佐藤酒庄：新西兰的日本制造

文|Tersina Shieh 编、译|张恬熙

热情的葡萄酒爱好者往往希望有一天能够实现他们的梦想，酿造自己的葡萄酒。日本人吉崎佐藤就是其中一位。

Passionate wine lovers often want to live their dreams and make their own wines one day.Japanese Yoshiaki Sato is one of them.

热情的葡萄酒爱好者往往希望有一天能够实现他们的梦想，酿造自己的葡萄酒。日本人吉崎佐藤就是其中一员。2005年，他与妻子恭子结束了前景光明的银行业生涯，定居新西兰学习葡萄种植和酿酒，他们在中奥塔哥的酒庄里积累经验，并最终酿出了属于自己的葡萄酒ÿ250箱黑皮诺，这是2009年以佐藤酒庄名义发布的葡萄酒，所用的葡萄来自中奥塔哥的两个有机葡萄园。

夫妻俩的辛勤劳动得到了回报，如今他们生产6款葡萄酒，总共1800箱，出口到包括香港在内的多个国际市场。2015年，这对夫妻在中奥塔哥的皮萨山脉处购买了一块5公顷的葡萄园，第二年种植了1.7万棵葡萄藤，并在今年酿造了第一款葡萄酒。

不知道是不是因为日本文化的背景，佐藤酒庄的黑皮诺和中奥塔哥大部分的都不一样。主要体现为葡萄酒更加精致，口感清爽，就像日本的美食一样。吉崎佐藤比他的大多数邻居更早采摘葡萄，以保持果实新鲜的酸度。由于葡萄的成熟度恰到好处，并不会过熟，所以葡萄酒最终的酒精含量会低于14%。虽然过熟的葡萄可以经得起更多新橡木桶的历练，但这并不适用于所有葡萄品种。黑皮诺比较女性化，有柔顺的单宁，应该温柔对待。吉崎佐藤认为，葡萄酒的复杂性应该来自于葡萄本身而不是橡木桶赋予的风味。虽然他会用新橡木桶来陈酿一部分葡萄酒，但是他只使用较大的500升桶，并且使用的比例很小，以此来保证葡萄酒的味道不会被橡木桶带来的风味所淡化。

吉崎佐藤奉行自然酿酒法，即不使用酵母和化学制品等商业产品，在装瓶时也只用最少量的二氧化硫来保存葡萄酒。我对自然酒的过度营销持怀疑态度，但是吉崎佐藤的酒让我相信自然酒并非不干净的葡萄酒。他确保葡萄是健康的，酒窖是干净的，以及葡萄酒是处理恰当的。

我们品鉴了2016年份的3款黑皮诺，它们都有不同的特点。诺斯布恩葡萄酒（Northburn）采用生物动力法，这款酒口感优雅，有纯净的红色水果气息和细腻的单宁。皮萨之地葡萄酒（Pisa Terrace）则口感更加丰富，酒体饱满，散发着深色水果的香气。林索仕葡萄酒（Linsolite）是旗舰酒款，有诺斯布恩葡萄酒的纯度，又有皮萨之地葡萄酒的结构感，复杂度更胜一寿。

佐藤酒庄还有一款必须尝试的酒款：用灰皮诺酿造并进行了3周果皮浸渍的橙酒。这款酒很清新，带有草本和花朵香气，还有茉莉花茶般的口感。这款酒搭配粤式点心绝对会比中国茶更好！

Passionate wine lovers often want to live their dreams and make their own wines one day.Japanese Yoshiaki Sato is one of them.In 2005,he and his wife Kyoko quit their high-flying banking career and settled in New Zealand to study grapegrowing and winemaking, gained hands-on experience at Central Otago wineries, and eventually produced their own wines – 250 cases of Pinot Noir – in 2009 under the brand Sato Wines using grapes sourced from two organic vineyard sites in Central Otago.

Their hard work paid off and today they are making six wines with a total of 1,800 cases exporting to several markets including Hong Kong.In 2015, the couple purchased a 5 ha vineyard plot on Mt Pisa in Central Otago,planted 17,000 vines the following year and made the first wine this year.

Not quite sure if it is because of his Japanese background, Satos Pinot Noirs are different from most Central Otagos.The wines are more delicate with certain lightness on the palate not dissimilar to the fine Japanese cuisine.Yoshiaki pick the grapes earlier than most of his neighbours to retain the fresh acidity.The grapes are of perfect ripeness rather than overripe therefore the final alcohol of the wine is below 14%.Overripe grapes can stand up to more new oak but this is not suitable for all grape varieties.Pinot Noir is feminine with soft tannin and should be treated gently.Yoshiaki believes the complexity of wine has to come from the grapes itself and not new oak.While he uses new barrels for some of his wine, he only uses the bigger 500l barrels and only a small percentage to make sure the oak does not overpower the wine.

Yoshiaki practises natural winemaking, that is, not using commercial products such as yeasts and chemicals, and only minimum sulphur dioxide at bottling to preserve the wine.I am skeptical with the over-marketing of natural wine but Yoshiaki assured me that natural wine does not equal to dirty wine.He makes sure the grapes are healthy, the cellar is clean and the wine is handled properly.

We tasted the three Pinot Noirs from 2016 vintage and they all have different characters.Northburn is from the biodynamic site and the wine is elegant with a pure red fruit expression and fine tannin, while Pisa Terrace is richer, fuller-bodied with darker fruits aromas.Linsolite is the flagship wine that has the purity of Northburn, the structure of Pisa Terrace and added complexity.The other must try Sato Wines is the orange wine made with Pinot Gris with three weeks of skin contact.The wine is fresh with herbs and floral notes, and a jasmine tea-like palate.It definitely goes better with Cantonese dim sum than any Chinese tea!