王暉

一

2018年4月5日，清明節(jié)。裘小宇一早就來到自家的酒坊。這一天是嵊州崇仁古鎮(zhèn)裘氏家廟祭祖的大日子。小宇在酒坊的角落里翻出兩壇自家釀制的陳年冬釀。他家的手工冬釀黃酒質(zhì)量上乘，年年脫銷，以至于自己都沒有存下來多少。只有在重要場合，小宇才肯把家里的陳釀拿出來用。手工冬釀是裘氏祭祖指定黃酒，小宇細(xì)心拂去酒壇上的灰，蓋上紅布，準(zhǔn)備挑到古鎮(zhèn)里的裘氏家廟參加祭祖大典。

酒坊里酒香四溢。一星期前，第一批去年的冬釀新酒剛剛封壇，接下來還有好幾批。本來面積就不大的酒坊里堆滿了酒壇。從去年冬至到今年春分，這一批冬釀的釀制過程十分順利，酒的品質(zhì)也非常好，小宇心里繃著的弦總算是松了下來，接下來可以休息一段時間了。但小宇閑不住，他身后堆放著剛從附近村子里收來的稻草，打算空閑下來的時候編一些缸衣，把車間里那些陳舊的換一批下來。

就算在黃酒之鄉(xiāng)紹興，像老裘家這樣采用純手工釀制、一年只生產(chǎn)一季冬釀的酒坊也已經(jīng)不多，這些年更是幾乎看不到。釀了一輩子酒的老裘對酒的品質(zhì)十分看重，而小宇則考慮得更多一些——怎樣在堅持傳統(tǒng)手藝的基礎(chǔ)上，拓寬經(jīng)營思路，讓酒坊有個長遠(yuǎn)的良性發(fā)展。

上個星期，鎮(zhèn)上的文化站站長到酒坊來收集整理一些資料，打算今年為他們家申報市級非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)，按條件，裘家釀酒技藝已經(jīng)傳承了100多年，完全夠格。小宇想著，等非遺項目批下來，就把“裘氏家酒”的牌子打出去。

二

冬至前一個月，老裘一家就開始忙碌起來。

南方的冬天總是來得不夠堅決，幾場蜻蜓點水般的冷空氣過后，才漸漸有點冬天的樣子。聽著西北風(fēng)在酒坊的橫梁間呼呼吹過，陽光拖在地上的影子一天比一天長——釀酒人知道，手工冬釀最佳的時間就要到來了。

但預(yù)定的米還沒有到，小宇心里不免焦急。開釀前要先浸米，這一般需要15-20天。他忙著跟米商聯(lián)系，確定送米的時間。小宇家釀酒用的糯米是從安徽、江西那邊的農(nóng)戶處直接采購的，“都是最好的新米”，小宇十分肯定地跟我說，“米不好釀出來的酒也不會好”。

老裘則不慌不忙，時不時到酒坊里轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，東摸摸西摸摸。他在等一個重要日子的到來。酒缸都已經(jīng)清理出來洗干凈了，燒火的用煤塊也已經(jīng)提前拉好，稻草編織的缸衣缸蓋都修補過了，還有幾把木耙需要加固一下。老裘心里有數(shù)。這個酒坊里的每一個角落，每一件家什，都跟刻在他心里一樣。幾十年來，這些東西都未曾改變。

轉(zhuǎn)眼就到了冬至這一天。

老裘四點鐘起床，扒下一碗水泡飯，早早就來到酒坊。雖然準(zhǔn)備工作前幾天就開始了，也檢查了好幾遍，確定已經(jīng)沒有任何紕漏。

小宇也隨后趕到。他先給爐子生火，然后仔細(xì)檢查大缸里浸泡的糯米。在水里泡了20來天的糯米已經(jīng)有些輕微發(fā)酵，乳酸菌在其中緩慢生長，水面上形成了一道薄薄的膜和放射狀的氣泡。老裘在邊上的儲酒車間檢查前期做好的酒釀，拿手指插到酒釀里，再放到嘴里嘗一嘗，覺得酒釀做得到位，就把小酒缸里的酒釀倒在一個大盆子里，方便等會兒糯米入缸攪拌時取用。

其他的幫工陸續(xù)到場。他們都是小宇的街坊鄰居，酒坊平常是老裘和小宇兩個在打理，只有在開釀和煎酒裝壇需要人手的時候大家才過來幫忙。好在每年都是這幾個幫工，大都熟門熟路，對各自的分工心中有數(shù)。

不用老裘、小宇分派工作，街坊鄰居們一到就迅速進(jìn)入了自己的工作狀態(tài)，舀米的舀米，燒火的燒火，伴隨著爐膛里飛濺的火星和蒸籠里滋滋冒出的熱氣，沉寂的酒坊車間里頓時活色生香地?zé)狒[了起來。

三

凌晨三點，我跟著老裘和小宇穿過古鎮(zhèn)逼仄的巷子去酒坊開頭耙。開頭耙是整個手工冬釀過程中最重要的環(huán)節(jié)，這項工作一般都是老裘父子倆親自完成。

天有些陰沉，只有巷子盡頭的一盞路燈還搖搖晃晃地亮著。小宇推開酒坊大門，一股濃烈的酒味撲面而來。掀開缸蓋，我大吃了一驚，只見白天攪拌了酒曲酒藥的糯米飯，此刻在七石缸里竟像沸水般翻滾著，大量的氣泡一刻不歇地從缸底冒上來、再冒上來。

“釀酒需要眼、鼻、耳、舌各方面綜合判斷。首先是聞，聞酒氣；然后是聽，聽酒缸里醪液翻滾的聲音”。老裘一邊跟我說著，一邊拿手指往醪液里戳一下，然后吮吸下手指，“最后是眼睛看和嘴巴嘗，品嘗醪液的甜度和酒精度”。一個有經(jīng)驗的釀酒師只要用這四步，就可基本掌握一缸酒的發(fā)酵程度。

裘家酒坊傳到裘小宇這里，已經(jīng)是第四代。

裘小宇的爺爺和太爺當(dāng)年都是崇仁古鎮(zhèn)周邊方圓幾十里有名的“耙頭”師傅。老裘從小就跟著小宇他爺爺釀酒，自然也掌握了一門好手藝。稍長，老裘進(jìn)了集體的崇仁酒廠工作。當(dāng)年崇仁酒廠里的許多釀酒工具，還都是小宇的爺爺傳下來無償貢獻(xiàn)的。那臺民國三十一年的榨酒機(jī)，包括壓酒袋的條石，都是小宇爺爺傳下來的老古董，直到現(xiàn)在，酒坊還在使用。老裘自然也是酒廠的技術(shù)骨干，他至今仍津津樂道自己當(dāng)年作為廠里的技術(shù)骨干，被指派到上虞的女兒紅酒廠進(jìn)行短期交流學(xué)習(xí)的經(jīng)過。只是好景不長，周邊的大酒廠都開始了工業(yè)化生產(chǎn)，單純依靠手工一年只做一季冬釀的崇仁酒廠終于難以為繼而關(guān)門大吉。這才有了老裘、小宇現(xiàn)在的酒坊。

“你兒子將來會來接你的班嗎？”我問小宇。小宇眼里閃過一絲不易察覺的無奈，“那要看他自己的啦?！毙∮畹膬鹤蝇F(xiàn)在在當(dāng)兵，退役后還要繼續(xù)讀大學(xué)，回來接班的可能性不大。畢竟，手工釀酒這活又累又沒有效率，年輕人愿意干的不多。

四

春分前后，冬已是強弩之末，春的到來無法阻擋。河岸邊的柳樹似乎是在一夜之間落光了葉子，又在一夜之間綻出了新芽。地氣一天天回暖，也同時喚醒了酒壇里沉寂了兩個多月的酒液?！瓣帢O之至，陽氣始生”。等到來年春暖花開的時節(jié)揭開酒壇的封口，一顆顆晶瑩剔透的糯米已經(jīng)變成了瓊漿玉液。聞之沁人心脾，飲之甘甜微醺。佳釀已成。

小宇把酒壇里經(jīng)過低溫發(fā)酵糖化的醪液倒出來，開始了榨酒前的準(zhǔn)備工作。

榨酒是一項體力活，是由小宇一個人來完成的。小宇將小酒壇里的醪液倒入大缸里，攪拌均勻，然后再用一個特制的底部開口的木勺，將醪液灌入一個圓柱狀的布袋中，用箬殼扎口。這一袋醪液有三十多斤重，小宇單手提起，底下用另一個木勺一托，爬上梯子依次疊放到榨酒機(jī)中。長年的勞作，已經(jīng)讓小宇練就了超常的臂力。

新榨出來的生酒呈琥珀色，相比陳化的酒液，生酒里透著那么一股子“鮮”味。生酒存放時間不宜過長，酒里還有大量的微生物和菌群，須盡快進(jìn)行高溫殺菌，殺死酒里的微生物，破壞殘余酶的活力，將酒中的各種成分固定。

最近幾年，陸續(xù)有杭州、寧波等地的攝影師慕名而來，記錄拍攝他們家的手工冬釀釀制過程，讓裘家酒坊漸漸有了名聲。攝影師們不遺余力地推介，大大拓展了老裘家冬釀的銷售渠道。陸續(xù)有一些外地的客戶過來購買他們家的酒，還有一家網(wǎng)店主動聯(lián)系小宇，開始在網(wǎng)店上銷售他們家的產(chǎn)品。

古老的行當(dāng)似乎又看到了新的希望。

For Qiu Xiaoyu， winemaking is a matter of time. It is also a matter of heart and soul. In his eye， winemaking is never a matter of machine.

April 5 was the Tomb-sweeping Festival， and a big day for the wine-making Qiu family in the ancient town of Chongren， Shengzhou. It was a non-business day for the family. Qiu Xiaoyu took two jars of wine from the cellar， whisked away the dust and covered them with red cloth to get ready for an ancestor-worshipping ceremony to be staged at the familys ancestral temple.

Only a week before the celebration， the familys first winter brew had just been made ready for the finishing touch of the fermenting process； but Qiu Xiaoyu has been kept busy with chores， making hey when the sun shines and racking his brain to keep the 100-year-old family heirloom thrive against low-cost machinery production.

The family is one of the few family distillers still producing purely traditional， hand-made Shaoxing wine in this wine-scented town.

In todays machine-run world it still takes the combined force of human hands and the magic of time to make the worlds finest things. For the winemakers in Chongren and all the other old-fashioned distillers across Shaoxing， every wine-making season is like a narrative， a romantic cycle complete with a preface， flashbacks and an open ending.

It also takes the best rice to make the “elixir of life” live up to the standards set by the first generation of the wine-making family. The rice used in Qius brewery is purchased directly from the rice growers in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. “We use the best rice we can find，” Xiaoyu shared proudly.

Qiu Xiaoyu took the family relay baton from his father， who learned the tricks from Xiaoyus grandfather and great-grandfather. He is now the fourth-generation winery owner of the family-run wine brand.

Like his father and grandfather and great grandfather， Qiu Xiaoyu has been steeped in the spirituous world for most of his life. The winemaker more than qualifies to be the ambassador to the towns signature wine brand and the unsung hero behind the enduring reputation of the towns hallmark local craft.

Running through his veins is not blood， but Shaoxing wine.

“You learn to smell and detect， just like a chef who needs to get everything under control without using his tongue. Having to actually taste the flavor means your skills arent up to par. Winemaking calls for prediction and the mastery of trends. You take action before it is too late.”

“Getting the temperature right is essential to making good Shaoxing wine. When it goes above body temperature， the wine becomes ‘old. When its too cold， its not preferable either. Back in the old days， there was no helpful technology such as thermometers. We used hands – and hands only – to tell the temperature throughout the whole process. You know， wine has its own mind and its own life. Its just like humans. What a strange thing it is！”

Born into a winemaking family in Chongren， Xiaoyus father is the uncrowned king of the towns time-honored wine-making artistry， and a personified testament to the longstanding legacy that defines the rice wine-making industrial pride of Shaoxing.

Xiaoyus grandfather and great grandfather were winemaking masters famed in Chongren Town. After years of working with his own winemaking father in the family winery， Xiaoyus father joined the Chongren Winery， where many winemaking tools were donated by Qius family and are still in use today， to eke out a livelihood， and soon became the mastermind of the factorys lifeblood. Later the father was sent to a winery in Shangyu， where the master further honed his skills.

“Do you expect your son to take the relay baton from you？” I asked.

“He is in the army， and plans to go to college after discharge from military service. I cant make the decision for him，” Xiaoyu explained lightly， his eyes sparkling with a tiny note of helplessness.

The reputation of the handmade wine crafted by the Qiu family has drawn in photographers from Hangzhou and Ningbo. The attention from journalists has helped promote the family winery in a wider region and created new sales channels.