麥克斯韋酒莊：麥克斯韋家族釀造的好酒

文|Tersina Shieh 編、譯|張?zhí)裎?/p>

早在2017年，我就計(jì)劃好來(lái)一次葡萄采收的間隔年。同年1月，我在個(gè)人網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布了一篇文章申請(qǐng)采收工作。麥克斯韋酒莊的麥克第一個(gè)回復(fù)了我，這是一家地處麥克拉倫谷的酒莊。2018年3月中旬，我來(lái)到酒莊開(kāi)始為期一個(gè)月的工作。上一次來(lái)麥克拉倫谷已經(jīng)是很久以前，當(dāng)時(shí)只在這里吃了一頓午餐。那時(shí)候我作為一名游客來(lái)澳大利亞旅行，并借機(jī)好好地了解這個(gè)距離阿德萊德只有1個(gè)小時(shí)車(chē)程的產(chǎn)區(qū)。

和大多數(shù)葡萄酒產(chǎn)區(qū)一樣，2017/2018是值得期待的年份。許多地方的采收期都比以往提前了，即使有一些地方開(kāi)始采收的時(shí)間比往年晚，但由于大多數(shù)葡萄在短期內(nèi)熟成，采摘工作依然提早完成。這樣的現(xiàn)象也發(fā)生在麥克拉倫谷。麥克告訴我，采收期通常在3月中旬開(kāi)始，但是今年卻提早了兩周。在我加入酒莊團(tuán)隊(duì)時(shí)，白葡萄（霞多麗和維爾德羅）已經(jīng)采收完畢，所以我主要負(fù)責(zé)紅葡萄品種，如設(shè)拉子、赤霞珠、歌海娜和穆?tīng)栱f德。我的其中一項(xiàng)任務(wù)是監(jiān)督發(fā)酵過(guò)程，包括噴淋葡萄皮—這項(xiàng)工作的好處就是讓我找回了自己的肌肉。

盡管產(chǎn)區(qū)受到海風(fēng)的影響，但是麥克拉倫谷的氣候還是比較溫暖，普遍種植著紅葡萄品種。麥克斯韋酒莊的葡萄園里有設(shè)拉子、歌海娜和赤霞珠，也有一小部分維爾德羅種植在貧瘠的土壤上。幸運(yùn)的是，酒莊可以從其他產(chǎn)區(qū)收葡萄。麥克斯韋酒莊的霞多麗就來(lái)自于隔壁阿德萊德山產(chǎn)區(qū)，酒莊還采集了來(lái)自袋鼠島的設(shè)拉子?！胞溈怂鬼f銀錘西拉干紅葡萄酒”口感豐富，是典型的來(lái)自麥克拉倫谷的葡萄酒，也是銷量最好的一款酒。旗艦酒“麥克斯韋彌諾陶洛斯西拉干紅葡萄酒”則口感馥郁。我特別喜歡冷涼氣候下產(chǎn)出的葡萄酒，包括阿德萊德山的霞多麗和袋鼠島的設(shè)拉子。桶中發(fā)酵的維爾德羅與亞洲香氣濃郁的香草搭配起來(lái)更是特別好。

澳大利亞的酒莊效率特別高，這也許是文化不同的原因，但我覺(jué)得更像是勞動(dòng)力問(wèn)題所導(dǎo)致的現(xiàn)象。麥克斯韋酒莊里，僅4個(gè)工作人員就可以處理約350噸葡萄，包括采收期間在酒窖工作的我。每個(gè)人都獨(dú)立工作，并常要完成多個(gè)任務(wù)。麥克自豪地解釋道：雖然葡萄的處理過(guò)程包括把葡萄倒入料斗中、除梗、壓榨，以及把果汁倒入壓榨器或發(fā)酵罐里這么多步驟，但整個(gè)流程只需要1位工作人員就能夠完成。

麥克在20年前就建立了麥克斯韋酒莊，如今家族的兩代人都在種植葡萄。日常工作里，他依然親力親為，并且是唯一一個(gè)負(fù)責(zé)上述葡萄流程的人，每一天麥克都會(huì)親自品嘗發(fā)酵中的果汁，并與首席釀酒師安得烈l杰里科密切合作，決定最后的混釀比例。

雖然麥克是一位成功的釀酒師，但他似乎更善于市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷，我想這就是他成功的秘密。他走訪不同的酒窖并在那里工作，熱情地與游客交流，吸引他們購(gòu)買(mǎi)葡萄酒。葡萄酒的質(zhì)量毋庸置疑，但是有了麥克的推銷，游客往往會(huì)變成客戶，麥克斯韋酒莊的售后服務(wù)同樣做得很好。

我在酒莊期間，麥克重塑了酒莊的徽標(biāo)，將Maxwell改成了Max-well，在視覺(jué)效果上就是從傳統(tǒng)變?yōu)榱爽F(xiàn)代風(fēng)格，這個(gè)名字也是個(gè)雙關(guān)語(yǔ)（麥克斯-做得很好、麥克斯-表現(xiàn)出色、麥克斯-很用心，等等）。去看看酒莊更新后的網(wǎng)站，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)其巧妙之處。在麥克看來(lái)，一個(gè)沒(méi)有悠久歷史與傳統(tǒng)的新公司需要定期更新形象，這樣才能吸引新的客戶—這正是一位營(yíng)銷人員的說(shuō)話方式！

實(shí)際上，麥克斯韋家族還是蜂蜜酒的先驅(qū)，這是一種用蜂蜜釀成的葡萄酒。麥克的父親著力研究這種古老的飲料，使用不同的蜂蜜和酵母菌進(jìn)行多次試驗(yàn)，最終在1961年發(fā)布了第一款澳大利亞蜂蜜酒。就像老話說(shuō)的：接下來(lái)發(fā)生的事情，大家都知道—麥克斯韋成為了澳大利亞蜂蜜酒最大的生產(chǎn)商，并成功激勵(lì)其他人的效仿。目前供應(yīng)的蜂蜜酒有4種：蜂蜜、起泡酒、香料酒，以及利口酒?？晒┲苯语嬘?、調(diào)制雞尾酒，或者用于烹飪。從最初的蜂蜜酒發(fā)展到如今多樣化的蜂蜜酒組合，這也是麥克具有市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷思維的另一個(gè)佐證。

I planned my harvest gap year back in 2017 and asked for vintage work in my January newsletter,http://www.tersinashieh.com/newsletter2017-01.html.Mark from Maxwell Wines in McLaren Vale was the first to reply so there I was,for a month from mid March 2018.I only stopped at McLaren Vale for lunch a long time ago when I was visiting Australia as a tourist so it was a nice opportunity to get acquainted with this region which is only one hour drive from Adelaide.

Like most wine regions,2017/2018 was an expected year.Most places started harvest earlier than usual,or even if they started later than usual,they still finished picking earlier as most grapes came in a shorter period of time.This happened in McLaren Vale as well.Mark told me that vintage usually starts around mid March but this year was a good two weeks earlier.By the time I joined the team,the whites(Chardonnay and Verdelho) have been picked so my work was mainly processing red grapes,mostly Shiraz but also Cabernet Sauvignon,Grenache and Mourvedre.One of my duties were looking after the ferment including plunging-down where the side benefit was building my ABD muscles :)

Although moderated by sea breeze,McLaren Vale is still relatively warm and red grape planting is the norm.Maxwell’s vineyard is planted with Shiraz,Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon but there is also a small amount of Verdelho on poor soil.Luckily wineries are free to source grapes from other regions.Maxwell’s Chardonnay grapes come from Adelaide Hills next door and he also experiments with Kangaroo Island Shiraz.Its Silver Hammer Shiraz is generous,typical from McLaren Vale and is the best seller.The flagship Minotaur Shiraz is intense and deep.I particularly like the cooler climate wines including the Adelaide Hills Chardonnay and Kangaroo Island Shiraz.The barrel-fermented Verdelho goes particularly well with Asian fragrant herbs.

Probably because of culture but more likely because of labour issue,Australian wineries are highly efficienct.Maxwell processes about 350 tons of grapes and there were only 4 people including me working in the cellar during vintage.Everyone worked individually,independently and often multi-tasked.Mark proudly explained that the grape receival flow including tipping grapes to the hopper,destemming,crushing and sending the juice either to the press or tank,was designed in such a way that only one person is needed to handle the entire process.The family has been growing grapes for two generations but it was Mark who built the present winery some 20 years ago.He is still pretty hands-on in daily operation.Apart from being that single person responsible for grape receival,he tastes the fermenting juice every day and works closely with head winemaker Andrew Jericho to create the final blends.

A competent winemaker though Mark is,he is more of a marketing man and I think this is his secret of success.He conducts cellar tour and works at cellar door,talking to visitors enthusiastically and charming them to buy the wine.The wine quality is there but Mark’s extra nudge often converts visitors to customers and Maxwell has a loyal following.While I was there,Mark was rebranding the logo from Maxwell to Max-well,a complete makeover from the more traditional visual to a contemporary one that plays on words (Max-well made,Max-well played,Max-well fed,and so on).Visit its revamped website,it’s clever.Mark reckoned a young company without the long history and heritage needs to freshen the image regularly to attract new consumers - a marketing man talking!

The Maxwell family was in fact the pioneer of mead,wine made from honey.Mark’s father studied this ancient beverage and after numerous experimentation with different honey and yeasts,he finally released the first Australian commercial mead in 1961.As the saying goes,the rest is history.Maxwell is the largest producer of mead in Australia and success inspired others to follow suit.Currently there are four meads on offer: Honey,Sparkling,Spiced and Liqueur.They can be enjoyed straight,in cocktail or cooking.The diversification of the mead portfolio from the original honey mead is yet another evidence of the marketing thinking of Mark.