Chapter 4 Section 3 Chinese Wine

To be honest, our moods are very different when we study foreign wines and Chinese wines. Wine makers in the old world have an aristocratic atmosphere and regard wine as a real art. Their love for wine and pursuit of perfection cannot but be admirable.Even if it stumbles temporarily on low-end and mid-end wines, it is because of adhering to the concept of "letting nature make wine" which conflicts with the essence of the low-end and mid-end wine industry. You must have integrity; while the wine makers of the low-end wines in the New World are full of "democratic" and pragmatic spirit, drilling into the hearts of the general public, and creating wines that can be enjoyed easily and happily.

And what about domestic wine?You can't be high, you can't be low.On the surface, the wine market is booming and full of hope (China now ranks tenth in the world in terms of wine production and fifth in grape planting area), but in fact it is smoky and chaotic. After analysis, we found that there are two root causes for the chaotic situation of the entire Chinese wine market: ① lack of standards; ② Chinese wine companies that are impetuous and opportunistic.In fact, these two flaws are the hurdles for a company to succeed no matter in any industry, and their harm can be said to be fatal in the wine industry.

Who said there is no standard wine in our country?How could there be no standard?It should be made clear that the real standard contains two points: one is the existence of the standard; the other is the implementation of the standard.Most of the time our country takes the first step very beautifully and then stops.This is not "standard". But we were surprised to find that in the wine industry, this has changed - not even the first step. 1. Is what we drink really called wine? In 1994, after the country tried to integrate with the international standards and issued national standards for the wine industry that were comparable to international standards, the Ministry of Light Industry thoughtfully "considering the uneven comprehensive conditions of Chinese red wine producers" responded quickly and issued another an industry standard.How about this standard?Just a little is enough to see its level: the presence of half-juice wine is allowed.What is demi-juice wine?Feel free to add alcohol, water, and many other oddities to grape juice and it can still legally be called wine.

As soon as the "trade standard" came out, the "national standard" immediately became a "recommended standard".recommend?Just do whatever you want, if you want to execute it, you don't want to execute it, as long as you reach the "line standard", we won't trouble you. What was the situation?The wine industry has just started in China. Most of the consumers have never tasted wine or know what wine is, and they are very interested.China's wine consumption increased by 61.8% from 1994 to 2000 (world wine production only increased by about 6.5%).In the face of such a group of enthusiastic, ignorant and naive consumers, who is willing to stand by and watch?The number of wineries has soared from more than 130 in 1994 to more than 600 in 2002, most of which have been embraced by the "trade standard".As a result, the Chinese wine market is in chaos and a miasma.

In 2002, a piece of news shocked the market, "Insiders in the industry shocked the wine industry: 80% are "foreign garbage"": "Wine under 30 yuan on the market, more than 70% are blended; wine under 60 yuan, 40% There are problems; on average, 50% of wines below 200 yuan have problems. To put it bluntly, I can challenge any company that dares to stand up and say that its wine has not been blended.” "In fact, the real dry red does not have any additives, and many dry reds on the market now have additives, because after a lot of 'foreign garbage' from abroad comes in, they must be blended with these substances. When summer comes, the port There will be a lot of imported raw wine in large plastic cans, and these foreign 'foreign garbage' will be assembled in China, and then let Chinese consumers drink it."

This news blew up the wine market like a bomb, and attracted big domestic brands to come forward to refute (this is the first time that Chinese wine companies are so united! There will be a second time, please see below), and the wine association also made a serious statement.The irony is that very few companies dare to categorically deny that they have such behavior, and most of them talk about him.A famous brand claims that "the State Administration of Quality Supervision conducts random inspection and evaluation of red wine every year, and the high-quality rate of large enterprises is above 90%." What standard is used? ——Let’s mark it.

That was news in 2002, now? From time to time there are still news about fake alcohol and consumers who have been victimized and deceived, and even CCTV has related reports.Many people comment on big brands such as Great Wall and Changyu that "their wines are relatively high-quality", the premise is that "compared to many other domestic wines that still use grape juice and water to make wine"; various fake and bad wine news are still frequent See it in the newspapers. 2. Noble vintage wine China's famous wine companies are always declaring that their wines are "vintage wines" and good wines, trying to raise their image and sell them at a good price.In fact, with such a simple declaration, two fatal mistakes were made.

The first is the misrepresentation of the vintage.In fact, the age of wine does not mean that the longer the better, the age of the wine alone cannot explain the quality of the wine. The second is lying.The "vintage wine" was advertised as such a good thing before, how could one's own products get off the stage without "vintage"?So I made up the year. In 2005, Jiayu Great Wall wine was exposed as having a fake vintage. Su Cheng, the general manager of the company, finally had to publicly admit in the media that the company’s products did have a false vintage, but this kind of irregular operation is the current “convention” in the wine industry.This was indeed the case. At that time, major brands, such as Great Wall, Fengshou, Veyron, etc., all had their own "vintage wines", and the price of "92 Years" was much higher than that of other vintages or ordinary wines.

But in fact, my country has only started to produce dry red wine on a large scale since 1996. In 1922, the domestic production of grapes and wine were very scarce, only dozens of tons. What about "vintage" wine?As mentioned above, not all wines can be stored, only the best ones can be stored. In France, only AOC wines have storage value.In China from 1992 to 1996, which manufacturer had that level of winemaking? COFCO, the leading wine company, was also "influenced" at that time.When asked whether the China Great Wall dry red wine 92 really used grapes from 1992, the person in charge of the wine department answered irrelevantly, and turned to "popularization of red wine knowledge": 1992 was a good year for grape growth and harvest, with a special taste OK, so the price is high.What's funny is that the person has never directly answered whether the 1992 wine is really made of 1992 grapes, and dared to say that "it was produced according to the national standard", and at the same time emphasized that there is no standard for the vintage wine at present.

Not only that, two years later, the situation has not changed. At the end of 2007, Wang Hai Company sued Changyu Castel Winery for having fake vintages.The situation is similar to before: Changyu Castel Winery was registered and established on September 3, 2001, but the 1995 and 1999 vintage wines produced by Changyu Castel Chateau unexpectedly appeared on the market.After more than 3 hours of trial, the court did not make a judgment in court. Some wine lovers specially brought a famous domestic brand "vintage wine" to taste the wine with the French winemaker. The result is not difficult to predict: the color is very light and the tannin is bright (the characteristics of new wine); it is delusional to store it for more than 10 years because of its quality. ;According to its claim to be "fermented in French oak barrels", conservatively calculating its selling price is a big loss.

3. Can't use the year?Innovation rating! In the absence of standards, in order to try their best to reflect the "noble pedigree" of their wines, Chinese merchants racked their brains, so various wine grading methods came into being, which can be described as full of "imagination". Great Wall dry red wine has star ratings, such as "four-star" and "five-star". , the product in zone A is more than 100 yuan more per bottle than the product in zone B. Changyu wine is divided into "Master Grade", "Collector Grade", "Special Grade" and "Premium Grade".The reporter noticed that the price of master wines on the market is more than 300 yuan per bottle, and the price of special wines is around 100 yuan per bottle, while the price of premium wines is only about 50 yuan per bottle, and the price of master wines is higher than that of premium wines. nearly 7 times. Chinese wineries have also endorsed wine quality levels. From Great Wall, Changyu to small wineries, almost all of them produce wine from wineries, no matter whether they have a winery entity or not. The above classifications are fairly well-established, drawing on foreign experience.This is ridiculous: according to the classification of "tree age", the price of a 10-year-old wine is 108 yuan, and the price of a 20-year-old wine is 328 yuan!The "imagination" of Chinese wine merchants can be regarded as the pinnacle here... It is undeniable that conditions such as production area, vintage, winery, and tree age have a direct relationship with the quality of wine.However, neither is the only thing that constitutes a good wine.As mentioned above, good vintage does not mean good quality. Similarly, good quality does not mean good production area, produced in the chateau (or even not produced in the chateau), and old wine.A winery that doesn't know this will never make good wine.If they all know it and use this method to classify products, isn’t it misleading and deceiving consumers? Okay, okay, that's too demanding.As long as the classification is reliable, it doesn't really matter how you divide it.Are the ratings credible?After all, those are among the top winemakers in China. Taking Changyu as an example, Dr. Li Jiming, the chief engineer of Changyu Company, introduced that the division of this standard takes quality as the core for comprehensive evaluation.The influencing factors include the following three aspects: the first is the quality of raw materials, including grape varieties, soil in production areas, climate, and cultivation techniques; The third is the aging equipment, including the selected oak barrels and other equipment.Based on this, Changyu product grades are divided into four grades: master grade, collection grade, special selection grade, and optimal grade. Sounds very scientific and reliable, right? CCTV's "Weekly Quality Report" once reported that the reporter selected three wines of a certain brand marked as Master, Selected and Premium for quality evaluation by three top domestic wine critics.According to the grading system of this brand, the master level is the highest level, the selected level is the middle level, and the optimal level is the lowest level.According to the internationally accepted wine quality evaluation method - blind tasting, three professional sommeliers were invited to evaluate and score the three wines.The tasting results of the sommelier were surprising. There was no obvious difference in the quality of the three wines at different levels. Humans make mistakes, even tasters.The reporter sent these three wines to the laboratory for testing.According to the results of the analysis, the experts came to the same conclusion as the sommelier's tasting results, and there was no obvious difference between the three wines marked with different grades. The lack of strict and scientific quality grading in the country has led to so many problems. In the new national wine standard implemented in January 2008, wine is only divided into inferior, unqualified, qualified, excellent, and high-quality grades, and there is no operable corresponding details.In order to distinguish wines of different qualities, wine merchants have to be "forced" to use their imagination, but whether the distinction between grades and quality, quality and price is reasonable and consistent can only be judged by you, consumers. . In an environment that lacks strict legal rules of the game, the metaphor of troubled times is perfect.Although it is often said that "heroes emerge in troubled times", this is not necessarily the case in reality.In troubled times, it is indeed possible for heroes to emerge in large numbers; but it is also possible for hooligans to wait for an opportunity and make chaos at the right time, making the situation even more chaotic, and finally a third party will take all of them.In China, unfortunately, the latter is more likely. 1. No ambition, no shame Those middle and low-end wine merchants who have never been well-known and seem to have no desire to be famous are the best representatives of rogues in troubled times. In the "foreign garbage" case that made a lot of noise in 2002, industry insiders revealed that "a ton of imported raw juice for more than 4,000 yuan can fill 1,333 bottles of 750ml wine, which is equivalent to 3 yuan per bottle of raw juice, plus taxes and fees. The total cost of a bottle of wine does not exceed 15 yuan. But the price in the market is usually around 30 yuan, and some even cost more than 50 yuan, which is very profitable. It is not enough to grow grapes by yourself. It takes three years to bear fruit, which means that in the first three years, there is only input but no output, how many companies are willing to wait?" Accompanied by rising demand, a market that does not need to worry about, and simple and ignorant primary consumers of wine. It's like a group of people who have worked hard two or three times, wandering in troubled times, seeing a rich village, but not picking up things on the way.That guy thinks and thinks... Do you take advantage of the fire to rob him, make a small fortune and then quickly run away to another place (maybe there is such a village!)? ——Anyway, the society is in chaos, there is no army to protect the village, the rules are not yet established, and the crime is not established (robbing chickens and ducklings that deceive the common people is not a big deal), so you will not be held accountable if you do bad things, just have a bad reputation nothing more. Or honestly provide services to the villagers, resist bandit intrusion, guide agricultural production, gain the trust of the villagers to manage the village, develop it into your own base camp, and conquer great rivers and mountains in the future?In this way, the money is too slow, right?The process is too long, right?Maybe it's a thankless task, and they find that they live a comfortable life and don't need us at all?In fact, we don’t have any ambitions to guide the country. If we have enough tickets, we can have everything. Make a good profit and return home to live the life of a rich man, hey!So much peace of mind and comfort! 2. Maybe you have great ambitions in your chest, but you are lucky and opportunistic In contrast, those big-name wine merchants with strong backgrounds, sufficient funds, strong connections, and reputations are like warlords who are divided in troubled times.They have sufficient troops, full storehouses of food and grass, have a certain reputation, and are expected and relied on by the people.Who is not gearing up and eager to try to become the overlord of the world?Logically speaking, it is absolutely no problem to dominate one side according to their conditions. Perhaps this "absolute" is a problem.Anyway, I have more money, more money, more power, more influence, you common people don't buy my account, whose account would you dare to buy?With such a prominent family background of mine, there won't be any big problems, and if it happens, it will be on my head.I'm such a dignified person, so they won't mind telling a little lie to cheat a little bit of people's fat and anointing people, right? They'll forget it soon; besides, there is no big or small warlord in the world who doesn't do the same thing, so it's no big deal if I do the same. I will suffer if I don't do this! Therefore, the quality of popular wine is really mediocre, but fortunately, the opponents are even worse hooligans; they are extremely active in high-end wine, constantly breaking their own price records.As for quality?It's always our own people who are bragging.Ms. Jancis Robinson, a British wine master who has always been concerned about Chinese wine, said when she visited China in 2008: "It is said that the leading domestic wine company 'Great Wall' can fill about 150 million bottles of wine every year. As far as I am concerned, I am more looking forward to seeing the improvement in the quality of domestic wines. But what makes me regret is that the quality of Chinese wines has not improved much in the past five years.” 3. The situation is pressing? ——When looking back at oneself When being condemned, hooligans and warlords, big and small, may say: "In troubled times, you can't help yourself." The implication is that the country's industrial environment is too bad, the legal system is not complete, the development history is short, and the standards are difficult to determine... …so none of us are at fault. The warlords have something else to say! ——Who says we are not successful?We brew and buy so much wine every year, with such a high market share, who doesn’t know our brand?We also want to break into the European market to get good reviews! First of all, big domestic brands need to think carefully about where their high output, high sales volume, and high brand share come from.Is it really because of the wine?So, compared to foreign wine merchants who only pay half of the tax?What about the long-standing advantages in point-of-sale terminals?What about government procurement and local protection?What about the relatively small amount of information exchange between China and the West?What about the wrong consumer concept caused by "foreign garbage"?How much do so many self-interested factors contribute to the success of China's big names?This is not to expose the shortcomings, but what I want to do is to remind, because these factors are disappearing one by one. The sharp drop in wine tariffs, the diversification and liberalization of sales terminals, ultra-free and fast network information, increasingly sophisticated consumers, and excellent foreign wine merchants who are sharpening their knives (once they carry surplus but definitely not low-quality wine) ...Don't worry, everyone else is nervous for you!According to today's investment statistics, the latest ranking of China's wine industry (2009) is: Changyu's market share is 17%, followed by Great Wall with 12%, and the third Dynasty Wine Industry with 5%.In 2008, relevant statistics showed that the shares of Changyu, Great Wall and Dynasty Wine in the Chinese wine market were 21.24%, 20.19% and 10.67% respectively. Secondly, are the current problems of the Chinese wine industry all due to the bad industrial environment?Wine companies powerless? 4. France's magic weapon: strict AOC When analyzing French wine, I mentioned the Appellation of Origin (AOC), which is a magic weapon of the French viticulture system, and many countries are very envious of it.But this system is not the sudden inspiration of the French, and its creation is also forced and helpless. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the economic crisis and planting disasters (downy mildew and phylloxera) swept across the French vineyards. The resulting historically low yields led to the proliferation of fake and artificial wines. The reputation of serious wine merchants and French wines was also affected. At the same time, foreign wines also began to rise to compete with French wines.As a result, French wine farmers and wine merchants quickly organized to protect the common wealth; another theory is that the government took the initiative. But no matter who takes the first step to establish this system, it is a system that cannot succeed without the full understanding and cooperation of producers - the origin is the common property of the qualified wine owners on this land, and it is also related to the wines they pass down from generation to generation , so for the benefit and glory they become staunch participants in the appellation of origin system, even if that means being bound by strict rules. 5. Chinese wine companies that are lenient and self-disciplined Do you remember the first great unity in 2002 when Chinese wine companies opposed the idea of ​​"foreign garbage"?Shortly after that, a second great unity emerged. The legality of "foreign garbage" was terminated in December 2002 - the relevant state departments promulgated a new policy: stop using the standard of half-juice wine.However, the abolition of half-juice only eliminates the occurrence of similar "three essences and one water", and has no real significance for improving the overall competitiveness of China's wine industry.Because the standard is too rough and too low. Therefore, from August 10th to August 14th, 2003, supported by the China Brewery Industry Association, co-organized by Yantai Changyu, China Great Wall, Sino-French joint venture Dynasty and other units, a special industry conference was held in Gansu. One of the main topics was the revision of 10 The "National Technical Standards and Quality Standards for Wine Grapes and Wine" formulated years ago. Unexpectedly, in the following 15 days, Xintian International Wine also suddenly invited the Wine Professional Committee of China Food Industry Association to hold the 2003 National Grape Wine Conference, and proposed another new revision plan of the national wine standard at the conference .It is reported that Xintian participates in the research and formulates content and indicators that are much more comprehensive and higher than the national standard revisions that Changyu and Dynasty participated in. For example, there are 10 indicators in the Xintian project research and new standard formulation, but there may only be 5 indicators in the national standard revised by Changyu.For another example, in Xintian Yifang's revision plan, the bottom line for the sugar content index of wine grapes is set at 230 grams or more.Experts in the industry pointed out that grapes with a sugar content of more than 180 grams in Hebei and Shandong, which are known as the main grape production areas in China, are rare, and the production bases of big-name wine companies such as Great Wall and Changyu are concentrated in these production areas. What does it matter about the sugar content of wine grapes?The sugar content determines the alcohol level. If the natural sugar content of grapes is not enough, additional sugar must be added when making wine.However, the impact of blindly adding sugar on the quality of wine is no less than that of adding water (half juice) and adding other auxiliary materials. Some experts believe that when no sugar is added to wine making, Chinese wine will reach the world level.There is some truth to this view. There are very strict regulations on adding sugar to grape wine in the world.It is only allowed to add a limited amount of sugar in high-latitude production areas and special years, and the sales price is significantly reduced.New World American table wine, dry white and rosé wines require 20%~23% sugar content in raw materials, and dry red wines require 21%~23% sugar content in raw materials.In a considerable part of the grape-producing areas in the eastern region, the sugar content of wine grapes is generally 15% to 18% when harvested, which is far lower than the grape sugar content required for brewing high-quality wine. Jancis Robinson, a British master of wine, once pointed out: "In summer and early autumn, most wineries (in China) have constant rainfall, except for the western region which is 5 hours away from Shanghai. Shandong Province, which is located on the coast of the East China Sea, is China's vigorous development. wine industry, but in a humid environment, grape diseases and insect pests are a long-term problem; the alcohol level is also insufficient, and it is often necessary to artificially add sugar to increase the alcohol level." So in fact, in terms of natural conditions, China " How many of the "Top Ten Wine Regions" (or the Top Eleven) are really suitable for growing wine grapes?Are those production areas formed because of the swarm of wine companies or are they really taken into account by the natural environment?The answer is not very optimistic. Of course, we don't assume that Xintian Liquor has a lofty starting point for raising high standards, such as "in order to improve the level of the industry".But from an objective point of view, the standards they advocate should indeed become the goal pursued by Chinese wines. If they really become national industry standards and are implemented, they will undoubtedly force Chinese wine companies to improve their quality, instead of passing through as they are now. . The first solidarity was when someone pointed out the hidden rules of the "foreign garbage" industry, and the second solidarity was when emerging companies advocated strict industry standards. Aren't these two great solidarities very interesting? And the result of the second unity?In the newly approved industry standard, the lower limit of sugar content is 180 grams. The big brands involved in the production of alcoholic beverages sit proudly at the top of the list. Xintian Liquor is shrunk to the end of the list, and its figure looks particularly lonely and helpless. 6. Standards don’t really matter—a model of being independent: American Wine In the process of searching for information, we have been trying to prove that other major wine producing countries in the world have strict standards maintained by the government to control wine companies, so the wine industry in their countries is so much more orderly and better than China ——I also want to help Chinese wine companies to speak up. Isn’t it too unkind to blame blindly?But the facts have proved that the tragedy of Chinese wine is really inseparable from wine companies. When analyzing foreign wines, American wines appear mainly as examples of excellent low-end wines, but in fact the United States also has excellent high-end wines (briefly mentioned in wine competitions).Twenty years ago, no one would compare American wines with European old world wines, but today American wines have spread all over the world, and some of them are more expensive than French chateau wines. Famous all over the world, even compared with the top wines of the old world, such as Robert Mondavi Winery, Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Pride Opus One, Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Domaine Drouhin, etc.Does the United States have a strict system like the French AOC? No.The United States, which belongs to the New World countries, although it also has a wine management system similar to the French AOC, American Viticultural Areas (American Wine-growing Areas), referred to as AVA.However, AVAs are only geographically divided grape-growing areas, and there are no restrictions on grape varieties, and there is no regulation on the maximum yield per acre.So the alcohol laws are quite loose compared to Europe. However, American wine companies actually like to brag about "grading" like Chinese ones: on the wine labels, you can usually see "reserve", "special selection" (selection), "classic" ( Classic), "private reserve" (private collection) and other words that seem to describe the grade, in fact, there is no special classification system for American wine, so these titles are not recognized by the wine law, but are used by wineries to distinguish their own wines That's all for classification.What does this mean?The pricing and reputation of the wine depend entirely on the winery itself. There are no strict laws and regulations, and there is no official authority to prove the quality and grade, but there are still some wineries in the United States that grow grapes and make wine honestly.Isn't the United States, which has no strict legal standards, also a troubled world to some extent?The top wineries in the United States perfectly interpret the nobility of "being alone". Now if you want to buy domestic wine at a reasonable price, you have many choices.But although the price is "friendly to the people", its quality is "disturbing to the people". What we get from middle and low-end wine merchants in the New World is complete: low price, good taste, high quality (compared to Chinese wine), convenience...Compared with Chinese low-end wine, it is not necessarily safe Delicious, delicious may not be safe, there are many bad and unsafe, safe and delicious price is not so good.With the reduction of tax rates, the opening of the market, the increasing maturity of consumers and the overproduction of foreign wines, how can China's middle and low-end wines gain a foothold? It can only be "transforming nature to accommodate people", which is "transformation" rather than "destruction". It is the minimum requirement to find a relatively suitable wine grape producing area and to brew safe and reliable wine with a down-to-earth attitude; to carefully consider the tastes of Chinese people to brew pleasing wine; to study what characteristics of wine can best Pair it with Chinese food; study the drinking habits of Chinese people, what occasions, what preferences and what packaging, all of which can be studied carefully. See the minds of Chinese consumers clearly, then accommodate and serve them well, instead of fooling them a lot-"the eyes of the masses are discerning." Strictly speaking, there are no high-end wines in China yet, but there are quite a few high-priced wines.After the previous analysis of foreign fine wines, we believe that high-end wines should be "naturally attractive" on the basis of a superior natural environment.We obviously have a superior natural foundation. Ms. Jessie Robinson, who is known as one of the "three major wine tasters in the world", also pointed out in the book "World Wine Map" that 44 degrees north latitude is the best production place for wine grapes. The latitude of the region, and my country's Xinjiang region is located in this special geographical location; in addition to my country's vast territory, but also very complex climate and geological conditions, there may also be small production areas suitable for growing wine grapes in other regions. However, the core "preserving nature" in the essence of the industry is rarely taken seriously by Chinese wine companies.Either you are not frizzy and dare to launch high-priced wines without growing wine for a few years; or you want to cooperate with wine companies in other countries and want to achieve it in one step; ).To cherish nature, it is necessary to constantly pursue excellence. It is natural to have no authoritative third-party test and proof to reach a certain height.Doesn’t the “May Revolution” incident of California wine prove that this is an industry that really relies on quality? Fortunately, there are still a small group of wine companies in China that show sincerity and determination, such as Grace Winery, which was once favored by Chateau Lafite, and Gansu Zixuan Winery, whose products were selected as the only designated wine for the World Expo United Nations Pavilion.Although they still have a long way to go to become a famous winery and brew "China's good wine", they are indeed one of the models that Chinese mid-to-high-end wine companies should learn from. 1. Yitaiyuan Winery (1) Natural basis Yiyuan Winery is located in Taigu County, 40 kilometers south of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, where it has a typical continental climate: four distinct seasons, drought, little rain and strong sunshine, large temperature difference between day and night, and sunny slopes. Compared with the rainy east, it is more suitable for wine brewing. There is drought and less pests and diseases, so there is no need to spray so many pesticides; strong light and large temperature difference are conducive to the accumulation of sugar; the loess landform is between hills and plains, and the thickness of the soil layer is more than 10 meters. The thickness is up to 800 meters; the soil is cinnamon soil, with a pH value of about 7.5, neutral, rich in potassium, calcium and other minerals, with good porosity, good air permeability and low fertility. It is an ideal soil for growing wine grapes. But good natural conditions are only the premise, let's see how they grow grapes and make wine. (2) Preserve nature Grace Vineyard was co-founded by Hong Kong businessman Mr. Chen Jinqiang and French grape scholar Janeville with the assistance of the world-renowned French wine scholar Professor Denis Boubals. "Grace Vineyard has embarked on a completely French path from the very beginning." The French mentioned here refers to the spirit of respecting tradition and nature. When the winery was first established, Yiyuan imported 100,000 French grape seedlings, which were cultivated and raised by the Shanxi Fruit Tree Research Institute, and handed over to local farmers for planting. The 150-hectare vineyard was divided into 11 grape varieties.After several years of experiments, the best 68.5 hectares of vineyards were selected and retained, and the grape varieties with good performance were continuously developed. Since the seedlings were planted in 1997, after three years of seedling protection and cultivation, the wine was harvested in 2001.It is in stark contrast to the "swift speed" of many domestic wine companies. Throughout the year, a great deal of the work in the vineyard is done by hand.In order to ensure the quality of raw materials, more than 3,000 mu of vineyards, the yield per mu is strictly controlled at 350-400 kg, and each grape has 6-8 bunches of fruit.Strictly controlling the output is quite different from the traditional Chinese thinking. Some growers feel reluctant to pick off the immature grapes and leave them quietly, which affects the quality of the grapes. Taking this into consideration, Yiyuan adopted a A series of measures: Humanized management methods such as implementing protective prices, scoring grapes, and rewarding high-scoring growers encourage growers to grow high-quality grapes with more peace of mind.Compared with many domestic brands of wine raw materials with an output of about 1,000 kilograms per mu, we can see its sincerity. Secondly, when the grapes are harvested, the winemaker detects the sugar content of the grapes and brews them separately according to the proportion of sugar content; the best oak barrels from France, the United States and Hungary are used, and there are labels on the barrels: "Wine storage in wooden barrels "Original record", insist on using it for two years and replace it; hire French winemakers to test and manage the brewing process; it must be said that all wines of Yiyuan are brewed with the grapes of the year stated on the wine label on the bottle-even if " The state does not have relevant regulations on the year", and there is no exaggeration or fraud. The winery hired Mr. Kent Mochisen, who has been in the Australian wine industry for 25 years, as the chief winemaker. His own Portree vineyard in Australia won the honor of the best vineyard in Victoria in 2002, and in the following years He has won many awards; he also invited Liu Zhixin, an authoritative Hong Kong food author, as the chief consultant to advise Yiyuan. (3) Third-party certification and publicity There is nothing to mention in the competitions in China. Three wines from Yiyuan won awards in the British Decanter "Decanter" competition in 2007 and 2008. Appreciation from wine expert Ms. Jancis Robinson. The most meaningful thing is not winning the competition, but related to the Peninsula Hotel. In 2003, the Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel's previous "house wine" contract from Bordeaux, France expired, and major wine merchants competed to present their best wines for tasting.Shanxi Yiyuan is also among them.After a trial, Shanxi Yiyuan stood out and became the hotel wine of the famous ultra-luxury Peninsula Hotel.Since then, "Shangri-La, Kempinski, star hotels in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai have all accepted Shanxi Yiyuan".According to Chen Jinqiang, in Hong Kong, Germany, and Singapore Southeast Asia, Shanxi Yiyuan became a hit, and many star hotels and high-end clubs have accepted Shanxi Yiyuan. (4) Yiyuan Summary Maybe you have seen some big-name wineries, showing "extraordinary" everywhere.It is their common plan to develop grape planting, wine making, and tourism at the same time.Unsurprisingly, they will all have a grand European-style high-end clubhouse, providing tourists from surrounding cities with a package of winemaking, leisure, catering, and accommodation services.For example, a certain manor has invested 500 million yuan, and it is a winery that can play golf. Another example is the castle of a certain winery that was completed last year. It is definitely the most French-style winery building in China.Extending from Beijing to Hebei Shacheng, Changli and Shandong Pengcai, it seems to have formed a winery tourism belt. But when you go to Yiyuan Winery, you really think to yourself, this is too inconspicuous, right?It is a small gray building, but generally does not accept visitors.The winery is small and simple, surrounded by sparsely planted grapes.It is such an inconspicuous winery, but in the showroom, you can see the "House Wine" specially provided by Yiyuan for the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. Spit out the name. 当然，怡园仍有非常漫长的路要走，让我们拭目以待。高端葡萄酒从来不可能一蹴而就。大自然数亿年的历史演变成如今这个模样，怎能用十多年就能摸透它、呈现它？法国名酒庄可是历经百年时光见证的。 不要再说高端酒卖的是文化、卖的是品位了。所谓的“法国精神”不是撒撒钞票盖法国城堡就能得到的，其真正价值是追求完美的态度。而追求完美葡萄酒，就意味着尊重、热爱自然，漫长岁月的磨砺、积淀和一代一代的传承，以求以最熨帖的方式珍藏当时当地的自然精牮，为自然发声。 2.紫轩酒业 相比怡园而言，紫轩酒业成立得较晚，目前知名度仍不及前者。多亏上海世博，紫轩有机酒似乎渐渐踏上轨道。 （1）自然基础 其实一听到甘肃，就知道紫轩酒业的自然基础绝对不容小觑。本文多次提及的葡萄酒大师杰西丝·罗宾逊女士在分析世界适合酿酒产区的时候就把我国西北新疆、甘肃一带包括进去。而紫轩酒业公司的葡萄种植基地正位于祁连山北麓的戈壁滩。终年气候干燥，少于100mm的年降雨量和多于2500mm的年蒸发量使产区葡萄免受病虫害，再配合上充足曰照、大幅昼夜温差和合适有效积温，也意味着适宜的葡萄含糖量和含酸量。钾、钙含量极高的沙砾土壤，与波尔多地区极其相似，是酿酒葡萄的理想沃土。更可贵的是，从前一片荒芜的戈壁滩使土壤同其他历史悠久农耕区相比少了污染；水源来自祁连山冰川，可算再天然不过的矿泉水。 （2）珍藏自然 想来现在大家对“有机”这个词已不再陌生，而“有机”这个词用本文的语言来说，正是“珍藏自然”。到目前为止，通过中国国家有机葡萄酒认证的有威龙、乡都葡萄酒。但获得IFOAM（国际有机农业运动联盟，是世界上最大、最有影响的国际有机农业组织）国际有机葡萄酒认证的在中国只有紫轩一家。 得到这个认证就意味着不仅酿酒葡萄的种植，甚至是酿酒、装瓶过程也严格按照有机产品的标准。 比如种植酿酒葡萄过程中完全按照天然的耕作方法种植，不使用化学肥料、杀虫剂及灭草剂。虽然由于种植园位于干旱气候区，使病虫害防治难度大大下降，但要防治实属不易，经过五年的实践才做到了不喷酒化学农药完全可以控制病虫害发生和传播；同时为了避免使用化学肥料，又能保持葡萄养料供给，公司同时发展畜牧养殖业，建成了年产15万头猪的养猪场、1万头牛的养牛场，为葡萄种植提供了充足的有机肥。 国际上有两种有机葡萄酒，一种是采用有机葡萄和普通葡萄酒酿造方式制成的酒，另一种就如紫轩有机酒的双认证，不仅原料有机，酿造过程也有机。比如只用天然酵母、不加化学稳定剂，最显著的一个特点是对亚硫酸盐的控制。 为了防止葡萄酒氧化，在酿制过程中会添加硫化物，硫化物经化学反应转变成S02。很多人喝酒会有脸红、头痛的症状，很多时候就是过多的硫化添加物造成的。百分百的有机酒是不添加任何亚硫酸盐，但是大多数酒庄、酒企还是会添加少量S02，国际有机标准是成品葡萄酒的总S02含量低于100毫克/升，欧洲标准是低于80毫克/升，而紫轩有机酒现在已经可以控制在65毫克/升的水平以下，算是做得相当不错。 还有一点值得一说，如前面提及，紫轩葡萄园灌溉水源来自于祁连山雪融水。他们还同时配备了以色列滴灌设备。众所皆知，以色列的绿洲灌溉技术一向位于世界前列。What good is that?良好的滴灌设备为有机酿酒葡萄的“按需定量供水”提供了可靠保证。而在东部很多酿酒葡萄老产区所处的无灌溉区（自然降雨量较大的地区）和大水漫灌区根本做不到这一点，过多的水分对酿酒葡萄来说是个很大问题，容易导致糖分不足等问题，严重影响酒的酿制和成品酒的口感。 其实得到了国际标准的有机认证，就足以说明珍藏自然的诚意和水平了。 （3）吸引人 其实早在2007年紫轩酒就已经获得了较权威的认可，“紫轩陈酿赤霞珠干红葡萄酒”在“法国波尔多·中国国际葡萄酒与烈酒评酒会”上夺得大会唯一的特别金奖，“紫轩冰白葡萄酒”、“梅尔诺干红葡萄酒”分别获得金奖、银奖；而于2008年，“紫轩A级赤霞珠干红葡萄酒”、“利口酒”夺得了2008年亚洲葡萄酒质量大赛金奖。2009年紫轩酒业又成为迄今为止中国第一家通过国际有机产品认证的葡萄酒企业。但似乎直到2010年上海世博成为联合国馆唯一指定专用葡萄酒后才算拥有较大知名度，让自家有机好酒的酒香传出了巷子。 （4）紫轩总结 走进今年上海世博，紫轩酒业算是上了另一个台阶。与年长几岁的怡园酒庄一样，紫轩酒业仍有非常大的进步空间和考验需要面对。 比如有机概念的应用。当我们提及欧洲好酒的时候，造酒者本身和消费者都不会刻意提及“有机”，因为双方均心知肚明只有尊重自然与传统，才有可能成就好酒；“有机”概念当下固然火热，推崇有机产品的消费者会为紫轩有机酒所吸引，但由于中国市场对“有机”概念似乎有点过度炒作，有相当部分消费者要不对有机概念一知半解，甚至有误区，要不就产生审美疲劳。这对紫轩酒业来说可能不利。 与此同时“有机”只是必要条件而不是充分条件，寻找到最能洤释当地自然的葡萄品种和酿酒方式才够完全。但似乎怡园和紫轩酒业都走完全外国化的路途，包括引进外国葡萄品种和采用同样酿酒方式。他们固然酿出了超出中国平均水平的好酒，但是否最终能造出属于中国的顶级好酒，笔者认为还是应当寻找到能“珍藏中国自然”的造酒道路。 再者，笔者对紫轩酒业的央视广告实在难言喜欢。大部分消费者和几乎所有懂酒之人喝酒不是为了健康，而是为着品味自然风味。“你的健康，我的奉献”传达的仍是有机健康概念，不甚妥当——“有机”对葡萄酒而言，好是好在保留了自然风味，而不是起强身健体之效。以紫轩的价格和秉持的造酒理念来说，应当是希望走中高端路线。而在中高端酒“珍藏自然吸引人”行业本质的“吸引人”部分，我们从外国和怡园的例子可以看出，最有效的手段是造出得权威认可的好酒，然后从懂酒之人的酒杯走出开去。电视广告对中高端酒来说并不是“吸引人”的理想方式。 总而言之，不论是怡园还是紫轩，还是中国其他中高端酒企，没有例外，要成就顶级好酒必须珍藏自然吸引人，而珍藏自然是最关键的一步。而这一步若没有造酒人勤勤恳恳、老老实实、经年累月不松懈地追求卓越就没有达到的可能。我希望怡园和紫轩能够在这个基础上更进一步的精益求精，千万不要像很多中国所谓的名牌一样，稍有点成就，马上开始走快捷方式，偷工减料，自毁长城。这两个品牌能否走得长远，我们拭目以待。当然据我所知，目前在新疆等地还有几个类似于怡园和紫轩的小酒庄也开始慢慢出头了，我希望这些酒庄能够努力发挥珍藏自然吸引人的理念，将中国的葡萄酒提上一个新的层级。 （5）茶VS葡萄酒 从葡萄酒行业本质的研究中我们可以看到，旧世界高端酒一直以来恪守的酿酒卖酒哲学因为恰好符合了珍藏自然吸引人的行业本质，名酒庄、名产区令无数爱酒人一心向往甚而一掷千金；旧世界中低端酒同守保持自然风味的“贵族思想”，与普罗大众远隔千里，岌岌可危；而相反的，新世界酒以“美国式的民主精神”主动根据大众需求改造不尽如人意的自然，造出讨喜的“棒棒糖酒”，让无条件讲究或者不一定想讲究的饮酒人品尝到符合心意的葡萄酒，可谓“后浪推前浪”的典范。 虽然说到好酒大部分人还是会想到旧世界，旧世界高端酒市场仍有价亦有市，但在庞大的中低端市场中新世界一面倒巳是不争的事实：每年，欧盟为了把过剩的廉价葡萄酒蒸馏成工业酒精，要支付8亿欧元的补贴；欧盟针对葡萄酒行业的危机也开始计划改革，“大胆”的改革方案中包括适当放宽葡萄酒酿造强制标准以及放宽针对葡萄酒标签的限制，允许混合欧盟不同国家生产的同种葡萄来酿酒等等。 这确实让我们想起中国茶叶现状与文首关于那则报纸文章的争论。在中国，说到好茶自然是“安溪铁观音”、“西湖龙井”、“黄山毛尖”等等，好茶不来中国找还能去哪？我们可是茶之王国！说到中低端茶，嗯，爱茶人们先别急着鄙视立顿，复杂的茶市场确实让相当部分老百姓摸不着头脑。你问问身边的年轻人有谁喝茶？立顿产品倒是个个知道。为什么我们会产生如此联想呢？因为茶叶与葡萄酒太相似了，不论其性质还是对于人的意义（茶对中国人，葡萄酒对西方人）。 （6）性质相似 首先它们都属于农产品，并且非生存必需品。你喝它或为其风味、为健康，甚至附庸风雅也好，总之你不是为了填饱肚子活下去才喝茶或喝酒的。 其次环境对它们的影响之巨大是其他产品难以比拟的。龙井西湖的和非西湖的就有差别；福建正山小种就只在那方圆50公里之内（东至麻栗，西至挂墩，南至皮坑、古王坑，北至桐木关），一出那地儿就被叫做“外山”以示区别；相似环境，土壤、气候、制作方式只要有一丁点儿小小差别，成品天差地别，实在是“毫厘千里”的最佳写照。 想到葡萄酒了吗？波尔多产区、勃艮第产区下都有无数细分产区，两个隔壁小村庄生产出的，甚至是两个隔壁酒庄生产出的酒就可以完全不同，真正的过了这个村就没那个店。 综上，人们饮用茶和酒是享受其风味，而其风味又大大取决于产地的自然环境和与之适应的加工方式。因此人饮用茶和酒，自然可看做品味自然的过程，本质上是一样的需求。 （7）意义相似 茶和酒之于人的意义就更有意思了。有人一听到把茶和酒放在一起说，第一个反应就是：这两个东西太不同了吧？事实上相反。 中国说茶为国饮实在贴切不过。即使现在上餐馆很多人都叫可乐、雪碧之类的饮料，但是餐厅总少不了一壶茶放在那儿，典型如粤菜，就还保持着吃饭配茶的传统；在国外，葡萄酒的角色一模一样，以葡萄酒配餐在那儿是自然而然的事情，不要想当然把中国特别场合或是附庸风雅才喝酒配餐的习惯套到他们头上。 在中国，客人来访，奉茶以待；外国电影中常看到，客人拜访，自然而然地一句：“来点酒？”中国许多地方仍是茶馆遍地，打打麻将、下下棋、聊聊天，都可以在茶馆完成；这不就和国外的酒吧一样吗？国外酒吧可不是有钱人炫耀或是“不良青年”混迹的地方，就是一个再平常不过的社交场合，和中国茶馆的作用是非常接近的。还有很多事例就不——列举。但我想用一个例子来总结上文所说的茶和酒的性质和对于人的意义。 外国人听到中国人往红酒里加雪碧、加绿茶，惊呆了：“为什么在那么天然美味的东西里加人工的垃圾？” 中国人看到外国人怎么喝红茶的，也惊呆了：“有这么喝茶的吗？又是糖又是牛奶，这还叫茶吗？”