我对仙粉黛的喜爱之情

文 David Allen MW 编、译 张恬熙

仙粉黛是我非常喜欢的葡萄品种。它经常会被一些“高贵”的品种，比如赤霞珠、黑皮诺掩盖光芒，尽管它少了些精致感，但却在酒体强劲度、口感柔顺性、即饮与活泼的果香方面有所弥补。我一直觉得，喝仙粉黛葡萄酒时常会发现乐趣。

Zinfandel is a grape variety I am passionate about. Despite frequently being overshadowed by "noble" varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, what Zinfandel lacks in refinement it makes up for in power, suppleness and immediate, lively fruit. I'm usually confident great pleasure will come from drinking it!

仙粉黛是一种成熟度不均的葡萄品种，因此在炎热的气候条件下会保持新鲜的酸度。如果生产商要等到整串葡萄全部成熟后再进行采摘，那么酿出来的葡萄酒通常就会有挥发性味道，因为采收时有一部分葡萄已经过熟，像葡萄干一样了，但许多人却认为这种口感十分诱人。延长葡萄的挂枝时间意味着酿出来的葡萄酒酒精度更高，容易使人沉醉，这些葡萄酒的酒精度通常会超过14.5%！

由于仙粉黛的成熟期很长，酿酒师便可以利用葡萄在不同成熟度下所展示出的风味，来酿造不同口感与风格的葡萄酒。在成熟的早期阶段，仙粉黛会呈现出草莓般微妙的红色水果味道。当葡萄变得更加成熟、颜色更深时，会出现覆盆子味道，接着会有鲜红色樱桃到深色樱桃的味道。仙粉黛精致的红色水果风味让它可以被酿制成半甜型葡萄酒以及被称为“白仙粉黛”的桃红葡萄酒ÿ这种酒在美国很受欢迎，包括大多数用这一品种酿造的葡萄酒。仙粉黛葡萄的成熟度越高，味道就越浓郁，依次会出现黑樱桃、黑莓、洛根莓味，最后会展现出黑橄榄和葡萄干的味道。

我对于仙粉黛的好奇和喜爱之情源于几年前遇到的两位加利福尼亚酿酒师：乔尔h 彼得森和保罗h 德雷珀，这是两位十分杰出但却风格迥异的酿酒师。在不到一周的时间内，我有幸拜访了他们。

我先去拜访了乔尔h 彼得森，他是雷文斯伍德酒庄（Ravenswood）的创始人，也是庄主。这是一家专门酿造仙粉黛葡萄酒的酒庄，彼得森的座右铭是“没有软弱的葡萄酒”。他是一个精力充沛的男人，坚持采摘完成成熟的葡萄，并为此作出了很多努力，包括在发酵过程中反复淋皮，以提取最大的风味、颜色和单宁，然后在美国橡木桶中进行陈年，让葡萄酒在拥有馥郁的成熟水果味道同时还带有香甜的香草味道。当彼得森热情地从木桶里取未完成的葡萄酒样品时，我们已经爬上了酒窖里那一堆高高的橡木桶上，他的仙粉黛葡萄酒展现出了来自贝洛尼（Belloni）和传统大山（Oold Hill）这两个顶级葡萄园的独特风味。这可真是一次奇妙的经历，在离开酒庄时，我还自以为已经知道仙粉黛是如何酿造的。

然而几天后，山脊酒庄（Ridge Winery）的保罗h 德雷珀把我的“新认知”彻底颠覆了，他们处理仙粉黛的做法与雷文斯伍德酒庄完全相反。德雷珀在葡萄成熟的早期进行采摘，以获取更多的红色水果特征。葡萄运到酒庄后，他们会很温柔地对待这些果实，以此保留仙粉黛迷人的芳香味道。他们不做淋皮，而是在发酵后将8吨重的发酵罐移到压榨机上，再把发酵罐整个翻转过来以避免用泵而产生的葡萄酒与果皮的搅动。彼得森喜欢长时间的浸渍，而德雷珀则恰恰相反。即使是在橡木桶的使用上，他们也有分歧。尽管两人都使用美国橡木桶，但德雷珀买的是风干木桶，类似于法国橡木桶，香草风味的影响会明显减少。

哎，雷文斯伍德酒庄已经不再是独立生产商，但山脊酒庄仍然是加利福尼亚领先的酒庄之一。尽管风格迥异，但这两家酒庄的葡萄酒都十分吸引人。我很难说我到底喜欢哪种，相反，仙粉黛这种令人兴奋的多样性才是让我欲罢不能的关键。

Zinfandel ripens unevenly, so retains fresh acidity in hot climates. Producers who wait for the whole crop to ripen usually accept volatile notes to the wine from a portion of over-ripe, raisined, grapes in the harvest - many find these appealing. The extended hang-time means such wines are usually heady and alcoholic - routinely exceeding 14.5% alcohol!

The Variety s long ripening-window, however, allows winemakers to make numerous styles of wine by utilizing the broad palate of flavours the variety displays with increasing ripeness. In the early stages of ripeness Zinfandel shows delicate red-fruit flavours like strawberries, becoming riper and deeper, more like raspberries, then from bright red-cherry to a darker red-cherry. The delicate red-fruit style of Zinfandel has yielded many semisweet, rosés labelled as White Zinfandel - whose popularity in the USA means they now comprise most of the wines made from the variety. At higher ripeness, flavours become those of darker fruits, first black-cherries, blackberries, loganberries and finally savoury black-olive and raisin notes.

My curiosity about and love for Zinfandel was fueled by meeting two fabulous Californian winemakers several years ago. In less than a week I was lucky enough to visit both Joel Peterson and Paul Draper, two virtuosos winemakers with contrasting styles.First I met Joel Peterson, founder, and then owner, of Ravenswood - a winery specialising in making Zinfandel, whose motto was “no wimpy wines”. Peterson was an energetic man who believed in harvesting fully-ripe grapes and working them hard, pumping-over regularly during fermentation to extract maximum flavour, colour and tannins, then aging them in American oak to overlay sweet vanilla flavours on the opulent ripe fruit. We climbed high among stacks of barrels in the cellar as Peterson enthusiastically extracted samples of unfinished wines, demonstrating the distinct flavour profiles of Zinfandel from top vineyards like Old Hill and Belloni. It was an amazing experience and I left thinking I knew how Zinfandel was made.

Paul Draper, at Ridge winery, few days later turned my new-found knowledge upside-down, their approach to Zinfandel was almost completely opposite to Ravenswood s. Draper picked earlier to capture more red-fruit characteristics. In the winery he handled the fruit very gently, to capture and preserve its beautiful aromas. They did not pump the must, instead moving the 8-ton fermenters to the press, after fermentation, tipping it in to avoid agitating the wine and its skins by pumping them. Where Peterson favoured long macerations Draper preferred short. Even in oak usage they diverged, while both used American oak, Draper purchased air-dried barrels, made like French barrels - reducing overt vanilla influences.

Ravenswood, alas, is no longer independent, but Ridge remains one of California s leading wineries. Their respective wines all manage to be seriously captivating despite their contrasting styles. I can t decide which I prefer, instead its thrilling diversity is what I love about this variety.