Zhang Yanzhi, Founder Of Xige Winery: People Should Respect The Land

According to the "14th five year plan" of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, 16 new wineries will be built in Wuzhong City next year.

Winery is an important part of wine production planning.

In Ningxia, Xige winery has become a "net red" winery. Among the numerous Chinese wineries with foreign styles, Xige, with local materials as the background color and respecting the local landform and natural conditions, won the gold award of the Asia Architects Association Architecture Award in 2020.

In the grape pressing season, the 21st century economic reporter interviewed Zhang Yanzhi, the founder and owner of Xige winery.

21st century business report: as a winemaker and a winemaker, what do you think of the relationship between man and land?

Zhang Yanzhi: before, the mountains here were dug up, and the farmers were very angry. Now we are planting grapes. After planting, we will not be trampled and dug. The land will become beautiful and the mountains will become beautiful.

An architect in Japan said that every excavation is a fault. So before moving, you should understand what you are going to do, minimize the damage to it, and integrate into the land as much as possible. So why do we build wineries? I build them with local stones. Because in the process of reclamation, no matter mining, planting grapes, screening stones, etc., the land has been greatly changed or destroyed. So the things in it should be used as much as possible. It feels like it's growing out of itself.

This is the relationship between man and land.

21st century: in China, many wineries are very beautiful, but they don't care about the surrounding environment. I saw that Hennessy attached great importance to the details of the surrounding environment, tree species and greening, and even invited foreign horticulturists to take care of them. What do you think of the relationship between the surrounding environment and the winery?

Zhang Yanzhi: you have money, you can quickly build a beautiful house. But the tree grows according to its law all the year round, so the environment needs patience.

On the one hand, we planted hundreds of thousands of trees around the lake, far away and near. Every tree you see has been planted in these three years. From March to May every year, we are busy planting trees. Some trees will die due to the strong wind and have to be replanted the next year. On the other hand, in terms of landscape construction, there are some environmentalists who advocate the localization of species instead of transporting some rare and exotic trees from Shandong and Yunnan. It's not something here. You should not plant the lawn all over the park.

So the grass in front of the winery is not planted by us. The grass seeds grow when the wind blows. We're just piling up the sand and pressing the water pipes up. Spray water every year. In the long process, we will screen out what we want and what we don't want.

The new coronavirus is said to have a population effect, and so is grass. When a certain type of grass is particularly abundant, other grasses do not grow. Sweater grass grows very beautiful, one by one. After that, the West pigeon is the landscape.

The green grasses we use are ice grass, Setaria grass and blue wool. They grow on the back of the mountain. And the reeds by the lake. Trees we use the local Elaeagnus angustifolia, the most adaptable tree in Ningxia. It's like an olive tree. Olive is planted in foreign vineyards. Where olives grow well, grapes will grow well. Similarly, in Ningxia can grow good Elaeagnus angustifolia trees in the place, will be able to plant good grapes.

Red willow is also a local tree species, Sophora japonica. In order to beautify the winery, you can say that the Elaeagnus angustifolia is not beautiful?

21st century: if the landscape is to achieve the ideal appearance, is it a lot of investment?

Zhang Yanzhi: No. The biggest investment of the winery is actually the vineyard. Other landscapes are just a foil. If you go to a foreign winery, he won't make it like a forest park. The biggest is biological assets.

We have about 200 million yuan of biological assets, 15000 mu of old vineyards and more than 5000 mu of new vineyards. Because the planting standard of the old garden is not strong, it is not designed according to the number of plants per mu. 290 plants per mu in Xinyuan. The annual filling is very small. Grape is a very smart plant. It has a strong adaptability. When you look at the soil, its branches are very soft.

It is true that Chinese companies have invested heavily in wineries. On the contrary, vineyards invest more than wineries. Quality will pay you back.

21st century: how was the West pigeon winery designed? There are a lot of Chinese elements in the winery, and a lot of them embody personal ideas?

Zhang Yanzhi: the design time is very short, there is no manuscript. But the design is expensive. The soul of winery is design. Many famous architects have winery designs.

When designing the winery, we first thought of inviting famous designers, but the current situation is that we took over the project in April 2017, and the 15000 Mu vineyard will be harvested by the end of September. We only have six months, and we have to do design, land procedures, etc. in general, the construction comparison is half a month, and it takes 3-6 months to deepen. After passing, we can draw drawings for you. There is no project with such a large volume in a year that the design can not be completed. Later, I found the design team of the water cube. In 15 days, they chatted with each other three times in the cafe, and the plan came out. I have been in the business for more than ten years, and I have seen it all over the world. In fact, I have been drawing pictures in my mind for more than ten years. So communication is very smooth.

At that time, when we communicated, I asked, first, the winery should be as far away from the lake as possible, and the location should be determined first. Why far? Because I don't want to disturb the ecology of the lake. If you go to the lake, you will find that the lake is a good biological chain. I don't want to scare the birds away because I built a winery. Don't disturb people, just look from a distance.

Second, beacon tower hopes to give consideration to both. The remaining veins of Helan Mountain in the west can be taken into account. I hope to have the best view of the lake.

After listening to the designer said, the best thing you want is to use a circle to solve it.

After the basic shape comes out, talk about the function. We have measurements of these. So the basic is a proposition composition, quickly out, very simple. For winery design, architectural design is only a part, accounting for about 60%. 40% is the process design, which determines the architectural design.

Foreign wineries first ask what kind of wine you want to make, what kind of technology is needed for this kind of wine, how much equipment is needed for the process, and how much space each occupies. Then add, add, add how much, and build a house after the process to cover the equipment. This is the right way to build a winery.

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