重游霍克斯灣（下）

文Tersina Shieh 編、譯 張恬熙

霍克斯灣就像一顆滄海遺珠，下一次拜訪新西蘭時，在這里停留幾天吧，相信我，你一定不會失望的。

謝德蘭

或許是因為霍克斯灣不像馬爾堡或者中奧塔哥那么出名，所以釀酒師們的壓力沒那么大，不需要特別關注某一種葡萄酒風格或是某一個葡萄品種。我拜訪了幾家酒莊并看到了不少富有創意的想法，這真讓人感到高興。德拉特雷精品酒莊（De La Terre）給我留下了很深的印象，在僅有5.3公頃的葡萄園里種植著維歐尼、霞多麗、設拉子、蒙特普齊亞諾、巴貝拉、丹娜，還有最新引進的丹魄。莊主托尼·普理查德曾用30年時間給大品牌蒙大拿葡萄酒公司釀酒，這家公司最終被保樂力加公司所收購。他說，作為一名“為公司服務”的釀酒師就像置身于牢籠中，被金手銬耗盡了創造力。在2000年末，他下決心離開釀酒行業，在當地創立自己的酒莊（因此酒莊得名“德拉特雷”），從此開始釀造他想要的葡萄酒。他說維歐尼的名聲不好，總會被形容成酒體肥碩、沉悶。因此，他決定要釀出一款優雅、有結構、不受品種本身特性影響的維歐尼。托尼喜歡用所有的非主流品種進行試驗，而非梅洛、赤霞珠這類葡萄。他釀造的特級珍藏丹娜葡萄酒真的是棒極了！

托尼不是唯一從“企業釀酒師”轉型為自主創業的人，三圣山酒莊（Trinity Hills）的華倫·吉普森在1998年創立了天秤酒莊（Bilancia），克拉吉酒莊（Craggy Range）前首席釀酒師羅德·伊斯托普也加入了他們的隊伍。羅德目前擁有兩條產品線，分別是在英國酒商“Naked Wine”出售的羅德·伊斯托普葡萄酒，以及100%按照羅德意愿釀造的頂級全手工酒款伊斯托普家族釀酒師葡萄酒。酒莊坐落在恩加魯羅河上，緊挨著民宅和葡萄園，這里就像是羅德的游樂場。他采用整串葡萄發酵的方式，在500公斤的桶里為他的紅葡萄酒進行腳踏破皮工作，在蛋形發酵罐和木桶中發酵白葡萄酒。那些誤以為佳美就像博若萊新酒一樣只有水果飲料風味的人，可必須要試試羅德的黑佳美葡萄酒，其酒體優雅，與黑皮諾沒有什么不同。據說在整個新西蘭只有約6公頃的佳美葡萄，而羅德有著近半的使用權。今年他在桶中釀造了自己的第一款白詩南，計劃明年將其放入蛋形發酵罐中進行發酵。

圣山酒莊（Scared Hill）的合作創始人—釀酒師托尼·比什也開始創立自己的品牌：托尼·比什葡萄酒，他只做霞多麗葡萄酒，在不同的容器中進行發酵。此外還有城市酒莊（The Urban Winery），一個葡萄酒吧兼托尼·比什酒窖，位于納皮爾歷史悠久的國家煙草公司藝術裝飾大樓內。托尼是蛋形發酵罐的忠實粉絲。他在新西蘭設計、生產以及銷售他自制的蛋形發酵罐，更是新西蘭首個也是唯一一個2000升塔蘭薩德木蛋形發酵罐的擁有者，在這個容器里，他用14行生長在旱地上的葡萄藤果實釀造了“斯基菲爾德霞多麗葡萄酒”。這只木雞蛋被放在酒窖中，我在參觀時有幸摸了摸它。“斯基菲爾德霞多麗葡萄酒”無疑是霍克斯灣杰出的霞多麗之一，但是在托尼蛋形發酵罐中發酵的“金雞蛋葡萄酒”也很特別。

最后是珍妮·多布森，同樣非常重要的人物。她是特瓦酒莊（Te Awa Winery）的前釀酒師，現在是霍克斯灣內多個酒莊的咨詢師，包括和諧酒莊（Unison）。她還是少數釀造皮諾塔奇的釀酒師之一，3年前我有幸品嘗了她釀造的2006年份皮諾塔奇葡萄酒，這次又品鑒了1999年份（顯然，早期新西蘭的葡萄酒產業中有不少南非人，因此種植了皮諾塔奇和白詩南）。不管怎樣，珍妮最終開始創立自己的品牌，我也為此感到很高興。3年前我曾和她在一起，如今又重聚了。她和她的丈夫查理斯知識都十分淵博，讓我在新西蘭收獲的知識倍增。珍妮的第一款葡萄酒是菲亞諾，酒標上有火山噴發的背景，以此強調菲亞諾的起源。我們有幾瓶酒，我的評價是4F：菲亞諾—果味十足—燧石—精致（Fiano-Fruity-Flinty-Finesse）。珍妮還在桶中釀造了一部分紅葡萄酒，但還沒有決定最終的混釀方式。

由于霍克斯灣并不受限于一種葡萄，釀酒師們可以自由地用非主流葡萄品種來釀酒。珍妮、羅德，兩位托尼和華倫，這些才華橫溢的人在自己的品牌下，用數量有限的不同葡萄品種來手工釀制葡萄酒，這正是霍克斯灣有趣的地方所在。我希望他們能夠聯合起來，也許就像“杜羅河男孩”一樣，大聲告訴葡萄酒消費者：新西蘭葡萄酒不像人們想象的那樣風格單一，除了長相思以外這里還有許多精彩等著被發現！

和諧酒莊的菲利普抱怨說，由于沒有直飛納皮爾的國際航班，這個產區經常被忽視。霍克斯灣就像一顆尚未被發現的明珠，下一次當你拜訪新西蘭時，試著在這里停留幾天，相信我，你一定不會失望的。

View Hawkes Bay as a hidden gem and make an effort to spend a few days there during your next visit to New Zealand. You won’t be disappointed.

Perhaps because Hawkes Bay is not as well-known as Marlborough or Central Otago, winemakers are not pressured to only focus on one style of wine or one grape variety. I visited a few wineries and happy to see creative ideas abound. The most impressed was boutique winery de la terre with only 5.3 ha of vineyards consisted of Viognier, Chardonnay, Shiraz,Montepulciano, Barbera, Tannat with the latest addition being Tempranillo. Owner Tony Prichard spent 30 years making wine for big brand Montana that was eventually bought by Pernod Ricard.He said being a‘corporate’winemaker is like being in a trap with golden handcuffs that drains creativity. In late 2000, he made the decision to get away from industrial winemaking, built his own winery with local earth (hence the name de la terre), and since then made wine the way he wants. He said Viognier has a bad reputation of being fat and clumsy therefore he decided to make an elegant, textural Viognier that is not varietal driven. He loves being experimental hence all these non-mainstream varieties and stays away from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. His Grand Reserve Tanat is just superb!

Tony was not the only‘corporate’winemaker who started his own label, Warren Gibson of Trinity Hills created Bilancia in 1998 and they were joined by Rod Easthope, formerly chief winemaker at Craggy Range. Rod has two lines, Rod Easthope that is available at Naked Wines in the UK and Easthope Family Winegrowers, the top hand crafted wine that Rod has 100% freedom to do what he desires. The winery for this label is perched above the Ngaruroro River next to the family house and vineyard, a playground of Rod where he does 100% whole bunch fermentation and foot treading in 500kg bins for his red wine; and ferments white wine in concrete eggs and barrels. For those who dismiss Gamay as candied fruit drink in the form of Beaujolais Nouvelle, you have to try Rod’s Gamay Noir. It is elegant with profile not dissimilar to Pinot Noir. Apparently there are only around 6 ha of Gamay in the whole of New Zealand, and Rod has access to nearly half of it. He made his first Chenin Blanc this year in barrel but plans to ferment it in concrete egg next year.

Scared Hill co-founder winemaker Tony Bish also ventured to start not only his label, Tony Bish Wines which only makes Chardonnay fermented in different vessels, but also The Urban Winery, a wine bar-cum-Tony Bish cellar in the historic National Tobacco Company Art Deco building in Napier. Tony is a big fan of egg. He designs, produces and markets his own version of concrete egg in New Zealand, and is also the first and sole owner of the 2,000l Taransaud wooden egg in New Zealand where he makes his Skeetfield Chardonnay from 14 rows of dry-farmed vines. This wooden egg was enshrined in the cellar and I had the privilege to touch it when I was visiting. Skeetfield is definitely one of the outstanding Chardonnays from Hawkes Bay but the Golden Egg, fermented in Tony’s concrete egg, is also exceptionally.

Last but not least is Jenny Dobson, former winemaker at Te Awa Winery and now consulting to a number of wineries at Hawkes Bay including Unison. She is also one of the few winemakers who made Pinotage and I was lucky to try her 2006 Pinotage three years ago and this time the 1999 vintage (Apparently there were quite a few South Africans in the NZ wine industry in early days hence the plantings of Pinotage and Chenin Blanc). Anyway, Jenny is finally starting her own label and I was really excited about it. I stayed with her three years ago and again this time. She and her husband Charles are so knowledgeable that I more than double my learning during my stay in New Zealand. Jenny’s first wine is Fiano and the label has an erupting volcano in the background to emphasise the origin of Fiano. We had a couple of bottles and my conclusion was 4Fs: Fiano-Fruity-Flinty-Finesse. Jenny also has a red wine in barrel but has yet to decide on the final blend.

Because Hawkes Bay is not dominated by one grape variety,winemakers are flexible to play with less common ingredients.Jenny, Rod the two Tonys and Warren, talented and experienced,are handcrafting wines from different varieties in small quantities under their own labels; and this is exactly what makes Hawkes Bay interesting. I hope they can join force, perhaps something like The Douro Boys, to shout out to wine consumers that New Zealand is not as homogenous as we think and certainly there is a lot more than Sauvignon Blanc.

Philip from Unison complained that because there is no direct international flight to Napier, the region is often overlooked.View Hawkes Bay as a hidden gem and make an effort to spend a few days there during your next visit to New Zealand. You won’t be disappointed.