皮諾塔吉的守護者：炮名之地酒莊

文 Tersina Shieh 編、譯 張恬熙

炮名之地是南非最受尊敬的經典酒莊之一，歷史十分悠久。它成立于1659年，并從1973年起，開始在自家莊園裝瓶。在過去的120多年中，炮名之地酒莊一直屬于同一個家族，如今由家族第四代傳人在管理。

One of the most respected classic South African wine estates, Kanonkop has a long history. It was established in 1659 and has been with the same family for over 120 years. The property made the first estate bottle in 1973 and it is now in the hands of the fourth generation.

阿布里·比斯拉爾（Abrie Beeslaar）是炮名之地酒莊有史以來的第三位釀酒師，于2002年加入團隊。最近他們在中國香港舉辦了一系列的品酒活動，阿布里表示：炮名之地酒莊曾嘗試種植不同的紅、白葡萄品種，包括白詩南、霞多麗、黑皮諾、設拉子等。最后，他們決定專注于種植最適合葡萄園風土的品種—50%皮諾塔吉、35%赤霞珠、7.5%梅洛，以及品麗珠和小味兒多。在125公頃的莊園內，有100公頃都是葡萄園，出產6款紅葡萄酒和1款桃紅葡萄酒。

無論炮名之地酒莊還是釀酒師阿布里，他們都是皮諾塔吉忠實的支持者。這個葡萄品種是在1925年由南非教授貝霍爾德（Perold）研發而成，他將黑皮諾和神索進行雜交，旨在把這2個葡萄品種最佳的特質相結合。由于神索也被稱為Hermitage，所以才有了Pinotage這個名字。早在1941年，炮名之地酒莊就開始種植皮諾塔吉，葡萄園內有一部分南非最古老的皮諾塔吉葡萄藤。當年，酒莊的前任釀酒師比爾·特魯爾就曾憑借自己釀造的一款1989年份皮諾塔吉葡萄酒，贏得了“年度最佳國際釀酒師”的殊榮，也讓皮諾塔吉登上了世界葡萄酒的大舞臺。

像所有的葡萄酒一樣，皮諾塔吉也有優秀、一般和平庸之分，過度榨取的皮諾塔吉更是品質低劣。1996年，南非皮諾塔吉協會成立，旨在提高皮諾塔吉的聲譽和質量。多年的鉆研讓釀酒師更加了解這個葡萄品種的特色，并采用合適的方法來釀酒。如今，南非的皮諾塔吉葡萄酒風格多樣化，從充滿活力的桃紅葡萄酒、優雅的紅葡萄酒，到經典、陳年潛力強且酒體強勁的咖啡風味皮諾塔吉都有。

炮名之地的皮諾塔吉葡萄酒十分經典。葡萄會經過光學技術篩選，然后在開頂的混凝土罐中發酵。發酵初期，每2小時壓皮一次，最大限度地提取顏色和果味。隨著酒精的增加，壓皮次數逐漸減少，以避免提取到苦澀的酚類物質。發酵溫度保持在30℃以下，以確保整個發酵過程緩慢且溫和，達到完美的效果。

我們品嘗了3款2017年份的炮名之地的皮諾塔吉葡萄酒：“開普釀酒師協會葡萄酒”是由最優質的3個橡木桶釀造而成；“莊園皮諾塔吉葡萄酒”的釀酒葡萄分別來自8個不同的葡萄園；“黑標皮諾塔吉葡萄酒”則是由種植于1953年的老藤葡萄釀造。3款酒采用同年份葡萄，同一種方法來釀造，不同之處在于葡萄園的位置、葡萄樹的樹齡，以及新橡木桶的使用比率，最終每款葡萄酒演繹出了不一樣的風格，真的很神奇！

除了“莊園”系列，炮名之地酒莊還生產“卡德特”系列葡萄酒，包括皮諾塔吉桃紅葡萄酒、紅葡萄酒和混釀葡萄酒，這些都是用比較年輕的皮諾塔吉葡萄釀制而成。阿布里表示：卡德特并不是低品質的葡萄酒，而是以年輕的葡萄釀制的充滿活力的葡萄酒。

炮名之地酒莊實行可持續葡萄栽培，這是一個比有機或生物動力種植更廣泛的概念，因為除了保證葡萄園的可持續外，它還保護了整個生態系統并保障了工人的福利。阿布里相信：只有在葡萄藤最健康、工人最幸福的時候，釀造出來的才是最好的葡萄酒。炮名之地酒莊就像一個社區，有54名員工在這里工作。他們居住在酒莊內現代化的房屋里，有托兒所、運動設施等，宛如一個大家庭。

如果你想購買炮名之地酒莊的葡萄酒，可以找酒莊在中國的進口商：Shanghai Global Corporation Ltd. and Shanghai Lihuang Trade Co., Ltd.

Kanonkop's cellar master Abrie Beeslaar, the third winemaker of Kanonkop in the history, joined the estate back in 2002, was in Hong Kong recently to conduct a series of tasting. He explained that Kanonkop has tried growing different white and red grape varieties including Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and so on. At the end, they decided to grow only varieties that best suit the property, which are Pinotage (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (35%), supported by Merlot (7.5%), Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. 100 ha of the 125 ha property is under vines； Six reds and one rosé are produced.

Both Kanonkop and Abrie are true believers of Pinotage. The grape was a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault (called Hermitage then, hence the name Pinotage) created in South Africa in 1925 by Professor Perold in an attempt to combine the best quality of the two varieties. Pinotage was first planted at Kanonkop in 1941 and the estate has some of the oldest Pinotage in South Africa. The wine caught the attention of the world when Beyers Truter, then winemaker of Kanonkop, won the tittle International Winemaker of the Year with his Kanonkop 1989 Pinotage.

Like all grape varieties, there are excellent, average and mediocre Pinotage. Some winemakers made over-extracted Pinotage and gave the wine a bad name. In 1996, Pinotage Association was formed with the aim to improve the reputation and quality of the wine. With better understanding of the grape characteristics and more dedicated winemakers, Pinotage today embraces a diverse style from vibrant rosé and elegant red to classic age-worthy and powerful coffee pinotage.

Kanonkop Pinotage is classic. Berries are optically sorted and then fermented in open top concrete tanks with plunging down every two hours for maximum extraction of colour and flavours before fermentation. Plunging down frequency reduce as alcohol increases to avoid extracting the negative phenols. Fermentation temperature is carefully maintained at under 30oC to ensure a slow even fermentation.

We tasted three 2017 Pinotages： Cape Winemakers Guild which was made from the best three barrels, Estate Pinotage with grapes from eight different vineyard sites, and Black Label Pinotage made from a single vineyard planted in 1953. It was amazing to experience the different expressions of the same varietal wine harvested in the same year and made the same method. The differences are the vineyard sites, age of the vines and the percentage of new oak used.

In addition to the Estate range, Kanonkop also produces the Kadette range from younger Pinotage consisted of Pinotage Rosé, Pinotage Red, and Pinotage Cape Blend. Abrie made the point that Kadette is not lesser quality wine but more vibrant wine from younger vines.

Kanonkop practices sustainable viticulture which is a broader concept comparing to organic or biodynamic farming as it also takes care of the entire ecosystem and the welfare of workers. Abrie believes the best possible wine can only be made when the vines are the healthiest and the workers are the happiest. Kanonkop is a community for the 54 people working in the estate. Those living in the farm enjoy modern housing, day-care centre and sporting facilities.

Kanonkop is distributed by Shanghai Global Corporation Ltd. and Shanghai Lihuang Trade Co., Ltd. in China.