In 1892, a cantonese man named zhang peng bought a desert hill from a smoker and planted the first seedlings。
Nobody thought it would work. The foreigners laugh at the fact that there is no wine wine in china, nor does the chinese understand it, so that they don't grow food and what kind of fruit? But zhang peng confirmed one thing: sooner or later the chinese will have their own wine。
More than a hundred and thirty years later, the pyrotechnic sea wind continues to blow through that slope. The desert mountains turned into asia's largest vineyard, and the word zhang yu has long been transformed from a person's name into a chronicle of modern chinese wine。
Today we don't talk about branding, marketing, talking about the fruit itself — what is it like
One, it's an "immigrant grape" and knows chinese water better than anyone. Land
Zhang yu introduced the first grape species from europe across the sea. Snake dragonballs, chai ha joo, pim joo and commander ray ... These names sound good, but after reaching the smokers, they went through a complete “localization”。
The plating is sea-dependent, the climate is humid, the temperature of day and night is moderate, and the soil contains mineral deposits from the sea. This wind and earth condition is not exactly the same as in bordeaux, france, or tuscany, italy. When european grape varieties took root here, they slowly developed their personality. - the fragrance is cleaner, the acid is brighter, the nuance is more subtle。
Especially snake dragonball。
It's almost forgotten in europe, but it found a real home on a smoker. The wine was made with a unique breath of green pepper, black gallons and cedar, and after the international wine critic said, "it's chinese."。
An immigrant grape, who lived for 100 years as an advocate for china. It's very moving in itself。
Zhang yuu's bitterness is the suffering of the chinese themselves
Many do not know that zhang yu's development history is almost a microcosm of china's near modern history。
Zhang pixie's factory was built soon after qing dynasty died. Then the warlords, the japanese war, the liberation war. The wineworks were on the verge of closing on several occasions, the vineyards were destroyed by fighting and the brewers were displaced. But the strange thing is that after every disaster, someone always rearranges the vine。
After 1949, zhang yu resumed production. But then again in a special era, wines were labeled as “capitalist lifestyles”, and wine factories were almost transformed into food processing plants. It was the old brewers who secretly kept a few mother-to-child vines to keep the snake pearls alive。
After the reform and opening up, zhang yu re-introduced equipment and sent brewers to france and italy to study. But those who came back found that the most knowledgeable were the old farmers who spent their whole lives in the vineyards. They don't use instruments to measure sugar, they squeeze a grape, they chew it in their mouths, and they know if they should pick it。
This collision between earth and ocean technology has resulted in a unique smell - – international standards of cleanness and structure, as well as the thickness and temperature of chinese land。
Iii. A grape's “high sense”, not price, in time
There's a lot of expensive wine on the market now, and a bottle is worth thousands. But what i respect most about zhang yuu grapes is not how expensive it is, but how willing it is to wait。
Ordinary grapes go down, and in the third year, they'll work. But some of zhang yu's core plots, vines, are not used to make high-end wine until more than 10 years. Ten years have passed since the beginning of the vine's life cycle. The roots are deep enough to absorb enough minerals to produce a complex, hierarchical taste。
The brewer told me that good wines are not made, they are made. You put an extra year in an oak bucket, you add an extra fragrance to the wine, and you add two more years to the bottle, and one more piece of softness to the gin. Time is the most expensive and the most honest brewer。
So when you get a glass of cucumber high-end wine, you get more than grape juice, you get smoked seawinds, 130 years of persistence, generations of waiting。
Iv. Zhang yuglu taught chinese agriculture
Finally, to be honest。
The greatest contribution of zhang yuu grapes is probably not so much wine, but it proves one thing: chinese agriculture can be high-end, branded and cultural。
Prior to zhang yu, most of china's agricultural produce was in the “sold” phase. Apple is apple, cabbage is cabbage, no name, no story, no premium. But zhang zhou turned a grape into a symbol — it lets the world know that china can make the wine that it can take。
More importantly, it has led to the enrichment of farmers throughout the tobacco-producing areas. Earnings of grapes are several times higher than those of food crops, and drinking plants and farmers have long-term contracts and are protected by drought and flooding. A fruit that feeds one party has changed the fate of one party。
At the end
The story of zhang yuu grapes says it's a story of faith。
Zhang peng believes that the chinese can make good wine, that the old brewer believes that the snake is not extinct, and that a new generation of brewers believes that pyrotechnics can lead the world. Every time i believe, it gives the fruit an extra annual wheel。
So next time you get a glass of cucumber, don't rush. The smell of sea wind, the smell of time, and the smell of life that a people slowly learns to live。
How far can a grape go
Zhang zhou responded in 130 years: from the smoke pedestal to the world; from the land to the heart。
