By Jim Boyce
宁夏的一家新酒庄开发了一个惊心动魄的项目，但吉姆·博伊斯指出，这同时是一场“赌博”。
一个蛋形的综合体的叫做西鸽的酒庄已经从中国中北部宁夏尘土飞扬的田野中崛起。在过去的两年中, 那些风吹草动的平原上的居民目睹了鼓舞人心的蓝图变成了一个实实在在的石墙里的酒庄。现在它的第一批葡萄酒在准备快要上市了。
西鸽不仅仅是一个有着美丽外衣的酒庄，它也是有实力可能变成中国奔富的酒庄，一个能受人尊敬的大产量的国家品牌，能够生产从美味的入门酒款到最精品的葡萄酒的酒庄。希望在西鸽发展的推动下，整个宁夏的酒产业进一步发展。
该项目显露了宁夏和整个中国葡萄酒产业在面临的挑战。在不到十年的时间里, 宁夏从默默无闻变成了一个有抱负的大师葡萄酒产区，从世界领先传统的葡萄酒大赛中获得了一千多个奖牌和荣誉。但是这一关键的成就并没有充分反映在销售中，而是对政府和产业都带来了不少的压力。
平心而论, 这并不都是宁夏的错。早在该地区加入葡萄酒舞台之前，更大的生产商就通过利用消费者的无知和强调营销而不关注品质， 为信誉危机奠定了基础。当国产酒品质最终开始提升时，许多已经更懂得葡萄酒的消费者已经更想喝进口葡萄酒。
西鸽酒庄肯定有自己的很大的优势。它目前控制着宁夏最大、最古老的葡萄园，总共有在上世纪90年代种的1000多公顷以赤霞珠为主的老藤园，还有新种植的300公顷葡萄园，其中种了马尔贝克和马瑟兰品种。
酒庄拥有非常现代化及最领先的酿酒设备，包含着从德国进口的压榨机、一个来自于新西兰移动温控系统叫做VinWizard和2017年份仅利用的1000多个橡木桶。
除此之外，还有国内和国际专家组成的团队。
这里最关键的人就是庄主张言志，他作为波尔多毕业的法国国家酿酒师以及北京酒易酩庄一家在运营几个主打进口葡萄酒品牌的进口公司的董事长。酒易酩庄这个分销网络很可能是西鸽成功的关键因素, 因为事实证明, 找到一条通往市场的道路对其他人来说是很困难的。
张的团队包括首席酿酒师廖祖宋，他曾在中国最佳运营机构Grace Vineyard工作，曾在澳大利亚的Bass Philip和Mollydooker任职。 此外，顾问还有Bruno Vuitennez和Valerie Lavigne，而Christelle Chene也加入了出口销售总监。
这听起来像所有的鸭子，呃，鸽子都是连续的，因为第一批葡萄酒将会推出。 最初的三层浪潮包括入门级N28。 它也被称为贺兰红，以宁夏的山脉命名，是政府支持的产区化大单品。哦，对了，不得不提的是，西鸽酒庄的特色民宿和葡萄院主题餐厅将在几周内可以面对客户试营业，客人们未来可以在这里轻松地喝酒，然后再惬意地打个盹。
没有野心的西鸽什么也不是，但是有野心的西鸽也面临着风险。如果这种融合了高端设备，葡萄园和顾问，以及强大的政府，财务和经销商支持，不符合预期呢？ 然后怎样呢？ 如果西鸽取得成功，那么它的优异规模会给其他的葡萄酒庄带来什么？这一切使得西鸽酒庄的今天有点赌博的意味，然而不得不说的是，西鸽这样的出现也给宁夏产业甚至中国酒业带来更多的思考角度。
在任何情况下，车轮都在持续地滚动。 西鸽的产品于3月在成都举行的春季糖酒会上完成首秀，同时西鸽酒庄的建设也正式完成，已准备好迎接客人的舞台，近期已完成了多次大规模高规格的接待。
有趣的是，西鸽位于著名的贺兰山东麓脚下，相较于银色高地、贺兰晴雪，西鸽酒庄位于更远的南方，该区域风力更强，冬季更加严酷。
这里的葡萄藤有着独特的历史，特立独行。 如果他们可以说话，他们可能会说曾经与保乐力加的合资企业。 或者，最近，为宁夏酿酒师挑战赛提供葡萄，来自17个国家的48名参赛者参加了10万美元的葡萄酒酿造比赛。
或者过去根深蒂固的故事。1997，福建与宁夏的扶贫关系的初始，今天，象征着两省友好关系的闽宁镇已日渐繁华。而那一年，西鸽的第一批葡萄开始种植。 那些相信命运的人可能会认为这是决定项目成功的另一个奇妙的因素。
来源：wine-searcher
China's Wine Egg Hatches
? Xige Winery | The latest addition to Ningxia's wine scene is impressively large.
A new winery development in Ningxia is impressive, but Jim Boyce points out that it's a gamble.
Posted Sunday, 28-Apr-2019
An egg-shaped complex called Xige in Chinese, and known informally as Pigeon Hill in English, has risen from the dusty fields of Ningxia in north-central China. Residents of those windswept plains have witnessed inspiring blueprints transform into a sprawling winery nestled within a curved stone wall during the past two years. And now the first wines are set for release.
But Xige (She Guh) is more than just another fancy winery. The Ningxia region's government hopes it might be a kind of Penfolds, a respected high-volume national brand that makes everything from palatable entry-level wine to the finest reserve cuvées. And, by doing so, that it can help the rest of the wine industry, because birds of a feather flock together, right?
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Fine China: Wine from the Middle Kingdom
Ningxia Aims to Become China's Napa Valley
China's Changing Taste in Wine
The project exposes a challenge faced by Ningxia and the China wine sector at large. In less than a decade, Ningxia went from virtual unknown to aspiring virtuoso, winning more than thousand medals and kudos from the world's leading gatekeepers. But that critical success was not fully reflected in sales and meant pressure for both the government and industry.
To be fair, this isn’t all Ningxia's fault. Long before the region joined the wine scene, bigger producers set the stage for a credibility crisis by leveraging consumer ignorance and stressing marketing over quality. When quality finally did start to rise, many consumers, who then knew a thing or two about wine, were turning up their noses at local brands in favor of imported ones. The chickens had come home to roost.
Can a 25,000-square-meter winery help scare them off?
To be sure, Xige has plenty of bells and whistles. It controls the biggest and oldest swath of vineyards in Ningxia, with some 1000 hectares, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, dating to the 1990s. There are also 300 hectares of newer plantings, including of Malbec and Marselan.
Those grapes go to a modern facility with 10 million liters of capacity and loads of top-notch equipment, from a German press to a VinWizard tank control system from New Zealand, to the thousand barrels used for the 2017 vintage alone.
On top of this is a team of local and international experts.
The key here is owner Zhang Yanzhi, who poses a double threat as both Bordeaux-trained winemaker and head of importer and distributer Easy Cellar, which already handles major brands. This distribution network might well be the X-factor for Xige, given that finding a route to market has proven tough for others. Zhang also has financial support: according to local media, Xige initially had funding of $40m, raised with support from Ningxia's Wine Trading Expo Center.
Zhang's team includes chief winemaker Liao Zusong, who worked at Grace Vineyard, one of China's best operations, with stints at Bass Philip and Mollydooker in Australia. Also on board as consultants are Bruno Vuitennez and Valerie Lavigne, while Christelle Chene has joined as export sales director.
It sounds like all the ducks, er, pigeons are in a row as the first wines are set to roll. The initial three-tier wave includes entry-level N28. It's also called Helan Hong, named after Ningxia's mountain range, and is one of the wines endorsed by government to represent the region. (If you attend official functions, you might down a few glasses.) Given the Penfolds analogy, N28 is not exactly Rawson's Retreat as it will retail at $24, but I'm told less expensive options will be coming.
One level up is N50 Old Vines, made with fruit from those 20 year-plus vineyards. And next is the Jade Dove series, including single-vineyard Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Gernischt.
The top tier, Xige Reserve, is still maturing in barrel.
Most of the wine should be siphoned into Easy Cellar's network, with some going to corporate and hoped-for export clients.
Oh, and Xige's hotel should be ready in a few weeks, making it easy for guests to guzzle wine and then nap it off.
Xige is nothing if not ambitious, but that also brings risk. What if this blend of high-end equipment, vineyards and consultants, with strong government, financial and distributor support, doesn't meet expectations? What then? And what if the wines are a success but Xige's superior scale undercuts smaller wineries rather than boosts them?
All this makes Xige somewhat a gamble. Then again, much of Ningxia's wine development could be seen in that light.
In any case, the wheels are in motion. Xige samples were presented at the huge annual wine show Tang Jiu Hui in Chengdu in March. Xige was also part of a multi-city tour, led by Jeannie Cho Lee and Ma Huiqin, to promote Ningxia wine. And the winery has hosted a steady flow of visitors, including a slew of officials, as it prepares to take center stage.
Interestingly, Xige is not in the shadows of the famed Helan Mountains, home of the region's best-known wineries, such as Silver Heights, Legacy Peak, Helan Qing Xue, Kanaan and Chandon. Instead it sits further south, past the tail end of that range, where the wind is stronger and winter harsher.
The vines here have a unique history, a maverick one. If they could talk, they might tell of once being part of a joint venture with Pernod Ricard. Or, more recently, of providing grapes for Ningxia Winemakers Challenge, in which 48 contestants from 17 nations competed in a $100,000 winemaking contest.
Or of a story rooted much deeper in the past. In 1997, China's President Xi Jinping visited Ningxia as a Fujian province official on a poverty reduction mission. One result was to shift people from the harsher areas of Ningxia to those not far from Xi Ge. And one sector that has since arisen in those parts is wine. In fact, Xi Ge's first vines were planted the same year as Xi Jinping visited. Those who believe in fate might see this as another X-factor that will decide the project's success.
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