Oregon Master Wine
There is a saying that when people think of Oregon, they think of the three “Ps” - Portland, Precipitation and Pinot. Yes, there is rain; yes, Portland is a the largest city in the state, and yes the Willamette Valley, south of Portland, is known for Pinot Noir. But Oregon, specifically Southern Oregon, also excels at under-the-radar grape varieties and has an advantage that no other wine region could ever possess – a climate scientist who knows the best possible sites to plant the right varieties on the right soil under the right conditions.
有这样一句话：“当人们一想到美国的俄勒冈，就会想到3个P——Portland（波特兰）、Precipitation（雨水）和Pinot（黑品乐）。”是的，俄勒冈雨水很多，波特兰是俄勒冈州最大的城市，波特兰市南边的威拉米特河谷（Willamette Valley）是黑品乐的著名产区。但是，俄勒冈州特别是南俄勒冈出产的一些不知名的葡萄酒也很出色。而且俄勒冈州有一个其它产区无可比拟的优势，那就是它拥有一位深谙风土的气候学家，他知道在最适宜的气候条件下、最好地块的最好土壤上种植最适合的葡萄品种。
As wine lovers we tend to be attracted to wine from places we have traveled to; the experience of being in that specific place lends itself to the understanding of the wines via the soil, the climate, people, the food, everything, be that Bordeaux, Napa, or Alsace. This is why it is essential to visit wine regions, not merely buy a bottle of wine off a shelf and think you understand the region simply because you has a wine with dinner. Oregon is best known for the Willamette Valley whose American Viticultural Area (AVA) was formed in 1984 and its focus on Pinot Noir. In fact the vast majority of grape acreage in the entire state is Pinot with nearly 5,100 hectares planted across 17 AVAs. Surprising to many is that Chardonnay, usually a planted cousin to Pinot Noir, is not the number two grape, it is Pinot Gris with 1,050 hectares planted. However the southern portion of the state, with regions like Umpqua Valley, Red Hills, and Rogue Valley, also produces wine of greater diversity, and the rural region is quietly going about its business while Willamette Valley gets all the attention - though things are beginning to change.
作为一名葡萄酒爱好者，我们总会对自己所到过的地方所产的葡萄酒感兴趣。亲自到一个地方，有助于通过当地的土壤、气候、人们、食物和所有的一切来了解当地的葡萄酒，无论是波尔多、纳帕、还是阿尔萨斯，是同样的道理。这就是为什么很有必要亲自走访葡萄酒产区，而不是仅仅在货柜上购买一瓶葡萄酒，就想当然地认为你在吃饭时喝了一瓶葡萄酒就了解了一个产区。俄勒冈州以威拉米特河谷产区最为知名，这个产区于1984年成为美国AVA（美国葡萄种植区域）成员之一，并主要生产黑品乐葡萄酒。事实上，俄勒冈州绝大部分面积的土地上种植的是黑品乐，总面积达5100公顷，分布在17个不同的AVA葡萄种植区域。令很多人感到惊讶的是，霞多丽这一个在种植上来说通常是黑品乐的“堂兄弟”，在俄勒冈州并不是种植面积第二广的葡萄，而是灰品乐。灰品乐在俄勒冈州的种植面积有1050公顷。然而，在威拉米特河谷得到了全世界关注之时，俄勒冈州南部地区，比如昂普奎谷（Umpqua Valley）、红山（Red Hills）和罗格谷（Rogue Valley）等地也出产多样化的葡萄酒，农村地区也在俏无声息地发展着葡萄酒酿造，虽然这些情况现在也在开始发生变化。
Pinot Noir is clearly the dominant wine in Oregon but demographics, tastes and attitudes about Pinot and its price points are changing. “Pinot Noir is too expensive and Chardonnay is what my mom drinks,” says Rob Folin of Folin Cellars in the Rogue Valley, 400 kilometers south from Portland. So he, and others like him, are looking beyond the conventional wines of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay in order to make their voice heard. GSM blends (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre), and Spanish and Iberian varieties are what this southern half of the state is finding best expresses their landscape. But Oregon also faces unexpected weather variations and those significant fluctuations means that wines cannot be replicated year to year – a selling point for some, and a drawback for others. “Let the wine be the wine and the vintage be the vintage,” Marcus Goodfellow of Matello Wines says. “We get held hostage by vintage variation; how will the wines put on weight and flesh out?” And for avid wine lovers his point is well taken; wine is not about annual consistency but about the subtle and nuanced variations in the fruit from year to year which makes wine a living, tangible, moving target. And given that Willamette Valley Pinot Noir has reached massive heights, with that success comes the demand for many consumers to purchase the same wine, year in and year out. But Southern Oregon does not abide by these rules. “Winemakers need to be more artisanal and less technical,” says Daniel Rinke who heads up Johan Vineyards. This sentiment is expressed in probably what is the best white grape in Southern Oregon - Viognier where its crisp acidity and less perfume characteristics make it a “loud mouth wine” as Rinke says, a sort of brash child who demands attention. Many wineries are succeeding with what should arguably be this white wine calling card for Southern Oregon including Kriselle Cellars, Illahe Winery, and Spangler Vineyards. Even consumer driven Chardonnay’s receive typically much less oak treatment and malolactic fermentations from Oregon winemakers. “I think the time is right for Oregon Chardonnay to really show itself; our Chardonnay is much less bombastic than California,” says Goodfellow. There is a lean quality to many of the wines in Southern Oregon, less manipulated and more true to their regional characteristics. That is one of the reasons that Oregon is seeing a major push to plant new vineyards including a recent acquisition by Jackson Family Wines (Kendall-Jackson) of 530 hectares. Of course land is less expensive in Southern Oregon compared to Napa and Sonoma, at least for now.
很明显，黑品乐是俄勒冈州的主导品种。但据统计，人们对黑品乐的态度、品味和价格点正在发生变化。“黑品乐太贵，我母亲喝的是霞多丽。”来自波特兰400公里以外的红山谷的福林酒庄（Folin Cellars）罗伯特·福林（Rob Folin)说。所以，为了能让人们听到自己的意见和声音，福林和其他像他一样的消费者正在寻找传统黑品乐、灰品乐和霞多丽之外外的葡萄酒。GSM调配品种（歌海娜Grenache、西拉Syrah和慕合怀特Mourvedre）、西班牙和利比利亚葡萄品种正是俄勒冈州南部在极力想表达当地风土的品种。然而俄勒冈州同样面临着气候变化的问题，这些至关重要的气候变化意味着这里的葡萄酒每一年都不一样。这对某些酒商来说是一个卖点，但对其他人来说则是一种弊端。“让葡萄酒保持它原有的本色，让年份也保持它原有的风貌，”Matello Wines酒庄的马库斯·古德费洛（Marcus Goodfellow）说，“如果我们受制于不同年份的不同天气，但我们又无法真正控制天气，我们的葡萄酒品质又将如何提高？”一些狂热的葡萄酒爱好者很认同这一观点，葡萄酒不是年年都要保持一致性才好，而是那些年年都在发生着的微妙细致的天气变化让葡萄也在变化，这些变化使得葡萄酒成为一种有生命力的、看得见的、流动的物体。假设威拉米特河谷的黑品乐葡萄酒已经达到了成功的最高点，这一成功的直接结果是使得人们日复一日年复一年地想购买同样的葡萄酒。但南俄勒冈州不在这种情况范围内。“南俄勒冈州的酿酒师需要更多地从种植经验上学习，而不是关注技术。”Johan Vineyards酒庄的管理人丹尼尔·里科（Daniel Rinke）说。这句话的意思，从南俄勒冈州的维欧尼（Viognier）上体现得很清楚。南俄勒冈州的维欧尼可能是该产区最好的、“最炫耀”的白葡萄酒，有爽脆的酸度、清淡的香气，用里克的话来说，就好像是一个要得到全部关注的傲慢小孩。许多酒庄在酿造这一种南俄勒冈州标志性的白葡萄酒上都取得了成功，像Kriselle Cellars、Illahe Winery和 Spangler Vineyards。就算是消费者喜欢的霞多丽，在南俄勒冈州也被酿造成典型的少橡木影响和不进行苹果酸乳酸发酵的清新酒。“我觉得现在是俄勒冈霞多丽展示自我的时候，我们这里的霞多丽没有纳帕谷的霞多丽那样丰满高调。” 古德费洛说。南俄勒冈所产的葡萄酒中许多都具有一种清瘦、少人工干扰及较多真实地反映地区特征。这是为什么在俄勒冈州促进种植新葡萄园的原因之一，包括最近Jackson Family Wines (Kendall-Jackson)在俄勒州收购的530公顷的土地项目。当然，南俄勒州的土地价格比加州的纳帕谷和索诺玛更低，至少现在来说是这样。
The largest single winery in all of Oregon is King Estate, a mammoth project covering 190 hectares planted predominately to Pinot Gris, their signature wine, with a much lesser part planted to Pinot Noir. They also have six hectares of orchards, gardens and bee-keeping which provides food for their lunch and dinner restaurant, as well as the ability to donate food to local schools. There’s also on-site bakery and charcuterie. It's a pretty impressive operation even if you don't get the chance to see it all. But it is Pinot Gris that is their calling card. Their standard offering is uniformly excellent. I had the chance to taste eight-year-old, and 13-year-old Pinot Gris both of which still showed extremely well - structured with engaging acids and citrus, caramel and melon flavors. They age their Pinot Gris sur lee utilizing clones 146 and 152 which originate from Alsace. There are a few quirky wines as well in Southern Oregon; Illehe makes a wine called “1899,” which is produced completely without electricity: no powered motors or presses and is hand racked by candlelight. It's an interesting Pinot Noir in part because it is well made with its rich, creamy raspberry and aggressive tannins as much for the peculiar way it is made.
在整个俄勒州，最大的单个酒庄是King Estate，这个巨大的酒庄占地190公顷，主要种植灰品乐，这是酒庄的招牌酒。而黑品乐的种植较少。酒庄还有6公顷的土地用来种植果树、花园和养蜂，以提供食物给酒庄内一家餐厅，同时也使酒庄能捐赠食物给当地的学校。酒庄内也有现场烘培的面色和熟食供应，就算没有机会到酒庄，这也是一个相当让人印象深刻的酒庄。但是，所有这些只有灰品乐才是酒庄的名片。酒庄酿造的标准的灰品乐质量都很优秀。我曾经有机会品尝到酒庄一款已经有8年和13年的灰品乐，两款酒都仍然展示出异常漂亮的结构、迷人的酸度和柑橘、焦糖及甜瓜的风味。酒庄的灰品乐在酒泥里陈酿，这些灰品乐品种是来自法国阿尔萨斯的第146号和152号克隆品种。在南俄勒州也有一些奇特的酒，Illehe酒庄（Illehe Winery）就酿造了一款名为1899的葡萄酒，这款酒酿造过程中没有用到任何使用电的设备，没有电驱动的任何设备榨汁机，所有东西都是借着烛光人工操作。在某种程度上，这是一款有趣的黑品乐，正如这款酒酿造的过程一样特别，有丰富的奶油和覆盆子风味，以及直接强劲的单宁。
Some of the best offerings come from Abacela and Spangler located in the Umpqua Valley. “If you're driving I-5 (the main highway running through the state) and you don't stop at exit 119 you're making a mistake,” says Pat Spangler. Of course he'd say something like that except that he's correct. Both of these wineries are exemplary of what the mid-Oregon region can do. Pat was a beer drinker until a trip to Napa in 1989 caused him to switch to wine. He owns no vineyards and focuses on direct-to-consumer sales, all the more reason to visit first hand. His Viognier is a spot on example of what the grape can be; clean and viscous with minerality and subdued floral notes. His portfolio includes Grenache and Cabernet Franc.
南俄勒冈州最好的葡萄酒来自昂普奎谷（Umpqua Valley）的Abacela 和 Spangler酒庄。“如果开车走I-5这一贯穿整个俄勒冈州的主要高速公路，要在119出口下高速要不然就走错路了。”帕特·斯潘格勒（Pat Spangler）说。当然，他会这么说，不过他是对的。这两家酒庄都是中部俄勒冈州酒庄的典范。帕特曾经是一名啤酒爱好者，在1989年去了加州纳帕谷之后，他转向了葡萄酒。他自己没有葡萄园，主要做直销葡萄酒，这让他有更多的理由直接去到葡萄园和酒庄。他的维欧尼葡萄酒是葡萄成功的完美例子，干净、带有矿物和微细的花香。他的葡萄酒系列还包括有歌海娜和品丽珠。
By contrast Earl Jones of Abacela Winery is distributed in 26 states in the U.S. and he uses all estate fruit because he doesn’t want to “buy other people's mistakes.” Jones is that type of man who does his due diligence before making wine and his climate research showed him that his site was uncannily similar to the Rieba del Douro where Tempranillo is king. So Jones carefully planted specific sites. “We're farming at the climactic edge of grape growing,” he says, due to the unpredictable weather patterns which plague Southern Oregon. Jones may seem like he is pushing the envelope but he is practical as well. His property boarders a wildlife sanctuary and Abacela has a program called “zoo doo” whereby elephant dung is used as fertilizer for the vineyard. He is making terrific Tempranillo, a stunningly good Albarino (so close to those in Spain it will shock you), Malbec and a Tawney Port than will make you swoon. “The old Europeans were so focused on terroir that they neglected the fact that climate in the single dominate factor in making wine,” says Jones.
与之相反的是Abacela酒庄（Abacela Winery）的厄尔·琼斯（Earl Jones），他在美国的26个州都拥有酒庄，而且只使用自己庄园种植的葡萄酿酒，因为他不想“购买别人的错误”。 琼斯是那种典型的会在决定在一块地方酿酒前做尽职调查的人。他做的气候研究调查告诉他，他在南俄勒冈州的这一块土地的风土与西班牙的斗罗河谷惊人地相似，在斗罗河谷丹魄是王牌。所以琼斯小心地在特定的位置上种植。“我们在可以种植葡萄的边缘气候上种植葡萄。”琼斯说，因为南俄勒冈州的气候变化莫测。琼斯可能让人觉得他在挑战极限，但他同时也是一个实在的人。他的庄园毗邻一个野生动物保护区，酒庄有一个叫做“Zoo doo”的项目，这个项目的葡萄园的肥料使用的是大象的粪便。琼斯酿造非常棒的丹魄和质量超好的阿尔巴利诺（Albarino），这酒与西班牙的阿尔巴利诺的惊人相似会让你惊讶。他酿造的马尔贝克和茶色波特酒会让你着迷。琼斯说：“古老的欧洲人是如此重视风土，以致于他们忽视了一个事实，就是气候是一个很大的酿酒主宰因素。”
And regardless of your beliefs, climate change is affecting the wine industry globally. Farming is about weather and weather is all about inconsistency. Dr. Greg V. Jones, listed as one of Decanter Magazine’s “50 Most Influential People in the World of Wine,” is Professor of Environmental Studies at Southern Oregon University and the most widely known climate scientist working with the wine industry. Dr. Jones has created climate models for wine regions across the globe including China, and he spent 10 months in Portugal’s Douro, among other regions. “China has exploded on the wine scene as both a consumer and producer and will likely become an increasingly important player in wine production globally,” Dr. Jones says, based on his research there.
And what he is doing for these regions he has been doing for a long time for Southern Oregon. Jones helps vineyard owners understand their sites’ potential and risks. “Assessing a new property you might view it only a year or two and can’t feasibly understand where frost pockets or heat accumulation develop, or where wind or water logging issues might appear,” he says. Through climate modeling Dr. Jones can reasonably predict growing seasons. “We establish a suite of information about what varieties should be grown, the potential outcomes of sugar ripeness, acid levels, pH, berry sizes, and yields, thereby creating a phenology calendar.” His climate-based research extensively in Oregon’s Umpqua and Rogue valleys, working closely with many vineyard properties, has been instrumental in seeing Southern Oregon develop its best grape varieties. And it is this focus on planting the most precise grapes best suited to the area that is helping to establish Southern Oregon as a viable region, making Oregon wine on the whole more diverse. While I visited the area I tasted through a decade-old Riesling from Chehalem Winery, and a 16 year-old Chardonnay, both of which showed extremely well, given this young area. I also sampled through Pinot Noirs from Bethel Heights from 1989, 1994 and 2003, proving the staying power of the wines of Southern Oregon. This young region is showing that traditional wines need not come from traditional places.
不管你相信与否，气候变化正在影响着全球的葡萄酒业。葡萄种植与气候有关，而气候又是多变的。格雷格·琼斯博士（Dr. Greg V. Jones）是《品醇客》（Decanter）杂志评选的全球葡萄酒业最具影响力的50位人物之一，也是南俄勒冈州的环境学教授，是葡萄酒业最著名的气候学家。琼斯教授在全球建立了气候模型区，包括中国在内。他在全球许多地方包括葡萄牙的杜罗河谷住上10个月时间来了解当地的风土气候特征。“中国的葡萄酒行业在爆发性发展，中国是葡萄酒的消费大国、生产大国，也会是全球葡萄酒酿造上一个越来越重要的角色。”琼斯教授在中国调查了之后说。琼斯教授为这些地区所做的研究和试验在南俄勒冈州已经实行了很长时间，他帮助葡萄酒庄园主了解自己的土地存在的潜力和风险。“在评估一个新的庄园时，你可能只用一两年时间去了解和评估它，但在这么短时间内要真正地了解土地的各种情况比如霜冻、储热，或者风和水从哪里来等是不够的。”琼斯教授说。通过气候模型试验，可以合理地对生长季节做出预测。“我们建立一整套的信息，包括应该种植什么葡萄品种、葡萄成熟的潜在糖分含量、酸度、pH值、葡萄果粒的大小、产量等，来建立一个生物气候学日历。”琼斯教授的这个建立在气候基础上的研究已经在南俄勒冈州的红山和乌姆普夸谷广泛应用，他与这一带的酒庄紧密合作，这对酒庄有很大的帮助，让南俄勒冈州发展出了当地最好的葡萄品种。正是专注种植最适合当地的最恰当的葡萄品种，俄勒冈州成为一个生机勃勃的葡萄酒产区，葡萄酒整体上非常多样化。我探访这一产区时，品尝了一款来自Chehalem酒庄（Chehalem Winery）的10年的雷司令葡萄酒和另一款来自Bethel Heights酒庄的16年的霞多丽，就俄勒冈州这一个年轻的产区来说，两款酒都表现惊人地优秀。我也品尝了三款Bethel Heights酒庄的黑品乐，分别是1989、1994和2003年份，这些酒是南俄勒冈葡萄酒的窖藏能力的有力证明。俄勒冈州这个年轻的葡萄酒产区正在向人们展示，传统的葡萄酒不需要来自传统的酿酒产地。
Southern Oregon Wines to Look For
Spangler Vineyards: Viognier
King Estate: Pinot Gris
Illahe Vineyards: Pinot Noir
Abacela Winery: Malbec
Red Lillie Vineyards: Rose (Tempranillo/Grenache)
南俄勒冈州一些值得探寻的酒庄和葡萄酒：
Spangler Vineyards: 维欧尼
King Estate: 灰品乐
Illahe Vineyards: 黑品乐
Abacela Winery: 马尔贝克
Red Lillie Vineyards: 用丹魄和歌海娜酿造的桃红葡萄酒
to; �n -pu� x� x; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Abacela Winery: Malbec
Red Lillie Vineyards: Rose (Tempranillo/Grenache)
南俄勒冈州一些值得探寻的酒庄和葡萄酒：
Spangler Vineyards: 维欧尼
King Estate: 灰品乐
Illahe Vineyards: 黑品乐
Abacela Winery: 马尔贝克
Red Lillie Vineyards: 用丹魄和歌海娜酿造的桃红葡萄酒