Encountering in the garden； tasting the champagne

Feng+Xinsheng　　?Jin+Zi

Fine brewing， heavy pressure， storing deep， confusing period， labelling， listing in the market， selected， unsealed， eruption， return to peace…….I can not forget the high-end champagne. Is not the process of producing a bottle of fine champagne just like a person try to forge ahead in his life？

Author （Beijing）

Some wines are powerful and uninhibited； some wines are only suitable to enjoy in solitude； some wines have the strength from the pressure and their tastes are coming from the cellar environment. Once their passion is unrestrained； their glory is in radiation； it shows the real heroic character of itself. For example， the top grade champagne we enjoyed in the wedding had a glory of happiness.

Remember that time I participated in a wedding of my editorial colleague， I had seen a scene of burning passion — large bottled champagne burst out snow-like bubbles. When I was looking at it， it all of sudden reminds me of lifes immaturity and maturity， dark and bright， dispirit and releasing， predicament and breakthrough……When it was the moment that fine champagne burst from its bottle， I seem finally to be able to read a philosophers mood.

Champagne has many wishful “alias”， such as “the bird of love”， “ the spring of happiness”， “ the shiny stars of a dark night”. Tasting this kind of wine， you are tasting its romantic feelings， its happy atmosphere and its sweet moments.

At the noisy wedding， I tried to turn my mind into an audiovisual barrier. I slightly closed my eyes， tasting the wine and tea and remembering the past.

I have lived in the college road area of Haidian District， Beijing for 44 years. During this time， more than 10 years I lived near “Beijing Language University. It was a great place for walk in the dusk， mostly inside the park of the university campus. The park is actually very small： it is so small that it does not matter which corner of the park you are standing， you can see the entire scenery. But the park is also quite large： it is so large that it accommodates students from more than 100 different countries all reciting the Chinese ancient classic “ An Account of the Old Toper's Pavilion”. The park is named after Confuciuss sentence “friends from afar”. The landscape of the park includes a pavilion of garden view， lounge， bridge， stones and waterfall. In the corner where water flows， roadside pine， plum and bamboo in Chinese culture represent the noble ethics a scholar and teacher should hold. On the wall of the park， there are 200 white jade stones recorded friends love of Chinese culture and art from as many as 161 countries and regions. In the summer， fresh lotus are looming in the pond； in the autumn， residual leaves are swaying in the rain； in the spring， little lotus have just exposed their sharp corners； in the winter， no one digs the lotus root maybe they are scared of disturbing a pool of dreams？endprint

I met her in one of the summers. That year， I signed the contract with Peking University Publishing house to publish a collection of my essays “ swim out flavours”. Every morning， I brought my laptop to work on my book in the lakeside chair. All of sudden， a gentle greeting came in my ear. I turned around and looked， but to see a girl with fair complexion， golden soft hair， charming nose and flashing dreamy eyes. She smiled and waved at me holding a school magazine “ learn Chinese”. She said she had several times read my articles on the school magazine and she recognised me in a glance from the authors picture.

She loves prose writing and starts to communicated with me in fluent Chinese. At the same time ， she chats casually about her hometown， introduces me to the feelings of different champagne.

It turned out she was a exchange student from France and her dad owns a winery in the French champagne region. This bubbly girl is an expert in champagne. She told me every year when it was her birthday， her father always entrusted a friend works in the French embassy of Beijing to send her a bottle of champagne from the pink beauty year （rose vintage 1988）. Having said that， she asked me to wait and hurried back to the nearby apartment. Soon she came back with that champagne and two goblets.

Summer evening， I was facing sunset， tasting the exquisite French vintage champagne and listening to her talking about the different genres of Tang Dynasty poets and Song Dynasty poets， listening to her talking about the stories from west French convent……

As early as 16th century， France invented the “sparkling wine”. The first impression of brewer is just like the Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Zhihe accidentally invented stinky tofu， disappointed and abandoned it as a rotten wine.

It was until the deep autumn of 1668， in the dark and humid cellar of west French convent， Dom Perignons stubborn and tall figure moving with the candlelight. He was facing rows of relaxed mouth of champagnes， watching the “rising stars” to flick， floating up quickly into a dead water， sigh， cry， vowed to let the flashing stars long stays in his light gold liquid.

Winters have gone and summers came， only accompanied by the dark， Dom Perignon has lost his sight， only to search and chase the true meaning of champagne with his nose and tongue. Finally one day， he found that using iron wire to fix a Spanish imported soft cork could keep the carbon dioxide inside the wine， so that the bubble is more white and the taste is excellent. So he cheered cheerfully， as ping sound by opening the bottle， a unique wine fragrance rising with the flashing stars spread out the cellar. He suddenly awakened with his sight recovered， delightful tears running down， accompanied by the aroma of sparkling champagne.endprint

From that day， the champagne from west French convent has became popular in the whole world， elevated a country， a region and a drinks cultural taste.

That night， I could not sleep. Repeatedly thinking about the characteristics of different champagnes and philosophy of life. The quality of a bottle of Champagne， largely depends on the second fermentation within the bottle， depends on the 42kg/ square cm pressure inside the bottle. Just as a person， often under immense pressure， we can “brewing” high quality works， until the day of “eruption”.

Remember that night， when I parted with her， promise to meet each other in the same days in the second year summer， same place， taste the same year champagne again. Unfortunately， when it comes to that day during that year， I had to attend a literature event in Macao， could not make my way back. So I apologise to her in the phone message.

Another summer， I received a message from her says she has graduated from university and has since returned to France. She took over her fathers wine estate. Whenever I am tasting Champagne， I often think about that encounter in that night……

Fine brewing， heavy pressure， storing deep， confusing period， labelling， listing in the market， selected， unsealed， eruption， return to peace…….I can not forget the high-end champagne. Is not the process of producing a bottle of fine champagne just like a person try to forge ahead in his life？endprint