Taking red wine seems to be a thing of the upper class. Some people say that a wine tasting circle is not necessarily a celebrity circle, but a celebrity circle must be a wine tasting circle. In Guangzhou, the trend of drinking wine was already flourishing in 1995, but at that time there were not many good wines on the market, and more importantly, not many people really knew how to taste wine. However, with the further development of red wine culture, there are more and more red wine tasters and collectors in Guangzhou, and a circle of players is quietly emerging. The reporter recently interviewed five of them, who are quite influential in the industry, and explored their wine tasting and collecting journeys. Let’s see how they savor the flavors of life while tasting red wine——

1. Red wine, the eternal temptation

“Drink 365 bottles of red wine in a year”

Feng Weidong is a famous photographer. Before he came into contact with red wine, he loved to drink whiskey, brandy and other foreign wines. Until nine years ago, his Macau friend Hu Ruke read about the health benefits of red wine from relevant books, so he brought him a bottle of Spanish wine from Macau. Vega Sicilia”. At first, Feng Weidong did not realize how profound the impact this gift would have on him, so he put the wine randomly in the cabinet. What he will never forget is the day he uncorked the bottle and the aroma emanating from the bottle filled the whole room. After a few sips, his lips and teeth were fragrant. From then on, he almost gave up whiskey and brandy, and became obsessed with red wine.

Four years ago, a miracle happened to Feng Weidong. His blood pressure, which originally suffered from high blood pressure, returned to normal levels. He cheerfully told reporters that red wine is a good thing. His current life is to drink 365 bottles of red wine a year and play golf three times a week. As for some people calling him an "alcoholic", Feng Weidong disagrees. He believes that knowing how to drink and pouring alcohol into your stomach are completely different things and cannot be compared. He joked that if one day he suddenly died, his dying wish would be to drink as much of his collection as possible, so that he would die without regrets.

Su Zhiwei is a newcomer in the industry, and it was by chance that he fell in love with red wine. A year ago, he held a party in Nankunshan due to work needs. After being recommended by Feng Weidong, he bought a bottle of Portuguese "Sabaodeng". That night, the wine won the appreciation of the guests present and made him interested in red wine. He said that when he first tasted red wine, it was out of some vanity, but when he tasted it with his heart, he felt that wine evoked more emotional things.

2. Red wine, taste it wisely

“Fine red wine needs to be appreciated by someone. Drinking it in one gulp is simply a waste of money.”

Not long ago, Hu Ruke brought a bottle of Australian 707 to a restaurant for dinner. During the dinner, the restaurant manager came in to propose a toast. He "automatically and consciously" picked up the wine on the table, poured it into the cup he usually drinks boiled water in, and drank it all in one gulp. Hu Ruke described having a "feeling of cerebral congestion" at that time. Good wine also needs to meet Bole. It would be a waste if you meet someone who doesn’t know how to drink wine.

Hu Ruke calls himself a "good drinker but not a good drinker." This is all because he has an average drinking capacity and almost never drinks at all, but he has a special liking for red wine. Long before the red wine trend came to China, he had already started to get in touch with wine because of his career. He discovered that wine is magical and alive, growing and changing all the time. Every detail of the process, including the location where grapes are grown, the climate at that time, winemaking technology, and storage technology, is like a screw in a machine, tightly interlocking. If there is a problem in one link, it will affect the quality of the wine.

Hu Ruke still remembers that once he followed the recommendation in the book and found "Vega Sicilia" in Spain, and put it on the table to greet friends the next day. Who knew that, unable to withstand the scorching heat in the south, the red wine would taste bitter and even worse than table wine. Hu Ruke then bought another book to study it. It turned out that the problem lay in temperature and humidity. "Don't think that everything will be fine if you buy wine from the best winery. In fact, you need to take good care of it at home. The temperature of the storage place is best kept between 14°C and 16°C, and it is best not to be exposed to light.

"But with so many types of wine, is this standard suitable for every type of wine? With doubts, Hu Ruke continued to search for information, and finally discovered a law: the stronger the tannins (that is, the more acidic), the higher the temperature of the wine during storage; If the sweetness or alcohol content is high, the temperature of the wine must be lower. The temperature of the wine with rich flavor can be slightly higher, but the storage temperature of red wine must not exceed 20°C.

Later, he put one of them. This wine book was given as a gift to Feng Weidong. After drinking Spanish "Vega Sicilia", Feng Weidong started to have a "fever" for red wine, because each bottle of wine has a wine label, just like the wine's ID card, which is usually marked with ". Grape varieties, wine names, harvest years, grades, production areas, winery names, country names, etc. can still be understood in English, but what should I do if I am confused when I encounter French, Spanish, and Italian words? Start studying from books. The book has Chinese translations of common vocabulary in France, Italy, and Germany. If you don’t understand it, you can memorize it by rote. Feng Weidong has read this red wine book countless times and took careful notes on almost every page. Now lying on the table like pickles, Feng Weidong can now remember almost every wine name, ingredients, origin, etc. The reporter was surprised by the extraordinary memory of these players. Feng Weidong said that it was mainly because of interest, and secondly because of grasp. Regularity. Although there are as many types of wineries and red wines as there are stars, there are only a few good wineries, such as Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion, The French government will give AOC quality certification to the wines produced by the five famous chateaus such as Chateau Mouton Rothschild, even for table wines.

When you talk to players about red wine tasting, they can talk endlessly. There are many things to do, such as opening bottles. In order to make the wine taste more mellow, you can open the bottle in advance and let the wine breathe. After the alcohol is slightly oxidized, the wine will taste softer, especially if the tannins are too strong. Strong wine. As for how long it takes to open the bottle before drinking, it depends on the type of wine and personal taste. Generally, red wine with heavy tannins should be opened two hours in advance, but ordinary white wine and rose wine should be drank directly. Yes. The peak period of each wine is also very different according to different characteristics. For example, the 1982 French aged wine needs to be kept for 30 years, which means that it has to wait for another 8 years. It is recommended to drink it at its peak. Change the bottle and drink it as soon as possible. White wine and rose wine are difficult to withstand storage for more than one or two years, and the aroma will begin to deteriorate after five or six months. In addition, there is also a rule of thumb when opening wine. Never let the wine cork. If it is broken into the red wine, the taste will change...

For players, just shake the red wine, smell it, and take a few sips to judge the origin of the grapes. Talking about the growing area and the impact of climate change, from the brewing of red wine to the details of bottling, from the storage of red wine to how to taste red wine, including standardized actions, the use of various wine glasses, and what foods to pair with red wine ...making others envious. I asked Feng Weidong how to achieve this level, and his answer was: "Drink more." Calculate Feng Weidong's calculation: 9 years of playing experience × 365 bottles per year = 3240 bottles. This number is surprising enough!

3. Collect fine wines from all over the world

“As far as wine is concerned, it is a non-renewable treasure, so it has a high collection value”

According to players It is said that in Europe, wine culture has almost penetrated into people's bones, while in China it just started. "There are many fakes and few treasures; there are many people who are "blowing water" but few people who really understand." Wine is a non-renewable treasure, so it has a high collection value. Take the Spanish wine king "Vega Sicilia" purchased by Mr. Hu Ruke in Macau in 1995 for RMB 3,000. If this bottle of wine had been kept today, it would have been worth tens of thousands of yuan.

After nine years of accumulation, Mr. Feng Weidong already owned a certain number and weight of collections, so he simply opened a bar in his spare time - "Wine all over the place". There is a collection of red wine worth over 200,000 yuan in a refrigerator alone, as well as thousands of wine corks in oversized glasses.

The bar is the stopping point for players, and members have their own red wine glasses. They don't have a fixed gathering time. As long as a member gets good wine, this group of "wine drinkers" will flock to the party. There are about a dozen friends in the circle from all over the country, and most of them are wine collectors. Like Guo Jianguo, a player in the circle, there is always red wine in the trunk of the car, ranging from three or four bottles to one box at most.

Although Su Zhiwei, a newcomer in the circle, has the youngest playing experience, his enthusiasm will never be inferior to anyone else. After reading a lot of books and drinking a lot of wine, Su Zhiwei had a wish in his heart, that is, he could personally visit the manor mentioned in the books and find what he liked. So on May Day this year, he and his wife spent their own money to go to Australia. In two weeks, they visited nearly 40 wineries. He explored the route through friends and decided to go to Yara Valley in Melbourne and Hunter Valley in Sydney first. The local wine regions have special information centers to provide detailed information. He went there twice. The first time he went to inquire about the situation and took a lot of winery promotional materials and maps back to study. The second time, and After discussion with the professional staff, they finally determined the route and started his wine-hunting journey according to the map.

They came to Tyrrell Winery because the Semillon brewed here is recognized as the No. 1 wine. As they walked in, an elder greeted them warmly. This winery is very small, more like a family winery than a winery. Winemaking, wine tasting, and wine sales are carried out in the same room, with a simple wooden barrel used as a table. After tasting Semillon, Su Zhiwei was amazed by the elegance of this white wine. The old man proudly told Su Zhiwei that his family was a British immigrant and was the fourth generation descendant from 1858 to the present. At BrokenWood Winery, the proprietress entertained them with the best of the winery.

After several days of visits, Su Zhiwei discovered a very strange phenomenon: in almost every vineyard, there must be delicate roses blooming next to the vines. After asking, it turned out that there are many diseases and insect pests in grapes, and roses are often infected before grapes, so smart locals designed such an early warning mechanism. "Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles." During the wine-hunting trip, Su Zhiwei gained a much deeper understanding of red wine.

4. Red wine, savor life

“When the craze for evaluation cools down, we will usher in the highest level of red wine tasting – savor life”

Photographer Xie Mo has a strong artistic flair, and even his wine tasting is tainted with the artist's whim. Generally speaking, "Old World" wines are more popular, as they are fragrant and easy to drink, but he prefers less popular white wines from Italy and Spain. He said: "French red wine does not necessarily have to be pure. The key to wine tasting is to look at personality." He believes that wines from the "Old World" taste very similar and have no obvious personality. They taste good but are easy to forget. "New World" wines are more individual. In his eyes, portrait photography needs to grasp the personality of the person, and the characteristics of the wine can also be associated with women: French red wine is as virtuous and elegant as a lady; Italian red wine also belongs to the "old world", and in addition to its elegant qualities, it is also mysterious. and complex; Spanish red wine has personality and is easy to remember; Chilean red wine has an exposed and flamboyant personality. He said that everyone likes different types, and the same is true for wine. It depends on personal feelings and cannot simply identify Bordeaux. Even if it is the same wine, it will taste different if the same person drinks it on different occasions and in different moods. Under soft music, red wine will create a quiet and comfortable atmosphere, which is very suitable for chatting with close friends. What he likes most is to drink some wine before taking photos. In the "slightly tipsy" state, the whole person is relaxed and in a happy mood, which can easily inspire creative inspiration, and the things photographed are particularly spiritual.

As for many people who deliberately pursue famous wines and chateaus and pay attention to the selection of wine vessels, Xie Mo doesn't care. In his opinion, it is best to put aside all the red tape and quietly appreciate the true meaning in the simplest and most natural way. Whether it is a crystal goblet or an ordinary glass, it is a pleasure to break out of the constraints of the rules and let the aroma of the wine spread in your mouth. This is true for wine tasting, and so is life.