Chinese Wine 中国葡萄酒史

薛洪君

The Chinese do not see wine as one of the necessities of life， but the culture of wine has made， and continues to make， an impact on the way the Chinese live.

Chinese alcoholic drinks are made chiefly from grain. Throughout Chinas long history， with its large population and long-term reliance on agriculture， fluctuations in the wine trade have been closely related to political， economic and social conditions.

Indeed， successive ruling dynasties either issued or relaxed restrictions on wine production according to the quality of grain harvests in order to make sure that people had enough to eat.

In some areas the flourishing of the wine business was not just the outcome of general prosperity in good years， but also encouraged and invigorated the social life of the region.

Traditionally， wine had three important uses： to perform rituals， to dispel ones worries and to heal. Chinese wine making can be traced back as far as c.1 4000 BC， to the early period of the Neolithic2 Yangshao Culture.

Chinese wine is traditionally based on grains， with only a few wines being made from fruit. In China， the practice of using grapes to produce wine probably dates back to the Han Dynasty （202 BC—220 AD） or the Three Kingdoms period in the Central Plains （220—280 AD）.

According to The Record of the Grand Historian， a monumental ancient Chinese history book， in 138 BC， the Han Dynasty envoy Zhang Qian arrived in the western region， seeing “locals make wine in ceramic pots and wealthy people store tens of thousands of kilograms of wine， which could last for scores of years”.

The Chinese had originally acquired grape plantation and wine brewing technology from the Persians.

Grape wine is easier to produce than rice wine. However， as grapes are seasonal and cannot retain their freshness for long compared to grain， grape wine-making technology was not adopted extensively in ancient China.

The Tang Dynasty （618—907） saw increased interaction between Chinese and foreign cultures. During this particular period of time， wine was a valuable commodity in the Central Plains and there were stores in the capital city of Changan offering wine from the western region.

Tang poetry also contributed to the rising popularity of wine. The Tang poet Wang Han composed the following Liangzhou Lines in the eighth century： “They are about to drink / The finest wine from Evening Radiance cups， / When the sudden sounding of the pipa urges them forth. / Dont scorn them， / They whom drunken fall upon the battlefield： / In ancient days or now， how many return who go to war？”

This often-cited poem recounts a feast of border defence troops in celebration of their victory in a battle. Halfway through the feast， news of renewed enemy invasion broke， and the soldiers immediately set out again.

The pipa （Chinese lute） tunes made the poem sentimental： throughout history， how many soldiers manage to come back alive from the frontier？

During the Yuan Dynasty， Mongolian rulers were especially fond of wine. They decreed that wine be used in sacrificial rites at the Royal Ancestral Temple， and ordered the opening of wine yards in Taiyuan of Shanxi and Nanjing of Jiangsu. They even built a wine cellar in the imperial palace.

The Compendium of Materia Medica describes two methods for making wine. One simple method was to “use grape juice for fermenting in the same way as the fermentation of glutinous rice， or use dried crushed grapes if no juice is available”， while the other method was similar to the making of ardent spirits by “using scores of kilograms of grapes and fermenting them with raw starters in a caldron by steaming and then collecting the lively red dews dripping off with a container”.

Wine produced using these methods is certainly not wine in the modern sense of the word.

A historical record dating to between the third and eighth centuries AD describes a method of “crushing grapes by trampling” in ancient Gaochang. This method is similar to the technique used by some small wine makers in Europe today.

Chinas wine production industry did not grow much during the Ming （1368—1644） and Qing （1616—1912） dynasties. The nations industrialized wine production didnt start until 1892， when a Chinese tycoon3 Chang Bishi （1841—1916） founded the Changyu Wine production company in Yantai， Shandong.

China then introduced more than a hundred varieties of wine and a vast range of wine making equipment from Europe， and recruited foreign wine specialists. Drawing upon the grape-cultivation and wine-making practices of European chateaux4， China produced fifteen varieties of brandy， red wine and white wine.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s， following the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949， several varieties of grapes for making wine were introduced from Bulgaria， Hungary and the Soviet Union， and cultured intensively in China.

Today， grape wine yards and grape production bases can be found throughout the country， and wineries5 are growing in leaps and bounds6.

The North China Vine Cultivation Technology Collaboration Conference in 1975 led to a decision to produce wine in Shacheng， Hebei. In light of7 the international market and the availability of local resources， the top priority was given to the development of dry white wine.

In 1978， China produced its first bottle of dry white wine and began exporting. In 1979， China sent its first wine delegation to the International Organization of Vine and Wine8 （OIV）， the first outreach effort of Chinas wine industry.

In 1998， China published a Chinese version of the OIV oenological9 standards—the International Code of Oenological Practices. Although China had yet to join the OIV， nearly two thirds of Chinas wine makers marked “Conforming to the OIVs Code of Oenological Practice” on their product packaging and publicity.

In 2001， Chinas wine production， sales revenues， profit and taxes exceeded those of spirits for the first time.

With the rapid expansion of Chinas wine market， wine yards and wine-making facilities have sprung up across the country from the coast of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in the east and Xinjiang to the west.

High-end products including Grand Cru10 and Eiswein11 have also been brought to China. Among the vast array of China wine brands， the most popular are Changyu Cabernet and Great Wall Wine.                                                               ■

酒在中國人眼中并非生活必需品，但酒文化已经影响且将继续影响中国人的生活方式。

中国酿酒以粮食为主要原料。中国历史悠久，人口众多，长期以农业立国，酒业的兴衰也始终与政治、经济和社会状况密切相关。

事实上，历朝历代的统治者总是根据粮食收成决定发布或解除酒禁以确保民食充足。

在一些地区，好年成百业俱兴使酒业繁盛，而酒业繁盛也促进和活跃了该地区的社会生活。

传统上酒有三种重要作用：成礼、解忧和疗病。中国的酿酒历史可以追溯到公元前4000年左右新石器时代仰韶文化的早期。

中国酒向来以粮食为原料，仅有少数是用水果酿造。在中国，用葡萄酿酒大致可追溯到汉朝（公元前202—公元220）或三国时期（220—280），那时的中原地区已出现这种酿酒法。

据中国古代史巨著《史记》记载，公元前138年，西汉特使张骞到达西域，看到“宛左右以蒲陶为酒，富人藏酒至万余石，久者数十年不败”。

中国人最初是从波斯人那里学到了葡萄种植和葡萄酿酒技术。

葡萄酒比米酒更容易酿制。不过，由于葡萄是季节性作物且不及粮食能长时保鲜，葡萄酿酒技术在古代中国未获普及。

唐代（618—907）时中外文化交流日渐兴盛。在这段突出的历史时期，葡萄酒在中国的中原地区是珍贵商品，在都城长安则有店家供应西域产的葡萄酒。

唐诗对葡萄酒知名度的提升也功不可没。唐朝诗人王翰作于8世纪的《凉州词》这样写道：“葡萄美酒夜光杯，欲饮琵琶马上催。醉卧沙场君莫笑，古来征战几人回？”

这首广为传诵的诗作描写戍边将士为庆祝作战得胜而欢宴畅饮。酒至半酣，传报敌军再度进犯，士兵们又立马披挂出征。

琵琶（中国鲁特琴）曲让诗句顿显感伤：从古到今，边塞征战的兵士中，又有多少能活着回来呢？

元代时，蒙古统治者对葡萄酒钟爱有加。他们颁旨在宗庙祭祀之礼中使用葡萄酒，下令在山西太原和江苏南京开辟葡萄园，甚至在宫殿中建葡萄酒室。

《本草纲目》记述了两种葡萄酒酿制工艺。一种简单方法是“取汁同曲，如常酿糯米饭法。无汁，用葡萄干末亦可”。另一种方法则类同酿制烧酒：“取葡萄数十斤，同大曲酿酢，取入甑蒸之，以器承其滴露，红色可爱。”

使用这些方法酿成的酒显然不同于现代意义上的葡萄酒。

公元3—8世纪的历史文献中记有古高昌国一种“脚踩榨葡萄”的方法。这一方法与今天欧洲某些小型酿酒商采用的技艺相似。

中国的葡萄酒产业在明朝（1368—1644）和清朝（1616—1912）期间没有太大发展。直到1892年，中华实业巨子张弼士（1841—1916）在山东烟台创办张裕酿酒公司，中国葡萄酒的工业化生产才揭开序幕。

当时中国从欧洲引进了逾百种葡萄酒和各式酿造设备，并聘来外国葡萄酒专家。在吸取欧洲大酒庄葡萄种植和酿酒经验的基础上，中国生产出了15种白兰地、红葡萄酒和白葡萄酒。

继1949年中华人民共和国成立后，20世纪50年代末至60年代初，中国从保加利亚、匈牙利和苏联引进了好几种酿酒葡萄品种并进行集中培育。

如今，葡萄种植园和葡萄生产基地遍布全国各地，酿酒厂也突飞猛进地发展起来。

1975年召开的“华北地区葡萄酿酒葡萄栽培技术协作会”决定在河北沙城生产葡萄酒。根据国际市场和当地原料的情况，首选研制干白葡萄酒。

1978年，中国生产出第一瓶干白葡萄酒并于当年开始出口。1979年，中国派出首个葡萄酒代表团访问了国际葡萄与葡萄酒组织（OIV），这也是中国葡萄酒行业首次对外推介活动。

1998年，中国出版了中文版OIV国际酿酒标准《国际葡萄酿酒法规》。尽管那时中国尚未加入国际葡萄与葡萄酒组织，但国内近三分之二的葡萄酒生产商在其产品包装和宣传中注明了“执行国际葡萄与葡萄酒组织的葡萄酿酒技术规范”的字样。

2001年，中国葡萄酒在产量、销售收入、利润和纳税额等方面首超白酒。

随着中国葡萄酒市场的迅速扩大，从东部的渤海、黄海之滨到西部的新疆，葡萄园和各类葡萄酒厂在全国各地如雨后春笋般发展起来。

包括Grand Cru和冰酒在内的一些高端产品也已进入中国市场。在名目繁多的中国葡萄酒品牌中，最为知名的是“张裕解百纳”和“长城葡萄酒”。                                     □

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 c.大约（拉丁语circa的缩写，用在日期、数字等前面）。

2 Neolithic新石器时代的。

3 tycoon（企業界、政界的）巨头。  4 chateau〈法语〉大型葡萄种植园。复数写作chateaux。

5 winery〈主美〉酿酒厂。  6 in leaps and bounds飞跃地，极迅速地。  7 in light of鉴于，由于。  8国际葡萄与葡萄酒组织（简称OIV为法文缩略语）。  9 oenological葡萄酒工艺学的，酿酒学的。

10法国葡萄酒酒标上常见标识。cro?tre（“生长”）的过去分词cr?演化为葡萄酒术语cru，可指葡萄园、酒庄或产区。标示Grand Cru不一定是好酒，要结合具体产区来看。如果是波尔多葡萄酒，仅标示Grand Cru而非Grand Cru Classé，代表该酒款品质良好但不足以列级。如果是勃艮第酒，标示Grand Cru代表产自特级园。  11〈德语〉冰葡萄酒（英语Icewine）。指用葡萄树上自然冰冻的葡萄酿造的葡萄酒，也称“冰酒”或“冰果酒”。