独家专访：“发现”智利佳美娜的传奇人物 | 朱利安 | Decanter双语专栏回顾
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很多人都知道智利的招牌葡萄品种佳美娜（Carmenere）曾经多年被误以为是梅乐。不过，很少有人知道这个突破性的发现背后的故事。我有幸见到了为智利葡萄酒行业带来了“革命”的关键人物——Jean-Michel Boursiquot教授。我们的话题自然离不了佳美娜，但也不仅如此……
（本文于2016年6月21日首发于DecanterChina.com）
图片：Jean-Michel Boursiquot，由朱利安拍摄
说Jean-Michel Boursiquot是当代最著名的葡萄品种学家（ampelographer）丝毫不为过。这个头衔，听起来够酷的吧？不过，到底什么才是“葡萄品种学（ampelography）”呢？
牛津葡萄酒词典介绍说，“葡萄品种学家”是“在农业葡萄品种的研究及分类方面的专家”。按照Jean-Michel Boursiquot的说法，早在17世纪，人们已开始研究葡萄品种，但要等到19世纪后葡萄品种学才真正兴盛起来；那时的研究主要针对葡萄植株的形状。然而，得益于近几十年基因和分子分析方面的成果葡萄品种学正处于其“黄金时代”。
Boursiquot教授进一步解释说，葡萄品种学主要围绕三个主轴展开：
（1）对葡萄品种进行描述，以确保它们的可追溯性和可识别性。
（2）通过基因学研究葡萄品种的进化和变种。最后
（3）是分析每个品种作为农产品的潜力（是否对疾病具有抗性，产量以及品质潜力，等等）。
Domaine Vassal葡萄园
世界最大规模的葡萄品种“大本营”
Domaine Vassal是收集了世界最多葡萄品种样本的种植基地。从1985年开始，Jean-Michel Boursiquot负责管理Domaine Vassal葡萄园的科学部门。
1876年，科学家们种植了一批来自美国的葡萄品种，用于测试它们对于葡萄根瘤蚜（phylloxera）的抗性。
在Louis Ravaz教授的主张下，这里种植的葡萄品种迅速增加。1949年到1950年之间，这些葡萄品种被移栽到了Domaine Vassal。
Domaine Vassal葡萄园距离海边只有30米远，位于小镇Agde和 Sète之间，距离蒙彼利埃（Montpellier）西南60公里左右。
如今，Domaine Vassal种植了2600个不同的酿酒葡萄品种，以及许多其它非酿酒品种。如果算上每个品种的不同品系（clones），现在这里共栽种了7600个不同种类的葡萄藤。得益于当地沙土为主的土壤条件（葡萄园害虫——比如根瘤蚜和线虫，都无法在这样的土壤环境中生存），这些葡萄藤未经砧木嫁接。
不过，由于租金上涨，而且近在咫尺的海岸线不断逼近，这些葡萄品种样本可能将再次迁移，前往Narbonne附近的Gruissan。
图片：佳美娜，来自Wiki
谈到葡萄酒行业的“影响力人物”，我们往往会联想到一两位著名葡萄酒评论家，或者那些葡萄酒业界大亨。不过他们当中应该没有一个像Boursiquot教授那样在一夜间改变了一个国家葡萄酒产业的格局。他是这么描述自己发现佳美娜的故事的：
“1990年前后，新世界国家兴起了一股‘梅乐热’。智利人想到，与其直接从法国进口葡萄苗，还不如直接从本土的老藤上截取插条（cuttings）。赤霞珠是当时智利主要的葡萄品种，只有很少的种植商手上还有梅乐。20世纪90年代，他们在冬季选取最具活力的葡萄藤截取插条，开始大量培育“梅乐”。
“1994年11月，我应邀前往智利参加论坛，并主持其中两场研讨会。在研讨会上，一位我以前的学生问我，是不是可以去看看他们的葡萄园。她当时在Vina Carmen工作。
“她带我在葡萄园走了一圈，给我看了他们的霞多丽、赤霞珠、长相思等品种，然后我们在一片三角形的葡萄田旁边停下了车。她说道“这是我们新种植的梅乐葡萄田”。我下了车，只看了一眼，就觉得这些葡萄藤不像梅乐——比如嫩枝尖端的叶子呈现桔黄色、叶片的形状不像梅乐的等等。
指出这不是梅乐挺容易的，但说出到底那是什么品种就没有那么简单。于是我在葡萄树间转了一下，仔细观察。当时正是花开时节，我看了看花的样子，忽然眼前一亮：佳美娜的雄蕊会呈现有点弯曲的样子，其它品种的雄蕊却很笔直。我恍然大悟道：“这是佳美娜！”其实这是我第一次在商业葡萄园里看到佳美娜，之前我只在Vassal栽种的样本中看到过这个品种。”
图片：马瑟兰
采访Boursiquot教授这样的葡萄专家，我觉得正适合问问他对马瑟兰（Marselan）的看法。在我看来，这个名不见经传的葡萄品种，正在中国不断出产品质非常优秀的葡萄酒。
Boursiquot教授解释说，马瑟兰这个品种诞生于1961年，由法国国家农业研究院（INRA）在蒙皮利埃市培育出来。这个品种是赤霞珠和歌海娜的杂交品种。这项杂交实验目的在于提高歌海娜对于灰霉病的抵抗力，并且加深它的颜色。
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马瑟兰：中国葡萄酒的明日之星 | 李德美 · ProWein | Decanter
在Boursiquot教授看来，之所以马瑟兰能够在中国酿造优质葡萄酒，原因可能在于它的果粒较小（比赤霞珠小），这就意味着果皮与果汁的比率较高，酿造出的葡萄酒也会呈现更深的颜色。不仅如此，尽管马瑟兰是两个晚熟品种杂交的成果，但是“马瑟兰会比赤霞珠早几天成熟”，这对秋季温度可能骤降的产区非常有利。其次，马瑟兰酿造出的葡萄酒“单宁非常柔和、圆润”。
在法国，马瑟兰在20世纪90年代后期开始发展，主要得益于朗格多克（Languedoc）奥德（Aude）地区的农业部的工作。目前法国种植了4,588公顷的马瑟兰。不过马瑟兰属于“次要品种”，也就是说在混酿中仅起到配角作用，因为单独使用马瑟兰酿造的葡萄酒往往会过于浓郁。
和Jean-Michel Boursiquot教授的会面，让我既觉得荣幸，也有点失望。荣幸的是我能够与课堂上常常提及的传奇人物面对面交流。但让我感到失望的是，他只到过中国一次，而且已经是20世纪80年代的事了。
每一次著名的酿酒师访问中国，我们总能听到铺天盖地的宣传，一些公司也宁愿花费上百万，以获得一位著名酿酒顾问对他们产品的首肯。但是，作为葡萄酒专业人士，我们都知道葡萄酒品质的根源在葡萄上。
如今，重视品质的酿酒商在中国迅速增多，我觉得更多像Boursiquot教授这样的葡萄园建设/管理专家不断造访中国葡萄园的日子也不远了。在我看来，比起酿酒专家，也许我们更需要这些葡萄园专家的帮助。
（编译： 吴嘉溦 / Sylvia Wu）
Most of my students already know thatCarmenere, Chile’s flagship grape variety, used to be mistaken for Merlot formany years. However, few people know the actual story behind this groundbreaking discovery. Thanks to the CIVL (the Languedoc wine association),I managed to meet the man responsible for unwittingly revolutionising Chile’swine industry: Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquot. We of course spoke aboutCarmenere, but not only…
What is Ampelography?
Jean-Michel Boursiquot is certainly themost famous ampelographer of our time. Sounds cool, right? But what on earth is‘ampelography’? According to the Oxford dictionary, an ampelographer is ‘anexpert in the study and classification of cultivated varieties of grape.’According to Jean-Michel Boursiquot, the ‘study of grapes’ already began in the 17th Century and really started to thrive from the 19th Century on, at the timemainly consisting in morphological description of the plants. However, the‘golden age’ seems to be happening right now, especially thanks to theprogresses made in genetics and molecular analysis.
Pr. Boursiquot further explains that ampelography mainly revolves around three axes: (1) the description of the grape varieties in order to guarantee their traceability and authentication;(2) the study of the grape varieties’ evolutions and mutations, particularly thanks to genetics; and finally (3) the analysis of each variety’s agronomicalpotential (resistance to diseases, yields and quality potential, etc).
Domaine Vassal: the world’s largest grapevarieties’ collection
Since 1985, Jean-Michel Boursiquot has beenin charge of the scientific department of the Domaine Vassal, the world’slargest conservatory of grape varieties.
The first collection was created in 1876with American grape species which were imported in order to test their resistance to phylloxera. The collection grew rapidly at the instigation of Professor Louis Ravaz, and the collection got transferred to the Domaine Vassal between 1949 and 1950. It is located about 30 metres from the seaside, betweenthe towns of Agde and Sète, some 60 kilometres to the South-West of Montpellier.
Today, there are 2,600 different vitisvinifera grape varieties planted on the site, as well as many othernon-vinifera grape species. Considering that various clones of each varietyhave been planted, the Domaine now hosts about 7,600 individuals, planted on their own roots thanks to the extremely sandy nature of the ground (vine pestssuch as phylloxera and nematodes can’t survive in such soil). The collectionmay move to another spot though, to Gruissan near Narbonne, because of theincrease of the rent and the risks caused by the rising of the sea level.
The discovery of Carmenere
When speaking about ‘influence’ on the wineindustry, we often think about one or two wine critics or some importantstakeholders within the wine trade, still few can say that their influence actually reshaped the industry of a whole country almost over-night. Well, Ithink that Professor Boursiquot can make this claim. Here is the story of thediscovery of Carmenere in his own words:
‘Merlot’s boom started around 1990 in the new world countries. Chileans thought that instead of importing vines fromFrance, they should take cuttings from some old vines remaining in the country. Cabernet Sauvignon was then the main variety, and only a few people still hadsome Merlot. In the 1990’s, they started to propagate “Merlot” from cuttingstaken in pre-phylloxera vineyards, selected from the most vigorous vines duringwintertime.’
‘In November 1994, I was invited to Chileto host two conferences during a symposium. There was an old student of mine inthe room who asked me if I would like to have a look at their vineyard. Sheused to work for Vina Carmen. She took me around to show me their Chardonnay,Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, etc. Then we stopped our car on the sideof a triangular plot, and she explained “this is our new plot of Merlot” andasked me what I thought about it. I stepped out of the car, and at first look the vines didn’t look like Merlot: the young leaves at the shoot tips were veryorange, the shape of the leaves wasn’t like Merlot’s, etc. But saying that thisisn’t Merlot is the easy part! Finding out what it actually is, is a bittrickier. So I wandered around for a minute or so. It was flowering time, so I looked at the flowers and there it was! The stamens of Carmenere’s flowers area bit twisted, while other varieties’ are very straight. So it suddenly clicked, and I said “this is Carmenere!” But it actually was the first time Isaw Carmenere in a vineyard. I only saw it in the Vassal collection.’
Marselan in China
As a grapes expert, I thought Pr.Boursiquot might be the right person to ask about Marselan, an obscure grapevariety which, I think, is responsible for making some of the best red wines inChina. Pr. Boursiquot explains that Marselan was created in 1961 by the INRA(National Institute of Agronomical Researches), in Montpellier, and it is theresult of a crossing between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. The objective ofthis experiment was to increase Grenache’s resistance to botrytis and toenhance its colour.
According to Pr. Boursiquot, the reason whyMarselan is able to make pretty decent wines in China could be due to the small size of its berries (smaller than those of Cabernet Sauvignon), meaning thatthe skin-to-juice ratio is very high, giving wines with intense dark colour. Moreover, despite being a crossing between two late-ripening varieties,“Marselan ripens a few days earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon”, which can bequite useful in regions where temperatures tend to drop suddenly, and produces wines with “very supple, soft tannins”.
In France, Marselan started to develop inthe second half of the 1990’s thanks to the Chamber of Agriculture of the Aude Department in Languedoc. There are now 4,588 hectares in the country, but it ismainly used as an accessory variety, as part of blends, as it tends to produceover-concentrated wines when made on its own.
After my meeting with Jean-MichelBoursiquot, I felt both privileged and frustrated. Privileged to have met inperson the legendary character I use to mention during my wine classes;frustrated to learn that he only came to China once, and that that was back inthe 1980's.
Gongs and drums are beaten each time arenowned winemaker comes to visit China, and some companies are willing tospend millions to have the "seal of quality" of a famous consultant stamped on their bottle. However, as wine professionals, we all know where thequality originates from: the grapes. The number of quality-minded producers inChina is growing rapidly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more grapes andvineyard establishment / management specialists such as Professor Boursiquot toset foot upon our yellow earth very soon. I think we need them, maybe more than prestigious winemaking consultants.
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