新西蘭黑皮諾：膠鞋克隆的故事

文 David Allen MW 編、譯 張恬熙

我還記得1986年，當我第一次品嘗馬丁堡酒莊的黑皮諾時，我都被驚呆了！這些年來，我總是會購買這款酒并希望它能夠在我的酒窖里陳年，但這個想法從沒成功過，因為它真的太美味了，我總能找到喝它的理由。

I remember being wowed when I first tasted 1986 Martinborough Vineyards Pinot Noir. For several years I tried buying this wine to age it, but the bottles never stayed in my cellar as they were always so delicious that I found occasions to drink them.

黑皮諾這個品種是于1889年首次種植在新西蘭，但一直到20世紀80年代才通過馬丁堡酒莊和新天地酒莊等生產商早期上市的葡萄酒，從而真正樹立起其國際聲譽。如今，人們可以在新西蘭各地找到世界級的黑皮諾。馬丁堡、中奧塔哥以及北坎特伯雷供應的黑皮諾葡萄酒最受歡迎，但馬爾堡出產的黑皮諾葡萄酒數量眾多，而其他類型的黑皮諾葡萄酒則可以在納爾遜、霍克斯灣甚至奧克蘭找到。由于釀酒師能夠掌握各自的風土條件，所以新西蘭的黑皮諾有各種各樣的風格。

來自馬丁堡的葡萄酒有獨特的深度和豐富的質感，人們通常用泥土味來形容。泥土味更多的是指一種味道而不是質地，這種口感的葡萄酒就如同來自經典的夜圣喬治產區或是玻瑪產區的酒款，但它又有天鵝絨般的柔滑質地，更像是來自沃恩h 羅曼尼產區的葡萄酒。

黑皮諾葡萄酒能夠擁有如此獨特的風格和品質，其中一個原因就是在葡萄園中種植的克隆。馬丁堡葡萄酒的風格離不開一個名字很奇怪的克隆品種：“膠鞋克隆（Gumboot Clone）”，又名：阿貝爾品系（Abel Selection）。這種克隆是晚熟品種，而且收成量少，因此它非常適合種植在受到南極寒風影響的地區，寒風會讓顆粒大的果實很難成熟，而膠鞋克隆則能夠在這樣的條件下結出優質的果實。接下來，我們就來說說膠鞋克隆這個豐富多彩的經典新西蘭故事。

20世紀70年代，一名從法國返回奧克蘭機場的旅客被發現非法攜帶黑皮諾入境。故事是這樣的：他在一雙膠鞋里面塞了些葡萄枝。這些被沒收的葡萄枝很可能會被作為生物危害品而銷毀。幸運的是，發現這一違禁物的海關人員馬爾科姆·阿貝爾就是一名來自奧克蘭地區庫姆小鎮的釀酒師。那位旅客表示：這些葡萄枝是從勃艮第神圣的羅曼尼h 康帝特級園摘下來的（這個故事的另外一些版本聲稱，葡萄枝是來自于拉塔希酒莊）。一天深夜，自己翻過了酒莊的矮墻并偷走了葡萄枝。聽完之后，阿貝爾明白了這些走私葡萄枝的重要性，使它們逃過一劫，免于被銷毀。在確定這位旅客并不想要留下這些葡萄枝后，阿貝爾花錢讓它們在政府的葡萄栽培研究站“Kauwhata”里面進行隔離檢疫。隔離期過后，他就把這些葡萄枝種在了自己的葡萄園內。

新天地酒莊的創始人克萊夫h 帕頓在為阿貝爾工作了一年之后，從這些葡萄枝中拿了一些種植在自己位于馬丁堡的葡萄園內。新天地酒莊早期獲獎的葡萄酒都是只用“膠靴克隆”黑皮諾來釀造的。不幸的是，直到阿貝爾去世之前，他這些做法的意義才顯露出來，但阿貝爾葡萄酒公司早已不復存在。他的酒莊變成了一個會議中心，葡萄藤仍然在那里生長，但卻不再生產葡萄酒。然而，阿貝爾的遺產仍在新天地酒莊葡萄酒的品質中存在著。盡管其他克隆品種現在也被鍍了一層金，但“膠鞋克隆”永遠是他們那卓越而獨特的黑皮諾的核心。

While the variety was first planted in New Zealand in 1889 it really only started to build its international reputation when these early releases of wines from producers like Martinborough vineyards, and Ata Rangi burst onto the scene in the 1980s.Today it is possible to find world-class Pinot Noirs from all round New Zealand. Martinborough, Central Otago and North Canterbury supply the majority of the most sought after, but numerous wines are made in Marlborough and others being found in the Nelson, Hawkes Bay and even Auckland. New Zealand s Pinot Noirs offer a broad range of styles as winemakers come to grips with their individual terroirs.

Wines from Martinborough display a distinctive depth and richness of texture, often described as earthy. The earthiness is more a flavour than a texture, with the wines being something akin to a classic Nuits-St-Georges or Pommard, yet with a velvety smoothness more like wines from Vosne-Romanée.

One of the factors contributing to the distinctive style and quality of individual Pinot Noir wines is the clone planted in the vineyard. One contributor to the style of Martinborough s wines is the curiously named “Gumboot Clone” (aka the Abel selection). The clone is late-ripening and sets a small crop, making it well-suited to produce excellent fruit in the region where cold Antarctic-winds make it difficult to ripen large crops. The story of the “Gumboot Clone” is a colourful and typically New Zealand tale.

In the 1970s, a traveller returning to Auckland airport from France was caught bringing Pinot Noir into the country illegally in his luggage. The story is that he had stuffed some vine cuttings into one of his gumboots. The confiscated cuttings might have been destroyed as a bio-hazard. Fortunately, the Customs Officer who made the find, Malcolm Abel, was also a winemaker from the Auckland region of Kumeu. The offender explained that the cuttings had been taken from the hallowed Romanée Conti Grand Cru in Burgundy (some versions of this story claim the vineyard was La Tache). Late one night the miscreant had jumped over the domaine s low wall and liberated the cuttings. Understanding the significance of the smuggled cuttings, Abel saved them from destruction. Having established that their liberator had no desire to keep them, he paid for them to be put through quarantine at Te Kauwhata, the government viticulture research station. When the material was released, he planted the vines in his vineyard.

Clive Paton, the founder of Ata Rangi, worked a vintage for Abel and took cuttings with which he planted his own vineyard in Martinborough. Ata Rangi s early, award-winning wines were made solely with “Gumboot Clone” Pinot Noir. Sadly, Malcolm died before the significance of his work became evident and the Abel Wine Company no longer exists, the winery being a conference centre where vines grow, but wine is no longer produced. Abel s legacy, however, lies in the quality of Ata Rangi s wines. Although other clones are now plated as well, “Gumboot Clone” fruit lies at its heart of their superb and distinctive Pinot Noirs.