“江南吐魯番”的葡萄熟了

文 /趙 暢

被譽為“江南吐魯番”的紹興市上虞區蓋北鎮萬畝葡萄基地。劉育平/攝The Gaibei Grape Base covering 10,000 mu is known as “Turpan in Jiangnan”. Photo by Liu Yuping.

寫下這個題目的時候，或許會有人質疑：“吐魯番”可只屬于新疆，是新疆葡萄特有的logo呀。然而，且慢！每年7至9月，當你來到紹興市上虞區一個叫蓋北的小鎮，徜徉在1.2萬畝葡萄園內的萬頃碧波中，你定能領略作家筆下“那綠色團團簇簇，一扇扇綠窗似的懸著，綴著嫩綠色的窗簾，繼而織成絲毯一般的綠墻，屏風似的擋了去路，人行其中，如同得了穿墻術，在草綠色的流蘇中姿意穿行……”這詩一般的意韻，以致誤以為自己就在新疆吐魯番觀光哩！

“君家小圃占春光，眼看龍須百尺長。移向樓邊并寒井，明年垂實更陰涼。”但凡去過蓋北，你就能發現如今的蓋北，家家戶戶前前后后都被葡萄包圍著、簇擁著，或者說，是互相親昵著、交融著。難怪有人說，蓋北分明就是一座種植著葡萄的大花園，而一個個大棚、一處處房前屋后則是一個個精致的小盆景，它們似乎誰都離不開誰，誰都襯托著誰，誰都提攜著誰。

蓋北被譽為“江南吐魯番”， 既是出于西北農學院、全國著名葡萄專家賀普超先生之口，也是廣大游客發乎內心口口相傳的稱贊。于是，隨著聲名遠播，前去采摘觀光的游客總是比肩繼踵、川流不息。或許是考慮到暑天遮陰蔽日的需要，也或許是基于向游客直觀推介的考量，蓋北鎮東大門所在的鎮東村建起了一座生態園。據介紹，生態基地內有精品栽培面積170畝，建設有玻璃溫室大棚3000平方米，基地全部采取大棚設施栽培，有高3.8米的標準鋼管大棚設施栽培70畝。而最博人眼球的，則莫過于一條長290米、寬6米的游客休閑觀光步道了。

不必說，沿著觀光步道，姿態萬千的葡萄基地盡收眼底，那一串串 “凝是銀河落九天”般垂掛，且幾乎要碰觸到游人前額的葡萄，沖撞的可不只是你的眼簾，更有你的味蕾。其實，只要抬頭看一看葡萄、讀一讀懸掛紙片上的品種簡介，“巨峰、紅富士、興華一號、奧古斯特、美人指、無核白雞心、夏黑、貴妃玫瑰、甬優一號、巨玫瑰……”等68個品種充滿詩意的葡萄名，以及葡萄陣陣溢出的芬芳，早就讓游客“意亂情迷”了。“別不好意思，想嘗嘗就自己摘唄！這觀光步道本來就是為你們準備，供你們嘗嘗味道的……哈哈！”見游客們欲摘又止，陪同的基地管理服務人員便開始這樣鼓勵游客。

這觀光步道，無疑是最好的廣告詞。是的，在這一串串凝紅綴綠的葡萄面前，最好的廣告詞怕都會失去意義。而只要是生態園里有的葡萄品種，這里似乎都能找見。在微風的吹拂下，那一串串葡萄輕柔曼妙地成了列隊的波斯舞娘，似乎正款款向游客走來。

“滿筐圓實驪珠滑，入口甘香冰玉寒。”品種齊全的蓋北葡萄，不光有著好聽的名字，其色其形其味更有著獨特的風韻。那葡萄白的像羊脂玉，綿密而敦厚；紅的像紅瑪瑙，晶瑩而澄澈；紫的像紫水晶，閃透而靈動；黑的像黑寶石，飽滿而瓷實。每一粒葡萄，似乎都是吸納天地精華而造就的尤物。尤其當你輕輕地剝去葡萄的皮子，那水靈靈、顫巍巍、嫩滑滑的果肉一口進入你的嘴里，你的牙齒、你的味蕾瞬間就無法安分，柔和筋道的果肉還未來得及被徹底搗碎、撕爛，何況你本來也想讓其在齒間多停留一會兒而不忍早早落肚，但在美好的味覺誘惑下，思維邏輯已然混亂而不堪一擊，于是，像餓狼似地一粒接一粒吞咽葡萄，便成了一種無可奈何地為美食“折腰”的必然窘境。

“我再帶你們去參觀一下我們的玫瑰葡萄，或許你們更有興趣”，基地管理服務人員向游客推介旁邊大棚里的玫瑰葡萄，這顯然是不可調減的規定項目。“這是我們當地特有的一種葡萄，因為顏色像玫瑰色，味道也近似玫瑰味，故而俗稱‘玫瑰葡萄’。”隨著介紹來到大棚門口，陣陣玫瑰香味竟撲鼻而至、沁人心脾，有游客竟以為自己誤入了玫瑰園。可更讓人驚異的是，這里的葡萄大熱天竟還被嚴嚴實實地套著白紙袋。“之所以套白紙袋，是因為這款玫瑰葡萄頗為嬌貴，只要一沾水，它的皮就會綻裂，從而影響其形象、品質，進而影響銷售及其效益。”經了陪同人員的一番解釋，游客們始茅塞頓開、恍然大悟。原來，蓋北位于上虞的北邊，屬于杭州灣南翼區域，背山面海，晝夜溫差較大，夜間到早晨這段時間易于出現露水，所以葡農們才想出這一絕招。“本以為，這白紙袋一套，玫瑰葡萄會掉色丟味，可不知為何，這一招竟歪打正著，它反而愈加顯得色艷香醇。”盡管有游客提出質疑，可當場取走一串葡萄的白紙袋后，游客們這才打消疑慮—但見其玫瑰色澤鮮亮誘人，其玫瑰香味也是純正地道。于是，掌聲便在人群中油然響起。其中，還免不了有游客當場掏袋購買。

游客紛紛來到葡萄園旅游觀光。劉育平/攝Visitors swarm the vineyard. Photo by Liu Yuping.

葡萄新品種。劉育平/攝A new grape variety. Photo by Liu Yuping.

其實，早在700年以前，上虞就有葡萄栽培。據《嘉泰會稽志》記載：“會稽有漿水、瑪瑙兩種，虞邑有紫葡萄、水晶葡萄兩種。”尤其是改革開放以來，隨著不斷引進葡萄新品種，不斷拓展葡萄種植面積，當地逐漸贏得“中國葡萄之鄉”“中國葡萄第一鎮”的美譽，去年還通過了浙江省省級葡萄特色農業強鎮創建。筆者曾經詢問過長期在蓋北鎮工作的陳小明，他頗為自豪地告訴我：“滄海桑田不僅讓蓋北鎮從昔日濁浪滔天的‘灘涂’變成了一馬平川之地，而且中堿性土壤還孕育了生機盎然的迷人‘綠洲’，并造就了蓋北葡萄酸甜爽口、清涼潤喉的特色。”這幾年，蓋北鎮還舉辦“野藤”葡萄文化旅游節，發展“葡萄采摘游”休閑旅游。去年，蓋北鎮游客總量突破50萬人次，旅游總收入超過1.3億元。

前不久的一天下午，我陪著幾位記者前去蓋北采訪。夕陽澹澹、余暉漫漫之時，一位好客的葡農邀我們共進晚餐。拗不過葡農的盛情，我們留了下來。晚餐設在葡農的別墅里進行，而是被別具匠心地設在了屋門口的葡萄架下。觥籌交錯之時，抬頭而望，那綴滿棚架的“野藤”葡萄，恰似夜空閃爍的星星，是那么的平易親切，觸手可及，不似星星那么地遙不可攀。尤其當我們從這位葡農口中獲悉，近日上虞的“野藤”葡萄通過了農業農村部的農產品地理標志登記，蓋北農民人均葡萄生產收入達到6000元以上，已然成為農戶們的支柱性收入時，我們竟因驚喜而笑得格外的爽朗—那種快慰真不亞于吃下一串串蓋北葡萄，也不遜于喝下一杯杯“野藤”葡萄酒。

Grapes Are Ripe in Jiangnan Turpan

By Zhao Chang

This title may lead to a little confusion here: Isn’t Turpan the place in Xinjiang, famous for delicious grapes? That, of course, is true. But if you visit a town called Gaibei in Shangyu, Shaoxing city from July to September, and wander through 12,000 mu(about 1650 acres) of lush green vineyards, you are very likely to take this place for the real Turpan.

If you have ever been to Gaibei, you will find that every household there has grapes around, or rather, the houses and grapes are intermingled with each other. No wonder some people say that Gaibei is a big grape garden, where greenhouses and dwellings are surrounded and visually complemented by small delicate bonsai-like grapes.

Gaibei is known as the “Turpan in”, said Mr.He Puchao, a famous grape expert from the Northwest A&F University, which is also recognized by tourists. As the reputation spreads, many tourists choose to go to Gaibei for grape-picking and sightseeing. Perhaps to add a cooling shade for hot summer, or to create a panorama for tourists, an ecological garden was built in the Zhendong village at the east gate of Gaibei. Statistics show that this garden has an ecological base for high-quality grape cultivation covering 170, and glass greenhouses of 3,000 square meters.Cultivation throughout the base is all done using greenhouse facilities, and 70of cultivation area are specially equipped with 3.8-meter-high greenhouses made of standard steel pipes. The most eye-catching item is a scenic trail, 290 meters in length and 6 meters in width.

Walking along the trail, you can see on both sides vast stretches of varied grapes coming in bunches, which are hanging like “the Milky Way falling from the sky” and could almost touch the foreheads of visitors. The grapes are a feast for not only your eyes, but also your taste buds. In fact, if you look up at the grapes and read their profiles written on the notes, you will find there are 68 varieties, including Giant Peak and Red Fuji. The poetic names of the grapes, as well as their fragrance, have made visitors intoxicated. “Don’t be shy, just go ahead and pick some if you want to try them!” Seeing some tourists hesitant to reach out and pick grapes, the service staff would encourage them in a friendly manner.

The trail is certainly the best advertisement. Any slogans,however well thought of, could never be more convincing than the bright-colored fruits themselves. You can find almost all the varieties along the trail in the ecological garden here.

The beauty of Gaibei grapes comes not only from their names alone. Their color, shape and taste are all charming in their own ways. The white ones are rich and thick like jade, the red ones,crystal and clear, resemble red agate, the purple ones are like amethyst, shining and dynamic, and the black ones like black jewels, plump and solid. Every grape seems to be specially and carefully made by nature. You can feel it when peeling off the fruit and put the juicy, wobbly, and slippery flesh into your mouth —your teeth and your taste buds will be instantly woken up, and you will not be able to resist the delicious temptation anymore but swallow them one after another like a hungry wolf.

“I’ll show you our rose grapes, maybe you’ll be more interested in them.” The service staff would then recommend strongly the rose grapes to the visitors. “This is a local variety.Because it has a rosy color and tastes like rose, it is commonly known as ‘rose grapes’.” Listening to the introduction, the visitors would walk closer to the entrance of the greenhouse, and smell whiffs of refreshing rose fragrance which could trick some people into believing they were in fact at a rose garden.

葡萄熟了。劉育平/攝Picking up grapes. Photo by Liu Yuping.

What is more surprising is that the grapes here in the heat of the day are still tightly wrapped with white paper bags. “Because the rose grapes are quite delicate. Any drop of water on their skin will cause the skin to crack thus affecting the appearance, quality and the sales,” explained the staff. It turns out that Gaibei, located in the north of Shangyu, to the south wing of Hangzhou Bay area,faces sea and has mountains at its back, with a big temperature difference between day and night. “At first we thought using the white paper bag would be harmful to the color and flavor, but for some reason it makes the grapes even more bright-colored and fragrant.”

As early as 700 years ago, there were grapes cultivated in Shangyu. According to a historical record, “there are two varieties— pulpy water grapes and agate grapes in Kuaiji, and two varieties— purple grapes and crystal grapes in Yuyi.” Especially since the Reform and Opening Up, with the introduction of new grape varieties and the expansion of the grape planting area, Gaibei has won the reputation of “the hometown of Chinese grapes” and “the first town of Chinese grapes”. Chen Xiaoming, a man who has long been working in Gaibei, proudly said, “During the course of time, not only has Gaibei turned from a mud flat into a flat land,but its alkaline soil has also given birth to a vibrant oasis. Thanks to all this, a unique grape variety has been cultivated, which has an outstanding sweet-and-sour, refreshing taste.” In the past few years,a grape-themed culture and tourism festival called “Wild Vine”was held in Gaibei, to develop a leisure tourism featuring grapepicking tours. In 2021, the total number of visitors to Gaibei exceeded 500,000 and the total tourism revenue reached over 130 million yuan ($19.15 million).

One afternoon not long ago, I accompanied some reporters to Gaibei. As the sun was setting, a hospitable farmer invited us to dinner. The dinner was not held inside the farmer’s house,but under the grape trellis in front of the house. When we were mingling, we looked up and saw the grapes on the trellis just like twinkling stars in the night sky, within our easy reach. The farmer told us that Shangyu’s “Wild Vine” grapes had recently passed the registration of geographical indications for agricultural products by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and that the per capita grape-growing income of local farmers went over 6,000 yuan and had become a major source of farmers’ income. On hearing that, we were surprised and smiled heartily, as if we just had a bunch of Gaibei grapes or a glass of “Wild Vine” wine.