烏拉圭的嘉頌酒莊

Tersina Shieh

沒有多少葡萄酒消費者知道烏拉圭也是一個產酒國。事實上，烏拉圭是南美洲第四大葡萄酒生產商。盡管烏拉圭的葡萄酒產量僅占整個大陸的4%左右，但當你意識到，如果與鄰國阿根廷和巴西對比的話，烏拉圭的面積有多么小時，那么這個“4%”著實令人印象深刻。

Not many wine consumers are aware that Uruguay is a wine producing country. In fact， it is the fourth largest wine producer in South America. Although its production is only around 4% of the entire continent， it is impressive when you consider how small Uruguay is comparing to its neighbours Argentina and Brazil.

烏拉圭是一個人口約350萬的“小國家”，大多數居民是19世紀歐洲移民的后裔，正是他們帶來了釀酒葡萄。毫無疑問，大部分烏拉圭葡萄酒的消費市場是在國內。事實上，烏拉圭的人均葡萄酒消費是除歐洲以外最多的國家。

在這樣的歷史和背景下，我相信烏拉圭葡萄酒一定有相應的質量標準，我也很渴望試試看嘉頌酒莊（Bodega Garzón）的葡萄酒。酒莊總經理克里斯蒂安·懷利近日來到城中推介巴拉斯托系列最新的2017年份葡萄酒。巴拉斯托（Balasto）是嘉頌酒莊的旗艦酒款，我們對該系列2015、2016以及2017年份做了一場垂直品鑒會。

Balasto在西班牙語里的意思是花崗巖土壤。嘉頌酒莊的土壤就是世界上最古老的花崗巖土壤，經過數百萬年的地質變化過程后被侵蝕成為碎石土，可以為生長在其上的葡萄藤提供極好的排水性和礦物質。嘉頌酒莊的釀酒顧問阿爾貝托·安東尼說：這種土壤可以賦予葡萄酒能量和張力。酒莊葡萄園的海拔160米，距離大西洋海岸僅18公里，受大西洋微風的影響，園區內白天溫度低，葡萄成熟速度緩慢，使風味可以得以很好的發展并保持自然的酸度。這個葡萄園由1000多個地塊組成，會分開進行采摘和釀造，以保持各自的特色。

釀酒從來都是充滿挑戰的。克里斯蒂安說：到目前為止最大的問題就是熟練勞動力短缺。距離嘉頌酒莊最近的是海濱城市埃斯特角（Punta del Este），拉巴拉（La Barra）和何塞伊格納西奧（Jose Ignacio），這幾個地方的人們很少有耕作土地的經驗。第二大問題是降雨，這里比波爾多每年1400毫米的降雨量還多200毫米。盡管如此，他們還是通過在合適的地方種植葡萄，以及進行適當的樹冠管理來克服了這些問題。

嘉頌酒莊的釀酒哲學是讓葡萄酒說話。克里斯蒂安說酒莊有“5個沒有”：葡萄園內沒有化學物品；沒有過熟的葡萄；沒有過度采摘；沒有過度使用橡木桶的葡萄酒；沒有過度釀酒。酒莊使用混凝土罐、大桶以及沒有烘烤過的木桶，以確保這片土地的風味不會明珠蒙塵。

巴拉斯托是一款由丹娜（40%-50%）、品麗珠、小味兒多和馬瑟蘭組成的混釀葡萄酒。2015年份和2016年份的比例略有不同，2017年份則是用梅洛代替了小味兒多。2017年，嘉頌酒莊在波爾多、倫敦和Vinexpo展會上推出首款巴拉斯托葡萄酒時，就得到了國際酒評家的大力支持和認可。這3個年份都各有優點，我們需要挑選出自己最喜歡的一款。我的選擇是2016年份，這款葡萄酒新鮮并且有很好的結構感。但是克里斯蒂安卻出人意料地選擇了2018年份，這款酒甚至還沒有進行混釀！他認為這款還是單一品種的葡萄酒已經讓人很滿意了。好吧，我們要等明年才能做出裁決。

除了巴拉斯托外，嘉頌酒莊還生產多款葡萄酒，包括起泡酒、白葡萄酒、桃紅葡萄酒、紅葡萄酒，甚至還有晚收甜酒。你可以通過由西往東酒業購買相應酒款。

Uruguay may be a small country with some 3.5 million people， the majority is descendants from the European immigrants in the 19th century who brought with them grape varieties. Not surprisingly， most Uruguayan wine is consumed in domestic market， and as a matter of fact， they consumed the most wine per capita outside Europe！

With such history and background， I believe Uruguayan wine must achieve a certain quality standard and was eager to try Garzón wine. The winerys managing director， Christian Wylie was in town recently to introduce the latest Balasto vintage 2017. Balasto is Garzóns flagship wine and we were treated a vertical tasting of all its vintages： 2015， 2016 and 2017.

Balasto means granitic soil in Spanish. The granite at Garzón， the oldest in the world， eroded through millions of years of geological process to become ballast soil that provides excellent drainage and minerals to the vines that grow on it. Alberto Antonini， Garzón winemaking consultant， said the soil gives wine energy and tension. The location， at 160m above sea level and only 18 km from the Atlantic coast， is blessed by the Atlantic breeze that cools down the day time temperature allowing the grapes to ripen slowly to develop the flavours and retain natural acidity. The vineyard is made up from more than 1，000 blocks that are picked and vinified separately to maintain their own identity.

Winemaking is never without challenges. Christian said the biggest one by far is the shortage of skilled labour. Closest to Garzón are seaside towns Punta del Este， La Barra and Jose Ignacio where people have little experience in working with land. The second one is rainfall， which is 200mm more than Bordeaux at 1，400mm per year. Even so， they overcome them by planting varieties in the right places and with suitable canopy management.

The philosophy of winemaking at Garzón is to let the wine speaks. Christian said there are 5 Nos： No chemicals in vineyards； No overripe grapes； No over-extraction at winery； No over-oak of wine； and No overwinemaking. The winery uses concrete tank， big barrels and casks with no toast to make sure the sense of place is not hidden.

Balasto is a blend of Tannat （40-50%）， Cabernet Franc， Petit Verdot and Marselan. The 2015 and 2016 have slightly different ratio while the 2017 vintage replaced Petit Verdot with Merlot. The maiden vintage was launched in Bordeaux， London and Vinexpo in 2017 with much fanfare and approval from international wine critics. All three vintages have their own merits and we were asked to pick our favourites. I prefer the 2016 vintage which is fresh and has a nice structure but Christian surprised us by picking 2018 which is not even blended yet！ He said the individual component is just amazing. Well， we have to wait until next year to give the verdict.

In addition to Balasto， Garzón also makes a wide range of wine from sparkling to white and rosé to red and even late harvest. The wines are available from EMW Fine Wines.