga.
After discussing with the winemakers, observing the local market and trying all the wines, I can only respect these Balinese wineries and what they are doing. Like other Asian countries,Indonesia has not developed wine culture yet and imported wine is largely beyond the reach of average consumers. However, these should not stop curious locals to taste and enjoy wine without feeling intimidated. Alphonse-Lavallée or Belgia may not be mainstream wine but so be it if Indonesian like them. If wine made from imported raw materials is as good as wine made from grapes in the same country, why should we challenge it? It’s much better than a lot of products making from synthetic materials. Perhaps the wine industry is lagging behind other industry in terms of creativity and innovation?