When sweet meets dry 葡萄酒甜度有讲究

We like our wine to be dry, don’t we? Unless, of course, it is unashamedly very sweet (and even this, alas, is a minority taste). But the supposedly dry wines on our shelves can vary substantially in how much unfermented sugar they contain – and those that fall between dry and sweet present real challenges.	一般人都喜欢喝味很淡的葡萄酒，是吧？当然除非是特甜的那种（即便如此，这种口味也不多见）。但酒柜里的红酒因所含未发酵糖份的含量不同而显得千差万别——那些处于味淡与甜之间的酒实在让人难以抉择。
Sweetness in wine, known as “residual sugar” or RS, is usually measured in grams per litre of liquid, although Americans generally express it as a percentage. It is impossible to get RS levels down to zero (wine starts out as very sweet grape juice) but the general threshold of perception of sweetness is around 2g/l (or 0.2 per cent). Most fine red wine is well below this, often less than 1g/l, so doesn’t taste at all sweet.	葡萄酒中的含糖量（所谓的残余糖分，即RS）以每升酒中所含糖的克数来表示，美国人则通常以百分比来衡量。残余糖分不可能降至没有（酒刚酿出时就是很甜的葡萄汁），但衡量是否是甜酒的门槛约为每升2克（即0.2%）的含糖量。多数高档红葡萄酒的甜度都要比这低得多（常常低于每升1克），所以压根就尝不出甜味来。
It’s a different story with mass-market brands. Yellow Tail, the archetypal “critter” brand so successful it now accounts for almost half of all Australian wine imported into the US, is famously relatively sweet – as is one of the most successful brands of California Chardonnay, Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve. These brands are likely to notch up sugar levels of at least 5-6g/l. Some of the California whites naughtily labelled Chablis, even though it is a controlled geographical appellation in Europe, can notch up well over 10g/l of sugar, often in the form of deliberately added sweet grape juice concentrate.	对于销量大的葡萄酒来说，则是另当别论。黄尾葡萄酒(Yellow Tail)这个贴有澳洲特有袋鼠标志的品牌在美国市场大获成功，如今几乎占了该国澳洲进口葡萄酒的一半，它就以味甜著称——肯德杰克逊酒庄精选(Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve)的加州霞多丽(Chardonnay)也是如此。这几种葡萄酒的含糖量可能至少达到了每升5-6克。即便莎碧 (Chablis)属于欧洲某些地区特产的葡萄酒，但某些自诩为莎碧、产自加州的白葡萄酒的含糖量超过了每升10克，通常是有意添加适量浓缩葡萄汁。
Those who routinely analyse wine report that, in general, inexpensive products – reds as well as whites and pinks, made in California, Australia, Chile and New Zealand – have notably higher sugar levels than Europe’s “dry” wines: 3-8g/l rather than 1-2g/l. Because of New Zealand’s relatively high latitudes, acid levels in the grapes tend to be higher than in wine regions closer to the equator. The higher the acid, the less sweet a wine tastes, so Kiwi wines’ sweetness tends to be less obvious than those grown in hotter climes.	作常规酒类分析的专家发布报告称：产于加州、澳洲、智利以及新西兰的廉价白、红以及桃红葡萄酒的含糖量通常比欧洲的淡味型酒要高很多：达到每升3-8克，而不是每升1-2克。由于新西兰的纬度相对高一些，葡萄中的酸度总是比赤道附近的产酒区来得高。酸度越高，葡萄酒的甜味就越尝不出来，所以与那些产于气候较为温暖地区的葡萄酒相比，猕猴桃酒的甜度不太明显。
Sweetness can be used deliberately by a winemaker to counteract excessively high acidity. Some of France’s cheapest “dry” white labelled Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne from armagnac country, for example, tends to be extremely high in acidity, so winemakers often soften this by boosting the natural sugar level. This technique may be applied to some commercial whites from Italy where high yields leave the grapes very high in acid. European reds that are sold as dry but often in fact contain up to 8g/l of residual sugar include some of the less artisan wines from Sicily and Puglia in southern Italy.	酿酒师可以有意使用甜度来“中和”一下过高的酸度。法国有些很便宜的干白，如产自阿马尼亚克县加斯科涅丘(Côtes de Gascogne, Armagnac)的Vin de Pays酒的酸度就特别高，因此酿酒师通常用提高天然甜度的方法让酒味变得柔和些。产自意大利的某些商业白葡萄酒可能也应用了此方法，该国的葡萄产量很高，所以酿出酒的酸度非常高。当作干红销售、但实际含糖量却高达每升8克的欧洲红酒就包括了产自意大利西西里岛以及该国南部普利来地区(Puglia)某些极普通的工匠葡萄酒。
Another factor that can affect how sweet a wine tastes is temperature. At a recent blind tasting, we were, unbeknown to us, served the same wine twice, once at room temperature and once well chilled. We all thought the chilled version of this sweetish wine (60g/l residual sugar) was drier than the warmer one because acidity is more prominent at lower temperatures.	影响酒甜度的另一大因素是温度。在最近举行的一场盲品(Blind Tasting)中，我们这些品酒师在事先毫不知情的情况下，两次品尝的实际上是一模一样的酒，第一种为常温酒，第二种是冰镇过的酒。品过的人都认为这款甜酒（每升含糖量60克）的冰镇酒要比常温酒的味要来得淡，原因就是低温酒的酸度更为明显。
Although virtually all red wines are relatively dry, the level of residual sugar in white wines can vary enormously – from under 2g/l to hundreds of grams per litre in naturally sweet wines made from really ripe grapes. Wines at each end of the sweetness spectrum are generally easy to identify and we more or less know how they are going to taste. But a considerable proportion of white wines lie somewhere in between dry and very sweet. It can be very frustrating to buy a bottle of wine and find that it is much sweeter (or drier) than expected. The wines of Alsace have been particular sinners in this respect. They can vary from bone dry to medium sweet without any indication on the label to help the consumer. This has driven a handful of producers such as Zind Humbrecht to devise their own systems for indicating sweetness.	虽说几乎所有红酒的味都很淡，但各种白葡萄酒之间的残余糖分差别却很大——从每升不到2克至天然甜酒（由自然成熟的葡萄酿制）的每升几百克，不一而足。特甜与不甜的葡萄酒通常很容易识别，因为我们多少知道些它们品起来是啥味。但很多白葡萄酒介于味淡与特甜之间，有时买了一瓶葡萄酒后发现比预想得要甜（或淡），这很让人扫兴，产自阿尔萨斯(Alsace)的葡萄酒尤其给人这种“刻骨铭心”的感觉。它们的口感千差万别，从极淡到中度甜型，消费者从酒瓶的标签上看不出有啥差别。这使得辛特—鸿布列什酒庄(Zind Humbrecht)在内的诸多酒庄设计自己的甜度标示体系。
In the US, where Riesling has had a head of steam behind it (largely thanks to Washington state’s Château Ste Michelle and its joint venture with Erni Loosen of Germany’s Mosel Valley), an American-based organisation called the International Riesling Foundation has also come up with a graphic to be used on wine labels to show the degree of sweetness.	在美国，雷司令的销量遥遥领先（这很大程度上要归功于华盛顿州的圣米歇尔酒庄(Château Ste Michelle)以及它与德国摩泽尔河谷(moselle valley)的路森博士酒庄(Erni Loosen)的合资公司），总部位于美国的国际雷司令基金会(International Riesling Foundation)也想出了在酒瓶标签上用图解的方式来标示酒的甜度。
It was to test how well this scale, the Riesling Taste Profile, from dry through gradations of medium dry and medium sweet to sweet, could be applied to a wide, international range of Rieslings that 25 of us tried to grade the sweetness levels of 26 examples ranging in sweetness from 0.92 to 207.50g/l. We were shown International Riesling Foundation guidelines of extreme complexity beforehand that indicated what influence acidity and the level of pH (the intensity of the acidity), should have in addition to the residual sugar level. One of the tasters was Wendy Stuckey, responsible for Château Ste Michelle’s highly successful Washington state Rieslings. She confessed that, when deciding exactly which point on the Riesling Taste Profile should be applied to each wine, they took no notice of the formulae and did it all on how it tasted.	我们25位品酒师给产自全球各地的26种雷司令（从每升0.92克至每升207.5克）样酒确定甜度，以检测雷司令酒口感度（the Riesling Taste Profile，从味淡依次到不太甜、中度甜最后到甜）标准的实际效果。我们事先看了国际雷司令基金会所制订的异常复杂的标准指南：即除了残余糖分外，酸度以及pH值（酸碱度）会对酒有何影响。其中一位品酒师是温迪•斯塔基(Wendy Stuckey)，她负责产自华盛顿州圣米歇尔酒庄、异常畅销的雷司令酒。她坦承他们这些品酒师在决定如何用精准的雷司令口感度来比对每一款酒时，并没有把规则当回事，而是根据实际口感下鉴定。
I’m not sure average consumers can be bothered with comparing nuances of gradation. They probably just want to know whether a wine is dry, medium dry, medium sweet or sweet – and many consumers will already be prejudiced against any wine not in the first category. This is a great shame since many delicious fine white wines taste a little sweet, though, thanks to counterbalancing acidity, are far from cloying. I have listed some of my favourites on page 37.	我不知道普通消费者是否会不厌其烦地使用这些彼此之间差别不大的口感度标准。他们可能只想知道某款酒是不甜、不太甜、中度甜还是甜——许多消费者已经对第一等级品牌以外的酒产生了偏见，这的确令人感到非常遗憾，由于酸的中和作用，许多口感好的上乘白葡萄酒略带甜味，那种享受难以言表。我在下面列举了自己最喜欢喝的几款葡萄酒。
The only trouble with medium dry and medium sweet wines is working out how to serve them. If, like a German Kabinett and Spätlese, they are low in alcohol, they may well be too light to stand up to anything other than the most neutral white fish dish and are best drunk on their own. But whites such as the richer examples from Austria and Alsace, medium dry Chenins made in the image of Vouvray and Tokaji have quite enough body to accompany food and can be delicious with rich shellfish, creamily sauced savoury dishes and smooth pâtés.	不太甜与中度甜葡萄酒唯一的问题是如何与菜肴搭配得当。如德国珍藏酒(German Kabinett)与晚秋清甜酒(Spätlese)的酒精度很低，酒味淡，只能搭配味道最为中性的白鱼喝，而且最好是自斟自饮。但产自澳洲及阿尔萨斯、仿照沃莱(Vouvray)与托卡伊(Tokaji)酿制的白诗南（Chenins，不太甜）等酒味醇厚的白葡萄酒则是很好的佐餐酒，搭配很难消化的贝类海鲜、厚汁类可口菜肴以及滑爽的肉酱，再惬意不过了。
--------------------	简希丝品酒经验
Jancis’s picks	从不太甜的酒到中度甜酒
Medium dry to medium sweet	以下几款白葡萄酒比干白的酒味要醇厚得多
These whites taste richer than bone dry.	•南非斯瓦特兰地区(Swartland )2010年酿制的马利诺酒(Mullineux)售价为15英镑
• Mullineux 2010 Swartland,	• 西班牙Sierras de Málaga地区2008年酿制的Botani Moscatel Seco酒售价为11英镑
South Africa	• 匈牙利托卡伊地区(Tokaj)福尔明酒庄(Estate Furmint)2008年酿制的István Szepsy酒售价为20英镑
£15	• 阿尔萨斯辛特—鸿布列什酒庄(Dom Zind Humbrecht)2008年酿制的Turkheim雷司令酒售价为19英镑
• Botani Moscatel, Seco 2008 Sierras de Málaga, Spain	• 澳大利亚法兰克兰河(Frankland River)法兰克兰酒庄(Frankland Estate)2010年酿制的史密斯•库伦雷司令酒(Smith Cullam Riesling)售价为28英镑
£11	• 奥地利坎普谷(Kamptal)赫希酒庄(Hirsch) 2009年酿制的海利根施泰雷司令酒(Heiligenstein Riesling)售价为25英镑
• István Szepsy, Estate Furmint 2008 Tokaj, Hungary	•德国莫泽尔地区路森博士酒庄酿制的Ürziger Würzgarten酒与晚秋清甜酒售价均为16英镑
£20	卢瓦尔河谷(Loire)沃莱酒庄2008年酿制的Huet与 Le Mont Demi Sec酒售价均为23英镑（由哈罗盖特精细酒业有限公司(Harrogate Fine Wine Co)出品，电话：01423 522270）。由白诗南(Chenin Blanc)酿制的沃莱酒或许是最原汁原味的微甜白葡萄酒，各款Huet酒就是最好的明证。
• Dom Zind Humbrecht, Turkheim Riesling 2008 Alsace £19

A Mexican Revolution 墨西哥菜：从街头小吃到高档美食

It is a blisteringly hot day in Oaxaca, the gastronomic capital of southern Mexico, and the brightly hued streets are quiet with lazy dogs and closed shutters. However, Pitiona, a smart but simple restaurant located in a restored colonial house on 5 de Mayo St., is still abuzz from a late-lunch crowd. Bottles of aged mezcal are lined up behind the bar─this is the home of the distilled, smoky agave spirit after all─and some are being passed around.

Run by chef José Manuel Baños Rodríguez, who worked at El Bulli in 2007 before returning to his hometown, Pitiona (www.pitiona.com) takes traditional Mexican dishes and adds its own modern refinements, while also incorporating pre-Columbian ingredients.

Small ceramic spoons carry delicate foam that conceals ants lightly fried in chili. A salad arrives smoking, with the curls forming around crisp lettuce leaves and tomatoes. The aroma of chipotle emanates from a steaming bowl of black-bean soup, as spheres of string cheese explode in the mouth. Pork comes with a rich chichilo mole, in which the sauce ingredients have been gently charred, lending it an earthiness. For dessert, a chocolate tortilla comes cigar-shaped, concealing xoconostle (a type of cactus) marmalade.

While Mexico is famous for its sensational street food and home cooking, it is only relatively recently that chefs, like Mr. Rodríguez, have been adding a gourmet touch to the traditional cuisine.

'We have the best ingredients around the world. Now we can lead the revolution with great restaurants,' says Mr. Rodríguez, who plans to open a similar restaurant in InterContinental's Presidente hotel in Mexico City in June. 'We are now able to prepare food a little more technically, more sophisticated,' he continues. 'We need to show the world that it is more than just home cooking.'

In Mexico City, at Azul Condesa (azulcondesa.com), in a converted house in the hip neighborhood of Condesa, the power dinner is in full force. Every time a new group enters, it takes them a good 15 minutes to get to their table, once the full rounds of air kissing have been completed. It isn't just the social hub; the food is outstanding.

Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, one of the country's most famous chefs, has spent the past 20 years trying to change the way Mexican food is perceived. His first restaurant, Azul y Oro, which opened 12 years ago in a culinary school, was one of the first gourmet Mexican restaurants in the country. Now, with Azul Condesa, which opened in 2011, and Azul Histórico (azulhistorico.com), which opened in January, he spends months trawling the far reaches of the country, researching regional dishes and bringing them, along with the local ingredients, back to his own restaurants.

Presentation is key. Here, a ceviche is served in a perfect circle, topped with diced avocado, framed with a delicate soy, lime and orange-juice sauce. Organic hibiscus-flower enchiladas are served with a gloriously pink tomato and smoky chipotle sauce. A little pillow of sea bass comes with a delicious pumpkin sauce, offering a little kick at the end thanks to a habanero chili. Dessert is a delectable soursop mousse, with black sapote and raspberries. Exotically named fruits, vegetables and spices jump at you from every menu page.

'In the past when you studied cooking here, it was all international cuisines, but now things have changed a great deal and they are finally teaching about Mexican food,' Mr. Zurita explains, attributing the revolution in gourmet cuisine to the metamorphosis in Mexico's cookery schools. 'This means that now there is a new generation of chefs in the country who are educated in the ways of Mexican cuisine and it is changing the scene.'

Changing that emphasis has allowed chefs to rediscover the diversity of local ingredients, such as chili, which don't have to be hot to be tasty. 'We have to give the chili a chance to perform,' Mr. Zurita says. 'A lot of people think chilies are only hot and spicy, but they have wonderful flavors and some are very mild. Unfortunately, the image of the country is that we are eating chilies all the time.'

To prove his point, Mr. Zurita spotlights a different ingredient or dish each month, from mole to mangoes to food from a specific region, such as the Yucatán or Tabasco.

Different is also what customers get at chef Enrique Olvera's gourmet restaurant Pujol (pujol.com.mx), in the smart neighborhood of Polanco, where the dishes are works of art. Here, the prosperous and international set arrive in dresses and vertiginous heels; hair is big and wallets are bulging.

The meal starts with an earthenware pot with hickory smoke pouring out of the top. Inside, beautiful, smoked mini-corns bathe in coffee mayonnaise and ant powder. Tasting menus come with Mexican wines or mezcal and beer. In the seafood tasting menu, a shrimp taco appears as a paper-thin layer of avocado wrapped around a spiced shrimp interior. An oyster is served topped with a rosemary flower and a gentle foam of vanilla. A lemony tortilla comes with thin slices of chili-marinated snook (a type of white fish) and topped with pineapple salsa; it is a posh take on street food, and eaten in the same way─with the fingers. Some of the dishes are traditional Mexican with a twist; others are international cuisine with a Mexican spin.

Nearby, inside boutique hotel Las Alcobas, chef Martha Ortiz is causing something of a stir with her gourmet restaurant Dulce Patria (dulcepatriamexico.com), where dishes showcase the diversity of the country's huge array of ingredients.

Her restaurant is feminine and flooded with light, with pretty arrangements of gladioli and cacti on the tables. Squash-bloom soup comes with toasted almonds, poblano chilies and turmeric cream. Duck is served in a rich mole negro, with a banana leaf and corn-flavored rice. Not for the fainthearted, a grilled red and green salad comes with Oaxacan string cheese, epazote (an herb native to Mexico) and a liberal sprinkling of grasshoppers. Desserts are equally inventive: A creamy mamey (a Mexican fruit) custard features gold leaf and red carnation preserve.

'It has taken a long time to get to this stage,' says Ms. Ortiz, who was born into a family of artists and intellectuals, and first studied political science before realizing her passion lay with food.

'We didn't have Mexican restaurants before,' she says. 'We had cantinas and international restaurants. Until recently, it was a poor country.'

Across the board, these chefs say the national psyche has shifted. 'Everyone used to cook, but now it is a working society more than ever, so people won't go home for lunch,' Mr. Zurita says. 'And when you go out, you don't want that food. People want something different.'

Ms. Ortiz agrees. 'People here have started feeling very proud, as food is culture,' she explains. 'My dream is that now people all over world will start recognizing the prestige and beauty in our food. It is Mexico's time.'

JEMIMA SISSONS

7 sexy skinny dips in Asia

Seven spots in Asia where clothing is just a chore

By Cynthia Rosenfeld 8 October, 2010
While plunge pools pervade in Asia, very few allow us to disrobe entirely without embarrassing exposure. Here are seven of the most private, most luxurious places to ditch the bathing suit for maximum skinny dip satisfaction.
Also on CNNGo: 15 more sexy skinny dips

1. Phuket Pavilions, Thailand

Roll straight from bed into the wet spot, a deep 40 x 13 foot infinity pool outside each Andaman Sea-facing villa at Phuket Pavilions where the motto “no tan lines, no interruptions” means exactly that for couples yearning for none other than each other.
Stealthy staff live up to that promise, delivering service without a sound. That includes poolside massages where silently giggling female therapists know to leave guests to create their own happy endings.
Raid the maxi-bar stocked with Veuve Clicquot and Hagen Daaz ice cream.
US$629 per night; thepavilionsresorts.com/phuket-home

2. River House, Sri Lanka

Forget breakfast in bed. Wake each other up in the Menik Suite’s east-facing plunge pool as the sun rises over the coconut palms dappled across Sri Lanka’s River House.
Raise each other’s body heat well above the water temperature then slip back inside to climb atop the pillow strewn four-poster bed.
One dominates each of five antique-filled rooms at this inland retreat on the Madhu River, three hours’ drive south of Colombo’s international airport.
The ancient Greeks didn’t call this island Serendib, Garden of Eden for nothing.
From November to March, play Adam and Eve around this seven-acre slice of tropical paradise, luring one another upstairs and back into the buff.
US$373-485 per night; www.anilana.com

3. Banyan Tree Lijiang, China

High Naxi tiled walls encourage undressing with abandonment inside the pool villas at Banyan Tree Lijiang some 7,900 feet above sea level.
Outside of May to August when seasonal fields of rhododendrons reach full bloom, expect to raise a few goose bumps while streaking into these pools that are heated but not too hot for a good frolic.
Come up together for air in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the climax of this Himalayan panorama.
US$618 per night; banyantree.com/en/lijiang/overview

4. Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan

With every rattle of a palm frond, it is hard not to wonder what other creatures are taking pleasure in this dense bamboo jungle.
That and the occasional screams of rafters thrusting along the otherwise Sacred Ayung River are the only sounds to intrude upon the privacy of each villa at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan.
All 42 thatched maxi-huts come with an outdoor shower that overlooks the river valley and a plunge pool that releases itself endlessly into the jungle’s steamy abyss.
Nudists notwithstanding, no one need fear overexposure. Farmers on the other bank are nearly naked themselves and too far away to make out the state of play.
US$680-850 per night; Fourseasons.com

5. Trisara, Thailand

Size matters at Trisara on Phuket’s northwest shore where all 39 villas are well endowed for maximum pleasure.
When the urge arises, all glass French doors open onto a longer than average, 10-meter cerulean plunge that appears to drip into the Andaman Sea, seen at its best from December to March.
No swimsuits or cover ups required, thanks to a profusion of jungle foliage expertly tended by 30 Thai gardeners that turn each of these outdoor playpens into secret sanctuaries.
Scattered about are piles of towels to dry each other off before interlacing still damp limbs on the roomy double sun bed.
Between diving in and winding down, get your hands wet and sticky by feeding each other from the villa’s daily replenishment of aphrodisiac chocolate truffles and luscious Thai mangoes.
US$600-1,230 per night; trisara.com

6. Taj Exotica Maldives

Artificial pools would be a ridiculous addition to the swimsuit and bikini-dropping gorgeousness of the Maldives.
The couple’s treatment in the Alepa Suite at the end of a private jetty is as the name of this Taj property suggests; exotic.
Before exposing delicate skin to sun, guests at Taj Exotica can build up to swimming in the buff with four different hot and cold experience showers, and seaside sun beds with Maldivian herbal mud-loving therapists plying their trade.
After being slathered in mud and loosened up on cocktails and exotic fruit snacks, its time to grab the pretty gal or studly guy, drop the pretense and swim with the lion fish and wrasse (don’t worry gents, your better bits won’t be a main target of the local wildlife.)
US$800 per night; tajhotels.com

7. Soneva Gili, Maldives

Had Robinson set sail with Mrs. Crusoe in tow, he might have gotten lucky and washed up at Soneva Gili in the Maldives.
Balanced on stilts above a shallow lagoon, the Robinson Crusoe Residences are the seven most photogenic over-water villas ever to take the character's name.
With the closest neighbor at least 1,000 feet away and no sign of the butler unless requested, couples are left entirely alone. Splash around the Indian Ocean or even snorkel naked among damsels and Oriental Sweet Lips.
US$1,593 per night; sixsenses.com