To us, a wine shop is a
playground. We stop at almost every one we see and always enjoy strolling along the aisles. It's fun to see old friends - 'Look, they have a Bully Hill' - and even more fun to see labels that are new to us. But we understand that many people find wine stores confusing,
overwhelming or just plain
annoying. All those wines, all those labels, all those neck cards claiming a 90-point rating from someone for just about every wine on the shelf (and often for a different vintage to boot).
编者按:喜欢葡萄酒的中国人越来越多,既为它有益健康的一面,也为每种酒所带来的不同人生体验。《华尔街日报》中文网将陆续翻译刊登美国著名葡萄酒专栏作家Dorothy J. Gaiter和 John Brecher的《葡萄酒指南》。
As a result, too many consumers fall back on the familiar, like that so-so Chardonnay that's not great, but certainly OK, or they choose entirely based on labels, which accounts for the herd of critter quaffers on
shelves that feature enough animals to
outfit an ark. This is a shame because good wine stores offer an ever-changing array of interesting wines at all price ranges.
我们来说,葡萄酒专卖店就象游乐场。我们每见到一家卖葡萄酒的店都会进去逛逛。在一排排的酒柜间徜徉,是多么地快乐。熟悉的酒就像老朋友,令人开怀──"你看,他们也有一瓶Bully Hill"──看到以前没见过的酒,那乐趣就更大了。但我们明白,很多人被葡萄酒店搞得晕头转向,无所适从,或者干脆就令他们讨厌。所有的葡萄酒,所有的标签,以及所有瓶颈上挂的卡片都声称该酒被某个酒评家在某个种类的酒中评为90分(通常还是不同的年份)。葡萄酒货架上陈列的所有的酒几乎无一例外。
In this
column, we focus on types of wine you should
embrace or avoid. We don't think consumers should have to walk into a store with a long list of
specific wines to buy or shun. Instead, we're
trying to make the wine shop smaller. Regular readers should be gaining a general sense of which types of wine are most likely to offer good value. Even we - when we walk into a large store - need to make some immediate judgments about where we think we'll have the greatest chance of success
finding wines to enjoy in our off-duty wine lives. We'd guess that people who know something about gambling do the same thing, focusing on games with the greatest odds in their favor and avoiding the others.
因此,太多的消费者被吓退到他们熟悉的酒上去,比如味道一般般、称不上美妙的霞多丽酒(Chardonnay),不过肯定也还过得去。或者他们干脆全凭标签来选酒,正因为这一点,酒标上充斥着林林总总的小动物图案,足够填满诺亚方舟的了。真是可惜啊,因为好葡萄酒店要提供不同价位且令人感兴趣的酒,而且品种还要不断地变化。
Secrets of Success
在这篇专栏中,我们要着重谈谈你应该买或远离的酒。我们并不认为消费者在踏入葡萄酒店时都应该怀揣一张清单,上面清楚明白地罗列着哪些酒该买、哪些不该买。相反,我们尽量缩小范围。我们的老读者们应该已经大概了解哪些类型的葡萄酒最可能有好的性价比。即使我们自己──当我们步入大型葡萄专卖店时──也需要立即做出判断:哪些角落里最有可能找到我们可以在下班后享用的酒。想必略懂赌博的人也都如此吧,即集中心思在最有胜算机率的游戏上而避开其它的。
Based on blind tastings for our
columns over the past couple of years, here are some tips for making the wine shop smaller. Now, this point is
critical: We are not
saying here that the aisles we'd skip don't include some good wine; of course they do. But we want to focus on the aisles where we expect the greatest chance of success if we simply pick up a bottle. For whole categories that we suggest you avoid, we will continue to conduct broad tastings and we'll let you know when it's safe to go back into those waters. Other people would certainly decode a wine shop
differently, but this is how we do it:
成功之诀窍
Skip the boxed and jug wines. This usually eliminates large sections of many stores. More palatable wines are being packaged in boxes these days and there are some good jugs, but save these for pool parties in the summer.
根据我们在过去几年里为做这档专栏而盲品葡萄酒的经验,这里有一些心得能让你在逛葡萄酒店时将范围缩小一点。不过有一点很重要:我们并不是说,我们建议跳过的那些酒柜上没有好酒可寻──当然是有的;但是,我们希望把重点放在随便拿起一瓶酒都不错的概率最大的那几排酒柜上。至于我们建议您避免的那些类别,我们将继续进行广泛的品尝,至于何时回到这些类别上来比较保险,我们会告诉你的。其他人肯定会有不同的方法来解构葡萄酒店,但下面是我们的方法:
Pass by the Australian aisles. Just about every wine shop we walk into these days is choked with Australian wines. Heaven knows there are some good ones - especially among the less-popular varietals such as Riesling and famous,
expensive wines like Grange - but our recent tastings have raised
caution flags about lower-priced Australian wines.
跳过盒装和壶装葡萄酒。这通常就把许多店中很大的一部分的酒排除在外了。尽管如今市面上有越来越多的美味的盒装葡萄酒,也有一些不错的壶装酒,但这类酒还是留着到夏季开游泳池派对时再喝吧。
Ignore the most popular lower-priced American wines, including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. We know we're covering a lot of territory here and making just about everybody mad, but our broad tastings over several years indicate that there are more losers than winners among these wines. Your chances of
finding value here are low, though there are, of course, some good ones, which we've written about in the past and will certainly write about in the future. If you really must have a Merlot, plan to spend more than $20.
请跳过澳大利亚酒。如今,几乎我们踏入的每家专卖店都充斥了澳大利亚产的葡萄酒。一些澳大利亚产的酒确实是好酒,特别是在一些不那么大众化的品种里,比如雷司令(Riesling)和知名的像格兰许(Grange)那样昂贵的酒,但是近来我们在品尝了低价的澳洲产葡萄酒后,亮起了警觉的红灯。
Unless you are
specifically looking for a special-occasion wine, keep walking past the rack of very
expensive Bordeaux until you get to the midrange Bordeaux, the bottles that cost under $50. We've found that, for the price, these often offer the kind of class and
structure that a fine meal, like a great steak, demands. It's also worth
taking a chance on a low-priced Bordeaux because sometimes these can be among the best $10 deals in the stores. Just don't expect to recognize the labels or even, in many cases, the appellation; the reason these are in
expensive is that hardly anyone has ever heard of them. We'd usually skip the red Burgundy aisle, though we'll never give up on these because, at their best, they're the greatest, and sexiest, wines in the world, but they're finicky, risky.
请各位忽视最大众化的便宜的美国酒,其中包括美乐(Merlot)、赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)和霞多丽(Chardonnay)。我们知道我们这样说涵盖的范围太广了,几乎得罪了每个人;但是,我们数年里广泛的品酒经验告诉我们,这些酒中,输家多于赢家。要在这些酒中找到物有所值的东西,其可能性是很小的。当然,其中也有些好酒,我们过去也写过,将来肯定还会再写。若你非买一瓶美乐不可,那你得准备花20美元以上。
The South America, South Africa, New Zealand and Spain sections are always worth a good look. There are new wines coming from those areas all the time, often at great prices, as they try to gain a market in the U.S.
除非你专门在寻找一个特殊场合饮用的酒,那你就继续前行并绕过摆满非常昂贵的波尔多酒的柜子吧,一直走到放着中等价位的波尔多酒(Bordeaux)的区域,那些酒的价格在50美元以下。我们发现,对于这样的价格而言,这些酒往往能达到为一顿上好的牛排那样的美餐佐餐所需的档次。低价波尔多也值得你试试运气,因为有时它们可能埋藏在最划算的10美元价位的酒里。只是别指望你能认识其标签,甚至很多情况下你连酒名都叫不出,这些酒之所以廉价,是因为几乎没有人听说过它们。通常我们会跳过红勃艮第(Burgundy)区,但我们永远不会放弃它们,因为,当它们处于最佳状态的时候,会是世上最佳最性感的的葡萄酒,但它们过于注重细节,选错的风险极高。
For reds, head to the Italian section and look for wines from the Piedmont region. You'll know it by the
expensive Barolos, but even if you're not looking for a big,
costly wine for dinner, this is also where you'll find a gold mine of value, such as Barbera d'Alba. We've had better luck with Piedmont than Tuscany, though it's still hard to beat upscale Chianti for
vitality and food-friendliness.
产自南美、南非、新西兰和西班牙的酒永远值得仔细看看。店里总是有产自这些地区的新酒,而价格也常常很划算,因为这些酒正试图开拓美国市场。
Seeing Reds
若要买红酒,那就到意大利酒的区域去找产自皮埃蒙特(Piedmont)地区的酒。当你看到昂贵的巴洛罗(Barolos)酒时,你就知道已来到这个区域了。但即使你不想买佐晚餐喝的昂贵的酒,这里也是个物有所值的酒的金矿,如巴伯拉-阿尔巴(Barbera d'Alba.)。我们在皮埃蒙特(Piedmont)酒中找到满意品种的运气比托斯卡纳酒(Tuscany)要好,但在酒的活力和佐餐适合度方面,高档的基安蒂酒(Chianti)仍然很难被超越。
Also in reds, close your eyes and pick up just about any American Pinot Noir, above or below $20. Considering that this grape was thought to be a loser in the U.S. for decades, we're amazed how far it has come in such a short time. Even some of the most common names in the store, like Kendall-Jackson and Beringer, make good Pinot Noir at excellent prices. Pinot also goes with all sorts of food. Another good bet among American reds is Syrah, which some American vintners are
calling Shiraz now. Petite Sirah is a different grape
altogether, but it will probably be in the Syrah section and also is usually a good bet. If you choose a Petite Sirah, be prepared for a wine with real ooomph.
有关红酒
For whites, we'd buy Sauvignon Blanc from just about
anywhere because country after country right now is producing fine examples. In general, we'd focus on the French section for whites - Muscadet, Sancerre, Vouvray, anything from Alsace and even less-
expensive white Burgundies such as Macon and Saint-Veran.
仍然谈红酒。请闭上眼睛随便拿起一瓶价格在20美元上下的美国产黑比诺(Pinot Noir)。想想这种葡萄在美国的种植几十年来被认为是个失败例子,我们却惊奇地发现在如此短时间里它能有如此的进步。即使商店里最普通的牌子,像肯德尔-杰克逊酒庄(Kendall-Jackson)和贝灵哲酒庄(Beringer),也能酿制出口味不错但价格极其划算的黑比诺酒。这种葡萄酒能与各种食物搭配。美国红葡萄酒中的另一个不错的选择是西拉(Syrah),现在一些美国酒商称其为设拉子(Shiraz)。小希拉(Petite Sirah)则是一个完全不同的葡萄品种,但它可能会摆放在西拉酒一类里,这种酒也通常是一个不错的选择。如果您选择小希拉,那就准备好品尝真正具有活力的酒。
That's a quick overview, but, if you want to get just a little bit more detailed, here are two
additional pieces of advice. First, look for varietals that are new to you. Remember that Merlot was new as an American varietal in 1972, that most people hadn't heard of Shiraz in 1998 and that Malbec was obscure until wines from Argentina caught fire a couple of years ago. More vintners all over the world are experimenting with different grape types, which means a cornucopia of different varietals in shops these days. If you see a Marsanne from California or a Carmenere from Chile, you're likely to have an interesting experience.
说到白葡萄酒,我们会买任何地方产的白苏维翁(Sauvignon Blanc),因为一个接一个国家正在酿制此类美酒。一般来说,我们会把注意力集中到法国产的白葡萄酒上:米斯卡代(Muscadet),桑塞尔(Sancerre),武弗雷(Vouvray),任何来自阿尔萨斯(Alsace)的酒都不错的,我们甚至会买更便宜的白勃艮第酒,如梅肯(Macon)和圣佛兰(Saint-Veran)。
Second, give the little guys a chance. It's hard to be a small
producer. Small wineries in the U.S.
complain all the time about how difficult it is to get their wines distributed to many states and small wineries everywhere else in the world
complain about how tough it is to get any wine at all into the U.S. Small
producers often offer wines with special
individuality and
character. You probably won't have read anything about them and they might be the only wines in the store without a 90-point neck ring, but that's because these wines are rare. It wouldn't be a bad New Year's
resolution to decide that, in 2006, you will only buy bottles that you've never tried before - even if you look for them in all of the aisles we said you should shun. Which
actually reminds us of another good
resolution: Don't let wine critics make decisions for you in 2006. It's useful to listen to advice from a
variety of sources, but the only palate that's important is your own. Trust it.
以上是粗略的介绍。但你若想知道得更详细点,这里还有两个建议。首先,寻找对你来说是新的品种。要知道,美乐作为美国品种在1972年时是属于新面孔,而在1998年大多数人还没有听说过设拉子,而阿根廷葡萄酒在几年前开始在市场上变得火爆之前,马尔贝克(Malbec)还很少为人知晓。世界各地的酿酒商正尝试用更多不同种类的葡萄酿酒,这意味着商店里不同品种的葡萄酒琳琅满目。如果您看到来自加利福尼亚的玛珊(Marsanne)或从智利来的卡蒙(Carmenere),你很可能会有一段有趣的体验。