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

葡萄酒餐吧走红伦敦

撰文：John Stimpfig ，编译：FT中文网实习生 姜红叶 2011-07-07 (www.ftchinese.com)

高级酒吧一直是葡萄酒爱好者的去处，但他们很少在此同时进餐，也不会专程去餐厅品酒。然而，位于伦敦查令十字街头的Terroirs餐厅就将餐厅与酒吧结合，不仅提供多达三百余种葡萄酒的酒单，也供应地道纯正的法式烹饪。这个倡导“美酒美食，原味原汁”（Great food and great wine sourced with an eager eye for provenance）的地方，既注重品酒体验，也讲究美食搭配，得到了伦敦最权威的餐馆评论的赞赏。最近一两年，新型葡萄酒吧已成为了伦敦热门的饮食趋势。
新型葡萄酒餐吧的另一个创新在于光鲜雅致的自动供酒机，只要在选择酒种后刷一下预付的品酒卡，它就能分毫不差地取配好酒。在Kensington酒房，面对四十余种杯装酒（￡4.15起），客人们通过供酒机，有了更多自信去探索平时鲜少考虑的不知名品种。
被誉为“品酒家新宠”的 28°-50°葡萄酒工坊，因其老板私下从酒农处直接采购珍贵酒品，省去了中间渠道的获利加价，价格远低于市面上的零售价，因此广受青睐。一些葡萄酒商店（wine shop）不仅启用网络销售，在线下还效仿典型的意大利品酒间（enoteca）设置品酒区，让客人走进店里，先品酒再购买。还有多家酒吧将私家客房（private room）改造成为承办秘密酒宴、品酒会、酿酒师晚宴以及葡萄酒课程的包厢，以吸引更多顾客。
在葡萄酒供应的方面，乏味平淡的品牌正被来自精品制造商的佳酿所取代。Kensington酒房里，数量庞大的葡萄酒宝藏包括来自西班牙Jumilla港口、南美patagonia高原以及澳大利亚Eden Valley的葡萄酒，还有上好的勃艮第（Burgundy）、波尔多（Bordeaux）和托斯卡纳（Tuscany），以及1989年的Lynch-Bages（￡362）和1998年的Sassicaia（￡242） 等一百二十种瓶装酒。“我们还会轮换不同的品种，好让人们每次都能有新鲜的享受。”酒房的主人Richard Okroj介绍道。
值得一提的新兴酒种包括天然葡萄酒，适合口味质朴、偏好家庭作坊式葡萄酒的人群。始于巴黎和东京的天然葡萄酒革新（Natural Wine Movement），核心理念在于拒绝葡萄酒生产中的一切添加剂，酿造出以葡萄质地为导向的葡萄酒。这些酒几乎一律来自微型的葡萄栽培园，各个园区只负责几公顷的葡萄种植。然而，这样的葡萄酒挺难对付，“天然葡萄酒卖的并不容易——尤其当它拥有难以驾驭的口味和不同寻常的小气泡时。”Bar Battu酒馆的主人Simon Binder解释道。尽管如此，这些另类的葡萄酒还是吸引了越来越多爱猎奇的行家。
这样的新潮“酒水库”，最终会怎么演变——是酒吧，还是变相的餐馆？“早先的时候，这些食物并不对所有人的胃口，只有百分之十五的收入来自食物，但现在已经超过了百分之三十，原因就在于我们雇佣了更好的厨师。”Artisan & Vine酒馆的主人O’ Mara谈到这种趋势时说道。这些酒吧越来越重视搭配酒饮的菜肴品质。“几乎每个走进类似Terroirs的人都会下意识将其当作传统的葡萄酒吧，我却认为它更趋近餐馆。”著名美食评论家Peter Harden与同事每月至少来一次Terroirs，在他看来，它是引领小碟菜美食趋势的先驱，“这很符合我们今天的饮食习惯。客人们喜欢对菜肴细嚼慢咽、自主选搭，同时配上一杯好酒。这是一种有趣、入时而又精致的风尚。”
本文根据FT旗下奢侈品杂志《如何消费》（How To Spend It）2011年5月号“Toast of the town”编译。

本文的网址：http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001039429

How to Buy: Rare Wines 顶级大师教你如何投资葡萄酒

How to Buy: Rare Wines

2010年 11月 12日 08:16
A status wine certainly runs you less than a De Kooning, but unlike priceless art, a coveted vintage once enjoyed is gone forever. Unearthing these endangered jewels can be tricky, but a few choice experts light the way

As one of this country's top wine consultants, Robert Bohr often has to drop everything in order to schlep off to Alaska to serve as the personal sommelier on one of his clients' fishing trips, or helicopter off to the Hamptons to decant an extravagant host's dinner-party choices. There's also the more serious stuff of prospecting for special bottles; husbanding his clients' collections; selling off their wines at the right time; and dealing with the increasing challenge of snapping up older vintages for them. Such was the time when the phone rang and it was the restaurateur Joe Bastianich on the other end.

'Joe had a good friend with a multibillion-dollar Las Vegas casino business and a bad situation,' Bohr says. 'On premise was a wine whale'-a phrase adapted from the casino-industry term for a high roller, used for a certain kind of status-wine drinker-'from China who would only drink 1985 Romanée-Conti. The casino owner was in a pickle and needed two magnums. Now, Romanée-Conti with age is not exactly something that you go to the grocery store for, and it's even difficult to find them at auction. But I never say no to Joe, because he always treats me right.' Fortunately, Bohr had obtained some for another client and persuaded that client to relinquish the magnums as a favor. Within 24 hours, FedEx delivered the Romanée-Conti to the whale.

A more common and typically less complicated request is to source a birth-year wine. A client appealed to Paul Wasserman, head of the wine shop The Wine Hotel in Los Angeles, to find a bottle for chef Thomas Keller. 'We had to dig up a birth-year wine for Keller as a gift upon the opening of Bouchon Beverly Hills. The gift giver couldn't spend a fortune.' In the end Keller received a 1955 Certan de May, a wine that currently runs about $800 for a bottle in good condition.

For wine buyers, a consultant can be more important than cash. Anyone with enough money can buy a case of 2009 Cheval Blanc (about $12,000 for one of 6,000 cases produced) and wait for delivery in 2012. Buyers looking for stellar wines that are ready to drink now might need to enlist the help of some well-placed contacts as well.

The normal route for snaring rare and coveted items is auction. (Not everyone can link into a Bohr or Wasserman, someone who can make their score on the inside, far away from the gavel.) Some of the auction houses like Christie's are seeing a new crop of young buyers coming in with their friends for older bottles. Meanwhile, many mature collectors are shunning auction for a more intimate route. One Connecticut man, who has 7,000 bottles to his name, explained his aversion to auction: 'Between hedge-fund types trying to outdo each other plus auction fees and New York taxes, I find they are bad value.' He shops internationally and won't divulge more than one of his most recent scores-a 1961 JJ Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese. The wine had surfaced only once in recent history, in 2005 at wine auctioneer Acker Merrall & Condit, for $379. He paid significantly less, he said, for a bottle that came from 'an English gentleman's cellar.' He worked hard for access and he isn't giving over the goods. Nothing short of waterboarding would get a collector to name his contacts, and they're equally reluctant to be identified themselves. 'If it becomes known how to get great wines,' a prominent source in the New York scene says, 'then others will do the same thing and what will be left over for the rest of us?'

Should you choose to enter the obsessive world of wine collecting, you'll need to start schmoozing the right people. One great place to begin is the Bouilland Burgundy Symposia, a wine boot camp held three or four times per year that can cost over $10,000 to attend. This marvelously intimate indulgence was founded by wine importer Becky Wasserman, the ultimate Burgundy insider, and is led by the likes of wine critics Allen Meadows, Anthony Hanson and Clive Coates. If you're a good guest, and Wasserman and her husband, Russell Hone, take a liking to you, you've found your perfect, priceless mentors.

Another great source is a working sommelier. Find one you have a rapport with and then get him on your side. You might begin with recommendations from his list, buying expensive and rare, and allowing him nice gulps to start. Top restaurants with wine lists thick in older vintages, like The French Laundry in California and Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, are obvious places to find influential sommeliers, but consider the whole wine staff. (Some of Bohr's clients today were his customers when he was a captain at Gramercy Tavern in New York.) They can invite you to tastings, train your palate better than a wine class, and educate you on new and old releases.

Tim Kopec, who presides over the list at New York City restaurant Veritas, is generous with his suggestions. Even if you don't buy at auction, he recommends going to the pre-auction BYOB dinners. 'You meet a lot of people,' Kopec says. 'A lot of good wine gets passed around.' Ask the sommelier working who's the biggest collector in the room and send him a glass of something truly special that you've brought. This is like asking the best tango dancer in the room for a spin, so don't bring a bottle of Bordeaux less than 20 years old or some brand-new California cult wine, because you'll be marked as an ignoramus.

Of course, some missteps are rites of passage for all collectors, but there are safe havens. Specialty shops such as London's Antique-wine.com are good for older vintages, and in Paris, the posh new Bordeauxthèque is getting a lot of traffic. The 2,500-square-foot space tucked into the Galeries Lafayette flagship is the world's largest Bordeaux boutique. A joint venture with the Duclot Group, owned by the Moueix family (of Bordeaux wine estate Pétrus), Bordeauxthèque has become a prime target for vintage-happy tourists from Asia and Russia. The store's heart is a marble and alabaster rotunda, a rainbow of verticals that they promise come directly from the cellars of the château itself. This is a key point: When you're dealing with $27,000 for a 1945 Mouton Rothschild, a guarantee of authenticity, in this world of faux bottles, is a nice comfort. Another popular Paris shop is Lionel Michelin's De Vinis Illustribus. Once the spot where Hemingway bought his wines, the boutique is understated and devoted to the charms of older wine. Michelin's current headache is not getting futures for Bordeaux, but finding enough good wine from the lousy vintage of 1960 to make his customers who are turning 50 happy (1960 Château Chalon is one on his radar).

Unlike an exquisite painting or a strand of natural pearls, both of which tend to survive dinner parties intact, top wines are finite and ersatz bottles are rampant. Kopec, the Veritas sommelier, has begun to consult around the world, and one of his duties is keeping his clients' wine purchases authentic. 'If all you want is 1982 Pétrus or 1947 Cheval Blanc, two of the most knocked-off bottles out there, you've got to watch out,' Kopec says. 'If you're new, you're an easy mark for the unscrupulous.'

In wine as in the stock market, it makes sense to diversify. One does not live by status wines alone. Yet many clients are resistant. Paul Wasserman, for example, loves Château Chalon and vins jaunes, the oxidized wines from the Jura. 'We joke in Los Angeles that it's crack,' he says. 'The wines are just exciting, but getting a client to buy some-even though a bottle of the Puffeney '02 will be $80, cheap by most standards-it's a hard sell. But people like what they like.'

TOP THREE:

1. Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 2005, $100.
2. Puffeney Vin Jaune 2000, $70.
3. Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru 2006, $130.

Alice Feiring

一

瓶好的葡萄酒给人带来的心灵冲击当然比不上抽象表现主义大师德•库宁(De Kooning)的作品，但与无价的艺术品不同，一瓶梦寐以求的好酒一旦被享用，就永远消失了。发现珍稀葡萄酒的道路可能一波三折，但好在有几位选酒专家能为我们答疑解惑。

作 为美国顶级的葡萄酒顾问，波尔(Robert Bohr)常常得放下手头的一切，驱车前往阿拉斯加给自己客户的钓鱼之旅当私人酒侍，或坐上直升机飞往汉普顿(Hamptons)，为某豪华晚宴选定的葡 萄酒换瓶。此外，还有一些更严肃的事情，如评测几款葡萄酒的好坏，为客户管理其葡萄酒藏品、帮助客户选择在合适的时点卖出藏品、在越来越激烈的市场中为其 抢购年份久远的佳酿。就在忙着上述这些事情的时候，波尔接到餐厅老板乔伊•巴斯提亚尼奇(Joe Bastianich)打来的一个电话。

波 尔说，乔伊有个好友，在拉斯维加斯投资数十亿美元开了一个赌场，现在遇到了一点问题。赌场来了位“酒鲸”(wine whale，这个词是赌场对于狂热赌徒的一种称呼的变称，指很会品酒的人)，是个中国人，说只喝1985年份的罗曼尼•康帝(Romane- Conti)。赌场老板很为难，急需两瓶酒应急。但这种年份的康帝不是街边小店就能买到的，连拍卖会上都很难找到它们的踪影。不过，我从不拒绝乔伊，因为 他对我一直很好。幸运的是，波尔为一个客户采购过几瓶康帝，并劝说那人帮忙让出两瓶。24小时之内，联邦快递(FedEx)将康帝送到了那位酒鲸的手中。

Photograph by Toby McFarlan Pond; Styling by Noemi Bonazzi

名贵葡萄酒

如 今有一种更普遍但没那么复杂的需求是寻找一瓶生日年份的葡萄酒。有个客户向洛杉矶The Wine Hotel葡萄酒商店的负责人保罗•沃塞曼(Paul Wasserman)提出请求，希望能为名厨托马斯•凯勒(Thomas Keller)找到一瓶酒。客户说，我们得为凯勒找到一瓶他生日年份的葡萄酒，作为其比弗利山勃逊餐厅(Bouchon Beverly Hills)的开业礼物，而送礼的人不想花太多的钱。最后，凯勒收到了一瓶1955年份的迪美庄园(Certan de May)，这种葡萄酒保存良好的话目前售价800美元。

对葡萄酒买家来说，一个好的顾问比金钱更重要。任何一个有钱人都能买下一整箱 2009年份的白马庄园(Cheval Blanc)葡萄酒（每年产量6,000箱，每箱售价约12,000美元），并等待2012年到货。但如果想要买到马上就能喝的好年份的名贵葡萄酒，可能 需要有很好的网络关系才能如愿以偿。

获得那些珍稀而令人梦寐以求的葡萄酒的常见途径是通过拍卖会。（不是每个人都能联系上波尔或沃塞曼， 他们这样的专家能自己评判葡萄酒的价值，而不用通过拍卖的小木槌。）佳士得(Christie's)等拍卖行发现，现在有不少年轻的新买家和朋友一起涌入 拍卖会，寻找年份久远的佳酿。与此同时，许多资深收藏家离开拍卖会，转而选择更私人化的寻酒方式。康涅狄格州有个人收藏了7,000瓶葡萄酒，他解释自己 不通过拍卖会买酒的原因是：在拍卖会上竞价就像对冲基金互相攀比竞争一样，价格一路上扬，再加上拍卖佣金和纽约州的税负，我发现这样买酒很不划算。他在国 际范围寻找佳酿，只愿意向我们透露最近刚刚寻得的一款好酒──1961年份的普朗酒庄日冕园薏丝琳甜白(JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese)。最近，这种酒只在2005年于名酒拍卖行Acker Merrall & Condit中现身过一次，当时售价379美元。他说自己找到的这瓶要便宜得多，来自于一位英国绅士的酒窖。他想方设法才与那位绅士搞好关系，因此不愿意 公开这一渠道。要想让收藏家说出自己的收货渠道，非得严刑逼供才行，而且他们也不愿意让别人知道自己的身份。纽约一位资深人士说，如果谁都知道怎么找到好 的葡萄酒，大家就会一窝蜂而上，那我们这些人就连残羹冷炙都吃不上了。

如果你选择进入令人欲罢不能的葡萄酒收藏领域，就得开始结交正确的 朋友。一个很好的起点是布雅朗勃艮第座谈会(Bouilland Burgundy Symposia)，这个红酒界的新兵营每年举行三到四次，要交10,000美元以上才能参加。该座谈会是葡萄酒进口商、勃艮第葡萄酒的终极专家贝基•沃 塞曼(Becky Wasserman)一手创建的，是一场愉悦而又亲切的葡萄酒教学盛会，由葡萄酒评论家米多斯(Allen Meadows)、汉森(Anthony Hanson)和寇奇士(Clive Coates)联袂主持。如果你能赢得沃塞曼和她丈夫荷恩(Russell Hone)的好感，那就找到了两位完美无缺、堪称无价之宝的葡萄酒导师。

另 一个很好的渠道是结识职业酒侍。找一个与你性情相投的酒侍，然后让他成为你的战友。你可以根据他推荐的酒单，买一些价格不菲的稀有葡萄酒，让他开始对你产 生好感。加州French Laundry和芝加哥Charlie Trotter等顶级餐厅拥有众多年份久远的佳酿，在那里显然能找到颇具影响力的酒侍，但你也应该向那里任何一个从事葡萄酒服务的人虚心求教。（波尔现在 的一些客户是他在纽约Gramercy Tavern餐厅工作时的用餐客人。）他们会邀请你品尝葡萄酒，提供比葡萄酒培训班更好的训练你味蕾的机会，并告诉你哪些酒是新出的，哪些是以前的。

科 帕克(Tim Kopec)是纽约Veritas餐厅的酒侍，他总是很慷慨地给人提供各种建议。即使你不在拍卖会买酒，他也建议你去参加拍卖前的自带酒(BYOB)晚 宴。科帕克说，你会遇到很多人，有很多好的葡萄酒被传来传去。你可以问晚宴上的酒侍谁是现场最大的收藏家，并给那人送去一杯你购买的确实很特别的葡萄酒。 这就像是邀请最棒的探戈舞者与你共舞一曲，因此不要带一瓶年份少于20年的波尔多(Bordeaux)，或一些刚发售的加州新派葡萄酒(cult wine，指那些质量高、产量小、价格昂贵的酒)，不然你会被冠以无知之徒的称号。

诚然，看走眼是收藏家成长道路上必经的坎坷，但也有一 些安全的避风港。一些专卖店，如伦敦的Antique-wine.com，专门出售上好的陈酿；在巴黎，新开的Bordeaux egrave专卖店装饰豪华，吸引了大量的客流量。Bordeaux egrave位于老佛爷百货(Galeries Lafayette)旗舰店中，占地240平方米，是全世界最大的波尔多专卖店。它是拥有法国波尔多产区柏图斯庄园(Petrus)的莫意克家族 (Moueix)与法国著名佳酿集团Duclot Group合资成立并控股的，现已成为亚洲和俄罗斯爱酒人士的游览必选之地。专卖店的核心区域是一个大理石圆形大厅，拱形穹庐的材料据说直接取自柏图斯庄 园的城堡。这是一个关键的亮点：当你花27,000美元买一瓶1945年份的木桐•罗斯柴尔德(Mouton Rothschild)时，建筑物的历史真实性能让你在这个假酒横行的世界感受到一种安全感。巴黎另一个热门的葡萄酒专卖店是米其林(Lionel Michelin)开的De Vinis Illustribus。这间酒坊很低调，只卖年代久远的陈酿，著名作家海明威(Hemingway)曾在这里采购自己喝的葡萄酒。眼下，米其林面临的难 题不是能否订到波尔多的期酒，而是在乏善可陈的1960年葡萄酒中，找到足够多的佳酿，以迎合那些即将步入50岁的顾客的需求。1960年份的夏龙城堡 (Chateau Chalon)是他看中的一款。

一瓶顶级葡萄酒与一幅精美的绘画或一串天然珍珠不同，后者都能在晚宴后安然无恙地保存 下来，但顶级葡萄酒的数量是有限的，而且赝品猖獗。Veritas餐厅的酒侍科帕克已经开始在全球范围提供葡萄酒咨询服务，其中一项职能就是确保客户采购 的葡萄酒是真品。科帕克说，如果你只要1982年份的柏图斯庄园或1947年份的白马庄园这两款最热门的葡萄酒，那就得睁大眼睛小心上当。如果你是个新 手，就会很容易被骗子得手。

投资葡萄酒就像投资股市一样，都应该多元化以分散风险，毕竟一个人不能只靠名贵葡萄酒活着。不过，很多人喜欢 坚持自己的固有选择。比如说，保罗•沃塞曼喜欢夏龙城堡(Chateau Chalon)葡萄酒，还有一种来自法国汝拉(Jura)产区经氧化的黄葡萄酒。沃塞曼说，在洛杉矶的时候，我们开玩笑说推荐葡萄酒令人抓狂。品酒是一个 激动人心的过程，但要让客户买下来却很不容易。即使只是一瓶2002年份的皮孚内(Puffeney)，售价不过80美元，以大多数标准来看都算是便宜 的，但还是很难得到酒客的认可。人们总是青睐于他们原本就喜欢的葡萄酒。

三大推荐葡萄酒：

1. 2005年份的Bartolo Mascarello Barolo，售价100美元。

2. 2000年份的皮孚内黄葡萄酒(Puffeney Vin Jaune)，售价70美元。

3. 2006年份的兰布莱园(Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru)，售价130美元。

So You Want to Start a Wine Collection 收藏葡萄酒的入门级原则

2010年 09月 24日 12:04
Asia's wine collections now rival those of the rest of the world, says Michael Au, Christie's Hong Kong wine specialist. Case in point: The auction house's Sept. 18 sale this year involves a unique collection of 400 cases from the top 13 châteaux in Europe, including Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Petrus and Château Haut-Brion. The bottles are completely untouched, with pristine labels and clean provenance; all are stored properly in Europe. The owner of this fine collection? A South Korean conglomerate - SK Networks.

Wine collectors are a different breed from wine lovers. For a collector, the perfect bottle has less to do with flavor than with value. It is an investment, not for drinking.

Lately, huge demand for fine wines from Asia - buyers from greater China made up of 82% of Christie's spring wine sale in Hong Kong - has pushed up prices substantially, especially for Bordeaux. It looks like a good bottle may be a better buy than many stocks on the market. Last year, a single lot at Christie's, the 'Liquid Gold Collection,' 128 bottles and 40 magnums of Château d'Yquem, fetched more than US$1million dollars, the highest price for a wine lot ever sold in Asia.

But starting a collection takes some planning, says Au. Here, some tenets to keep in mind.

1. French wines are king. If you have to choose one bottle, make it a Bordeaux, says Au. These reds are 'the cornerstones of the Asian wine market.' Producers of Bordeaux, such as Haut-Brion, Château Latour, Château Margaux, Château Lafite and Château Mouton-Rothschild, are considered the industry's blue-chip labels, formally classified as 'first growths' or Premier Crus. 'Burgundies are a good second choice,' he adds.

2. The best source for rare finds: Asia. 'In the months following the financial crash of 2008, lots of European and American sellers pushed their inventory to Asia,' says Au. 'As a result, there's a higher chance to find a rare bottle out here in the Asian market' than in the West.

3. Store it well. Buyers today insist on knowing exactly where bottles have been, since there's little guarantee that a bottle won't be corked or improperly aged. Some storage facilities have even started to use laser engraved codes to help track a bottle or a case? A proper storage facility, where temperatures sit at 13 degrees Celsius and humidity levels range between 55% and 60%, is a worthwhile investment. It costs just US$2 to $5 a month a bottle and ensures the wine won't depreciate in quality.

Amy Ma

收藏葡萄酒的入门级原则 2010年 09月 24日 12:04 Christie 香 港佳士得(Christie's)洋酒部专家欧俊康说，如今亚洲的葡萄酒收藏可以媲美世界其它地方。有例为证，佳士得今年9月18日一场专拍的拍品包括400箱珍贵的来自欧洲前十三甲酒庄的葡萄酒名酿，从拉菲堡(Chateau Lafite Rothschild)口柏翠堡(Chateau Petrus)到奥比昂酒庄(Chateau Haut-Brion)，应有尽有。所有佳酿都以最佳方式在欧洲保存，至今原封未动，还贴着原始标签，保持着最初的清新口感。那么，谁是这批藏品的主人呢？是韩国大型企业集团SK Networks。 葡萄酒收藏者与葡萄酒爱好者不同。对于前者来说，葡萄酒的完美与否主要跟价值有关，口味倒是其次。葡萄酒对他们来说是一种投资，而不是用来满足口腹之欲。 亚洲对精品葡萄酒的巨大需求成为近来葡萄酒价格，尤其是法国波尔多葡萄酒价格飙升的主要原因。佳士得香港顶级珍贵名酒春季拍卖会上，大中华地区的买家占到全部拍卖额的82%。看来买一瓶上好的佳酿会比买多支股票更上算。去年佳士得的一批“液体黄金藏品”(Liquid Gold Collection)──128标准瓶和40大瓶的伊甘酒庄(Chateau d'Yquem)葡萄酒──拍得100余万美元，创下单一批次葡萄酒的亚洲最高拍价。 不过欧俊康表示，涉足葡萄酒收藏前需要做做规划，要知道一些基本原则。 1. 法国葡萄酒是王道。欧俊康说，如果你只能收藏一瓶酒，一定要选法国波尔多，波尔多红酒是亚洲葡萄酒市场的王中之王。波尔多酒制造商，如奥比昂酒庄口拉图堡(Chateau Latour)口玛歌酒庄(Chateau Margaux)口拉菲堡和木桐酒庄(Chateau Mouton-Rothschild)，都是业内公认的 “蓝筹股”，被列为“升值最快红酒”或一等酒庄之列。他补充说，勃艮第葡萄酒是不错的第二选择。 2. 珍贵名品的最佳渠道来源：亚洲。欧俊康说，2008年爆发金融危机后的几个月时间里，很多欧美葡萄酒卖家都纷纷将其陈年佳酿销往亚洲，因此在亚洲市场碰到稀有葡萄酒的几率大于西方市场。 3. 保存条件需适当。现在的买家都坚决要求卖方提供葡萄酒曾经的储藏地点，因为如果一瓶好酒没有用软木塞封存或储存不当，其质量就得不到保障。有些储存场所甚至开始使用激光印刻编码，以对瓶装或整箱葡萄酒进行跟踪。能维持13摄氏度恒温、湿度介于55%-60%之间的储存设备也很值得投资。每月只需花费2-5美元，就可确保葡萄酒品质不会降低。

Telling a Wine by Its Glass 好酒还需配好杯

Telling a Wine by Its Glass

2010年 09月 17日 09:02
I used to have a bit of a glass fetish. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing sinister in my appreciation of glassware, it's just that immediately after university, when I was first getting into wine seriously and had a bit of money in my back pocket, I went out and bought a number of Georg Riedel wine glasses.

Georg Riedel is the most influential man in wine glass design. When he inherited his father's glassware factory in Austria, the young Georg decided to design a range of glasses suited to various styles of wine. The premise was based on what Riedel describes as the 'tongue map.' By directing the flow of liquid toward a specific area of the tongue, a glass can actually alter the flavor of the wine. The Riedel portfolio is huge, with glasses for young Bordeaux, old Bordeaux, Chardonnay, Chianti, Burgundy, Riesling and so on. The prices can also be huge, ranging from £15 for a basic tasting glass to £100 for the Burgundy glass.

At various stages during my glassware fad I owned most of the major examples, including the Riedel Sommeliers Burgundy Grand Cru, whose elaborately ballooned bowl has earned it a place on permanent display in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

But my relationship with very expensive wine glasses ended when they began to break. One by one, my collection disappeared as rough and tumble living in a shared flat took its toll. Whether it was breaking them during washing-up, knocking them off the table or even on one occasion cracking them under hot, running water, I came to the conclusion that drinking wine from hand-made lead crystal probably wasn't for me. I went out and bought six boxes of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) wine-tasting glasses, the approved size and shape-a tapered tulip bowl-for wine judging and competitions and I have used them for tasting, bar the odd exception, ever since. And I must say that, for critically evaluating a wine, they have served me well.

But lately I have been rethinking my stance. I have been to a few dinners of late where the wine in question was, in no uncertain terms, ruined by the glass. Moreover, on other occasions when I have been served wine in Georg Riedel glass I have found it immeasurably improved.

So, with an open mind, an empty notebook and a bottle of wine, I visited Around Wine, Britain's largest glassware retailer, for a tasting.

Back in the days when I was buying serious wine glasses, Georg Riedel had the field to himself. Now there are two or three considerably cheaper suppliers that are worth tracking down. Most notably, Schott Zwiesel, Zalto Glasmanufaktur, Dartington and Eisch. It's worth bearing in mind that it isn't necessary to spend a fortune on your glass. As long as you follow a few basic principles when choosing, most glasses will suffice.

The three guiding principles are: The glass should be as thin as possible; it should not have a rim that interrupts the flow into the mouth; the bowl should also be as fat as possible, with the widest part a third of the way up-this is the level up to which you should pour the wine.

Now, on to the tasting. I selected a 2003 Chambolle-Musigny, in a bid to test the capricious Pinot Noir grape variety. I tasted it in five different glasses. An ISO, a Schott Zwiesel standard white wine glass, Riedel's Vinum Bordeaux, Zalto's handmade burgundy glass and Riedel's famous burgundy glass. In each glass, the wine's taste changed dramatically. In the ISO, it was very intense, with overpowering notes of baked cherry. In the Schott Zwiesel standard white wine glass, spicier notes were highlighted, while the Vinum Bordeaux revealed an earthy character. The latter two glasses were the obvious stars, making the wine taste more refined, pure and balanced. In short, they took all the heat out of it.

The Riedel was by a margin the winner, drawing out more nuanced flavors. But at a £100 a glass, compared with Zalto's £28, I know which I would prefer, especially considering my breakage record.

Will Lyons

好酒还需配好杯 2010年 09月 17日 09:02 我 曾经有点恋杯癖。不要误会我的意思，我对玻璃酒杯的欣赏可不带任何邪念。我说的是在我大学刚毕业的时候，我开始迷上了葡萄酒，口袋里也有了些钱，于是就去买了一些格奥尔格•里德尔(Georg Riedel)的酒杯。 格奥尔格•里德尔是酒杯设计界最有影响力的人物。当年年轻的格奥尔格继承了父亲在奥地利的玻璃酒杯厂时，便决定设计一系列适合各式葡萄酒的酒杯。这些酒杯设计的基础是里德尔所说的“舌头味觉地图”──通过引导酒液流向舌头上的某个特别区域，酒杯可以切实地改变酒的味道。里德尔品牌的酒杯产品线非常丰富，包括为新波尔多红、老波尔多红、霞多丽、基安蒂、勃艮第、雷司令等葡萄酒设计的酒杯。它们的价格也可能很高，从15英镑的基本款品酒杯到100英镑的勃艮第酒杯不等。 在我狂热迷恋玻璃酒杯的不同阶段，我拥有过大部分的经典款里德尔酒杯，包括里德尔御用头等苑勃艮第酒杯（Riedel Sommeliers Burgundy Grand Cru），它精致的球型杯体为其赢得了纽约现代艺术博物馆（Museum of Modern Art）的永久展位。 但是，当这些非常昂贵的酒杯渐次破碎时，我和它们的关系也宣告终结。在艰难而混乱的合住公寓生活的破坏下，我的藏品一个接一个地消失了。有的是清洗时打碎的，有的是从桌子上碰掉的，甚至有一个是被热的自来水烫碎的，总之，我得出一个结论，我不适合用手工制作的铅晶质水晶玻璃杯来饮酒。于是我出门买了六箱ISO品酒杯（即国际标准品酒杯），它们有着经过核准的大小和形状──锥形郁金香杯体──是专门用来评酒和酒赛的，自此以后，除了偶尔例外的情况以外，我都用它们来品酒。而且必须承认，在用于批判性品评葡萄酒时，它们表现得很出色。 但最近我重新思考了自己的态度。近来我出席了几次宴会，毫无疑问，席上的酒被酒杯毁了。而当我在另外一些场合喝到用里德尔酒杯盛的酒时，我发现其口感大有改善。 因此，我带着开放的心态、一本空白笔记本和一瓶酒，造访了Around Wine公司──英国最大的玻璃酒杯零售商，目的就是品酒。 想当初我大量购置专业级酒杯的时候，还是里德尔一枝独秀。现在，市面上又出现了几家值得关注的酒杯供货商，它们的产品要便宜得多。最值得一提的是Schott Zwiesel、Zalto Glasmanufaktur、Dartington和Eisch。请记住，没有必要花巨资购买酒杯。只要你在选择酒杯时遵循一些基本原则，那么多数酒杯都可以满足你的要求。 这三条指导原则是：杯壁应尽可能薄；酒杯不应有阻挡酒流入；腔的边缘口杯体应尽可能宽，在从下至上1/3处最宽──这也是你倒酒时液面应达到的高度。 现在，该来说说这次品酒了。我选择的是2003年的香波慕西尼（Chambolle-Musigny），是一款味道变幻多端的黑比诺酒。我用了五款不同的酒杯：ISO酒杯、Schott Zwiesel标准白葡萄酒杯、里德尔的Vinum波尔多酒杯、Zalto的手工制作勃艮第酒杯和里德尔享誉盛名的勃艮第酒杯。在每个酒杯中，葡萄酒的味道都有了显著变化。在ISO酒杯中，酒味十分浓烈，有很冲的烤樱桃味。在Schott Zwiesel标准白葡萄酒杯中，辛辣的味道很突出，而Vinum波尔多酒杯中的酒显露出一种泥土味。最后两款酒杯是当之无愧的明星，它们让酒的口感更加细腻、纯净和协调，简而言之，它们去掉了酒中全部的刺激味道。 在这两款酒杯中，还是里德尔酒杯略胜一筹，它能引出葡萄酒一些更细微的味道。但是这款100英镑的酒杯与28英镑的Zalto酒杯相比，我知道自己会选哪一种，尤其是考虑到我的打破酒杯纪录时。 Will Lyons

A Bull Market for Wine 葡萄酒进入大牛市 China Pushes Bordeaux Prices Higher

A Bull Market for Wine

2010年 09月 30日 08:39
The flowering of the vines in Bordeaux took place in unsettled conditions this year. The chances are that the region's grapes will not all ripen at the same time, according to French wine merchants. This in turn will make for a tricky harvest and -- in all probability -- a small, weather-affected crop for the 2010 vintage. There have also been storms, which can lead to high humidity and the possibility of rot -- but the quality is thought to be good.

Traditionally Bordeaux's early vintage forecasts were only of interest to a handful of oenologists and wine merchants. But given the returns being made on wine investment, far more people are now interested in the weather before harvest time in the world's largest fine wine region.

In the cellars of the most famous Chateaux that line the gravel mounds of the Gironde estuary in Bordeaux, the 2009 vintage has been maturing in barrel. This is undoubtedly the most hyped vintage since records began -- eclipsing the famed vintages of 1961, 1982 and 2005. Even before the wine has been bottled, its value has already soared. Interest in wine investments is keeping pace.

Those that bought the 2009 vintage early, through the futures based en primeur system are, in certain cases, already sitting on a paper profit. Figures from Fine + Rare wine brokers show that Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2009 has already risen 36% from GBP 10,000 a case when it was released on the market in June to GBP 13,657 today. Similarly Chateau Latour 2009, also produced in the commune of Pauillac, has risen 20% from GBP 10,000 a case when it was released in June to GBP 12,000 today.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2000 has climbed 611% since December 2004 -- when Fine + Rare first started compiling figures on wine investments. A case that would have cost GBP 2,560 in 2004 is now worth GBP 18,400.

Chateau Petrus 2000 has climbed 255% from GBP 12,000 in December 2004 to GBP 36,627 today giving the buyer a return of GBP 24,627 a case. It is not difficult to see why those with a spare GBP 100,000 in the bank are increasingly being tempted to take a punt on some of the world's finest wines.

Live-ex's Fine Wine 100 Index, the London International Vintners Exchange, which tracks the price movement of the world's 100 most sought after wines, has climbed by more than 200% since it was launched in 2001. That's a remarkably resilient performance during a period of such economic uncertainty.

Wine brokers put this down to the fact that fine wine is a luxury product that people aspire to own. Crucially it is limited in supply: Chateau Lafite Rothschild produces around 480,000 bottles a year; Chateau Latour, only around 350,000 bottles. And unlike other luxury items, production cannot be increased because the vineyard areas are more or less fixed. As demand increases supply diminishes because as many, if not more, people want to drink the best vintages as invest in them.

Mark Bedini, chief executive and founder of wine brokerage Fine + Rare Wines Ltd, says: 'The plus side of wine investment is that as time goes by it gets scarcer as people drink it. The likelihood is that over time -- as the wines get older, rarer and in greater demand -- prices will inexorably increase.'

In recent years, these increases have been turbocharged by interest from the Far East most notably mainland China and since 2008, Hong Kong. In that year the Hong Kong authorities abolished all import duty and taxes on wine. This fuelled a huge boom in the Asian market. Wine merchants Berry Brothers & Rudd, who also run a brokerage department, are just one of a number of European merchants and auction houses that have set up offices in Hong Kong.

Adam Bilbey, direct sales manager with Berry Bros & Rudd in Hong Kong says the wine industry has only just started to scratch the surface of the potential Asian market.

He says: 'There has been a huge increase in interest, which started with Hong Kong but has now spread to mainland China. It is driven by the uber-wealthy looking for luxury brands.' Many are buying wine to drink or give as gifts, according to Mr. Bilbey. So given that there are significant returns to be made, how does one go about creating a wine portfolio? Firstly, it is important to choose your Chateaux carefully. Only a very small number of wines have investment potential.

Experts say the highest returns can be found among the very top wines in Bordeaux's Medoc region, classified as First Growths: Chateaux Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild and Haut Brion, although the latter hasn't performed as well as the others. A handful of wines from the other side of the river in Bordeaux -- most notably Chateau Petrus, Le Pin, Cheval Blanc and Ausone -- can be added to this list.

Outside of Bordeaux, a few of the very best wines in Burgundy such as Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Lalou Bize Leroy can offer significant returns. There are also a handful of Rhone wines and Champagne houses.

Mr. Bedini says: 'If you are looking at it purely for investment then my recommendation would always be to look very exclusively at a small number of Bordeaux wines from 2009, 2005, 2000 and 1996 vintages.

'The great thing about Bordeaux is that they are very liquid so if anyone wants to sell their wines they are going to trade out pretty quickly. The four I would recommend are: Chateaux Margaux, Mouton, Lafite, Latour. Chateaux Petrus is more valuable but harder to sell quickly.' By far the best way for private investors to purchase Bordeaux is through the summer en primeur campaign when the wines are offered a year ahead of bottling and shipment, having been tasted from the barrel. The upside to this is that you can secure allocation and favorable opening prices. The down side is that the prices can fall if the wines fail to live up to the initial hype.

The price of a wine is largely determined by its quality. The key marker of this is the view of American wine critic, Robert Parker, who scores all wines on a 100-point scale. Mr Parker's scores are published on his website, erobertparker.com. The Wine Spectator, which also scores wines out of 100, and the opinions of British wine critic Jancis Robinson are also worth checking. There are a number of brokerages and merchants who sell wine en primeur and store it, for a fee, under bond so that you don't have to pay duty or VAT.

The other investment route is through a wine investment fund. These tend to charge a 5% subscription fee, annual management fees of 1.5% or 2.5% and an average exit fee of around 20% of the upside. The Vintage Wine Fund, Wine Asset Managers and The Wine Investment Fund have all been authorized by the U.K. Financial Services Authority.

William Lyons

葡萄酒进入大牛市 2010年 09月 30日 08:39 据 法国葡萄酒商的说法，今年法国波尔多 (Bordeaux) 产区的葡萄在变化多端的气候中开花结果，因此可能不会在同一时间成熟。这样会给收割工作带来一些麻烦，而且十有八九会造成2010年葡萄产量减少。此外，今年的暴雨也比较多，导致气候过于潮湿，葡萄藤容易烂根──不过，人们认为今年的葡萄质量还是好的。 iStockphoto/Abi Hardwick 在以往，只有一些品酒家和酒商对波尔多产区葡萄收成的早期预测感兴趣，但现在葡萄酒已经成为一种投资品，因此很多人都开始关注起这个全世界最大的优良葡萄酒产区在丰收季节前的天气情况。 在波尔多地区吉伦河口(Gironde estuary) 一带的砂砾山丘，分布着最著名的一些酒庄。在它们的酒窖里，2009年份的葡萄酒正在大橡木桶里成熟。该年份的葡萄酒无疑是有史以来最受关注的，甚至遮盖了名闻遐迩的1961、1982和2005年份葡萄酒的光辉。酒还没有装瓶，其价格就已经飙升，同时人们对葡萄酒投资的兴趣也在与日俱增。 大致来说，那些通过期酒(en primeur)销售系统买到2009年份葡萄酒期货的人早已赚到了纸面利润。葡萄酒经纪公司Fine + Rare的统计数据显示，2009年份拉菲(Chateau Lafite Rothschild)葡萄酒的价格已经从2010年6月上市时的每箱10,000英镑上涨到目前的每箱13,657英镑，涨幅高达36%。同在波亚克地区(Pauillac)生产的类似级别的2009年份拉图(Chateau Latour)葡萄酒今年6月上市时每箱为10,000英镑，现在是12,000英镑，涨幅20%。 从2004年12月Fine + Rare公司首次收集葡萄酒投资数据起计算，2000年份拉菲的价格上涨了611%。2004年时每箱价格为2,560英镑，现在是18,400英镑。 2000年份柏图斯(Chateau Petrus)葡萄酒的价格从2004年12月的12,000英镑每箱上涨到现在的36,627英镑，涨幅高达255%，买家每箱就可以赚到24,627英镑。因此我们不难理解，为什么在银行里有10万英镑以上富余资金的人会对投资全世界最好的葡萄酒越来越感兴趣。 伦敦国际酒类交易所(London International Vintners Exchange)佳酿100指数(Fine Wine 100 Index)跟踪全球最受追捧的100种葡萄酒的价格变动，自2001年发布以来，该指数已上涨200%以上。在经济形势如此不稳定的时期，这是非常强劲而抗跌的表现。 葡萄酒经纪商对此的解释是，上好葡萄酒是一种人们渴望拥有的奢侈品，而且至关重要的是，上好葡萄酒的供应量是有限的：拉菲酒庄每年只有48万瓶左右的产量，拉图酒庄只有约35万瓶的产量。而且与其它奢侈品不同，葡萄酒产量无法增加，因为葡萄园的种植面积基本上是固定不变的。随着市场需求的增长，葡萄酒供应会越来越紧张，因为许多人不但想投资最好的葡萄酒，而且也喜欢享用葡萄酒。 Fine + Rare葡萄酒经纪公司创始人及首席执行长贝迪尼(Mark Bedini)说，葡萄酒投资的优势在于，随着时间的推移，酒变得越来越珍稀，因为人们会喝掉很多。从长期来看，葡萄酒的年份越久，数量越少，需求越大，价格就很可能涨得越离谱。 Reuters 罗伯特•帕克的100分评分系统对市场影响很大。 近年来，远东市场对葡萄酒的兴趣也成为其价格上涨的驱动引擎，尤其是中国大陆和2008年以后的香港市场。2008年，香港政府废除了葡萄酒的所有进口关税，极大推动了葡萄酒在亚洲市场的发展。葡萄酒商Berry Brothers & Rudd有一个葡萄酒经纪部门，与许多欧洲酒商和拍卖商一样，该公司也在香港设立了分支机构。 Berry Brothers & Rudd香港公司直销渠道经理比尔贝(Adam Bilbey)表示，葡萄酒行业才刚刚开始满足亚洲市场的一些浅层需求。 比尔贝说，亚洲人对葡萄酒的兴趣大为增加，首先从香港开始，现在已经扩展到中国大陆市场。这要归功于亚洲亿万富豪对奢侈品牌的追逐。据比尔贝讲，很多人购买葡萄酒是为了自己喝或者送人。既然葡萄酒的投资回报这么高，那我们该如何构建一个葡萄酒投资组合呢？首先有一点很重要，要小心选择葡萄酒品牌，只有很少数的葡萄酒具备投资潜力。 专家表示，法国波尔多产区麦道克(Medoc)地区评级为“顶级一等”(First Growth)酒庄的葡萄酒投资回报率最高：即拉菲、拉图、玛歌(Margaux)、木桐(Mouton Rothschild)和奥比昂(Haut Brion)的葡萄酒，但奥比昂的表现没有其它几种那么好。产自波尔多产区河对岸的几款酒也可以加入这一行列，最有名的是柏图斯(Chateau Petrus)、白舒伐尔(Cheval Blanc)和欧松(Ausone)酒庄的葡萄酒。 在波尔多产区之外，勃艮第(Burgundy)产区也有几款上佳的葡萄酒，如罗曼尼•康帝(Domaine de la Romanee-Conti)和拉茹•贝茨•勒鲁瓦(Lalou Bize Leroy)等，投资回报都很高。此外，还有几款罗讷河谷(Rhone)和香槟区(Champagne)的葡萄酒也很不错。 比尔贝说，如果单从投资角度来看，那我的建议永远只有一个，那就是，特别关注2009、2005、2000和1996年份的波尔多葡萄酒。 他说，波尔多葡萄酒的一大好处在于其市场流动性非常好，很容易就能卖掉。我推荐四种葡萄酒：玛歌、木桐、拉菲和拉图。柏图斯的价格更高，但变现没那么容易。目前，个人投资者购买波尔多葡萄酒的最佳渠道是通过每年夏季的期酒发售会，人们品尝木桶中的原酒后，在装瓶和发货的一年前预定葡萄酒。这样做的好处是可以确保买到自己想要的酒，而且享受到优惠的开卖价格；缺点是如果葡萄酒的品质没达到人们的预期，价格就会下跌。 葡萄酒的价格在很大程度上取决于葡萄酒的质量。在这方面，美国酒评家罗伯特•帕克(Robert Parker)的观点十分关键，他给所有的葡萄酒打分，满分为100分，评分公布在他自己的网站erobertparker.com上。《葡萄酒观察家》(The Wine Spectator)杂志也以百分制给葡萄酒打分，另外，英国酒评家简西斯•罗宾逊(Jancis Robinson)的观点也值得参考。有不少经纪商和酒商出售期酒并提供收费的保税储存服务，这样买家就不用支付关税或消费税了。 另一种投资途径是购买葡萄酒投资基金。这类基金一般收取5%的申购费，每年收取1.5%或2.5%的管理费，并收取平均20%左右的赎回费。顶级葡萄酒基金(The Vintage Wine Fund)、葡萄酒资产管理公司(Wine Asset Managers)和葡萄酒投资基金(The Wine Investment Fund)都已获得英国金融服务局(U.K. Financial Services Authority)的认证。 William Lyons

China Pushes Bordeaux Prices Higher

2010年 10月 01日 11:09
In early July, Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. began advance sales of Chateau Lafite Rothschild's 2009 Bordeaux at $18,000 a case.

Within four days, the Chicago-based retailer and auction house had sold out. But its supplier's price had risen, and Hart Davis Hart now sells the 12-bottle cases for future delivery at $23,000--about $1,900 a bottle.

'That is much more expensive than we have ever seen in a previous futures campaign,' says Ben Nelson, president of Hart Davis Hart Wine.

Word is spreading that the top 2009 Bordeaux wines might be the best ever. And if they aren't the best, they're likely to be the priciest.

Part of the reason is near-perfect weather in western France last year.

But wine makers and merchants also credit booming demand from emerging economies, especially that of China, where labels like Lafite and Margaux have joined Prada and Hermes as badges of wealth. Last year, China passed the U.S. to become Bordeaux's biggest export market by volume outside Europe.

Other wines also might benefit from last year's weather and China's thirst. But that won't become clear until those wines are bottled and sold. Bordeaux is unusual in that for the elite 5% of its wineries, futures contracts are exchanged while a vintage is still in barrels. The 2009 Bordeaux won't be bottled until next year at the earliest.

Bordeaux's wine quality also changes year to year more than that from most other regions. A big reason is Bordeaux's location on France's Atlantic coast, which produces varied weather, says William Echikson, author of 'Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution.'

Bordeaux also has local regulations, such as a ban on covers to protect grapes from the rain, that put the grapes more at the mercy of the weather.

Last year, the Bordeaux summer was hot, with daily highs averaging 79 degrees Fahrenheit in July and August. That made for ideal ripening conditions, according to the Council of Bordeaux Wine, which represents the region's wine industry. In September, just before the harvest, the days were warm, but the nights cool, keeping pests away.

'Nature was very generous to us,' says Pierre Lurton, general manager of Chateau Cheval Blanc.

The reputation of the 2009 Bordeaux took off this March, when a wine expert tasted the latest vintage. Robert Parker, one of the world's most influential critics, wrote in his Wine Advocate newsletter that certain 2009 Bordeaux wines 'may turn out to be the finest vintage I have tasted in 32 years of covering Bordeaux.'

Of the 2009 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, he wrote, 'This sensational wine's technical numbers are off the charts,' referring to the acidity and alcohol content.

The prices are all the more extraordinary because they are for wine that will remain in barrels until next year or 2012. Bordeaux's top 200 or 300 wineries use a system called sale en primeur, or presale, for part of their product. Early each summer, they exchange futures contracts with middlemen known as negotiants, who then sell the wine contracts to collectors, investors and fine-wine retailers.

***

Normally, prices climb after a wine is bottled. The 2008 Lafite Rothschild--considered good, but not outstanding--sold from the chateau at EUR185 ($238) a bottle last year. Today it sells for more than EUR1,000, according to Philip Gearing, sales director at wine investment firm Cult Wines Ltd. in England. He says the 2009 version costs EUR860 from the chateau. A spokeswoman for Lafite Rothschild declines to discuss pricing.

'The pricing of the 2009 wines is way, way above what's been seen before for any previous vintage,' Gearing says.

A big factor is China. The volume of Bordeaux bottled wine exported to the country last year was 39 times the volume in 2000, according to the Council of Bordeaux Wine. Exports of 2009 Bordeaux to China increased 97% by volume and 40% by value from 2008.

'China is now our most important market, even before France,' says Paul Pontallier, general director of Chateau Margaux, which recently opened an office in Hong Kong. 'It's really taken off over the past six to twelve months.'

Wine merchants believe Hong Kong investors are purchasing futures with the expectation of selling the wine in coming years to people in China, who have become big purchasers of older vintages. That has helped fuel huge prices increases: Lafite Rothschild 1982 has increased in value 14 times over the past 10 years, according to Cult Wines.

'I have a hunch that a lot of the speculative demand is indirectly driven by current mainland Chinese demand,' says James Rowell, a sales manager at retailer Altaya Wines in Hong Kong.

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte co-owner Florence Cathiard says Chinese purchases en primeur are higher than ever and the chateau has started offering brochures in Chinese.

'It's incredible,' she says, 'because the Chinese were not used to futures.'

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte sold 80% of its 2009 Bordeaux within six hours, at double the price of its 2008, Cathiard says. She forecasts the 2009 vintage will retail around $100 a bottle, compared with $50 to $60 for a typical vintage.

But some critics--including one who helped feed the frenzy--say that while the 2009 Bordeaux will taste nice, the prices are inflated. Parker's secretary says he 'finds the prices for the top 25 or so wines 'absurdly high.''


Kimberly Peterson / Jason Chow

中国推高法国波尔多葡萄酒价格

2010年 10月 01日 11:09

7

月初，芝加哥零售商兼拍卖行Hart Davis Hart Wine Co.开始以每箱18,000美元的价格预售拉菲罗斯希尔庄园（Chateau Lafite Rothschild）2009年波尔多葡萄酒。

Alamy

法国波尔多一个葡萄酒窖。

不到四天，该酒就已售罄。但供应商上调价格，Hart Davis Hart目前以每箱23,000美元销售未来交货的葡萄酒，每箱12瓶，每瓶约合1,900美元。

该拍卖行总裁纳尔逊（Ben Nelson）说，这比此前的葡萄酒期货拍卖贵得多。

2009年顶级波尔多葡萄酒可能是迄今最好的葡萄酒这一言论正在蔓延。即使它们不是最好的，也可能是最贵的。

部分原因在于去年法国西部天气接近完美。

但葡萄酒酿造企业和酒商仍把需求旺盛归因于新兴经济体，尤其是中国。在中国，拉菲和玛歌（Margaux）这样的品牌已加入普拉达（Prada）和爱马仕（Hermes）的行列，成为财富的标志。去年中国超过美国，成为欧洲以外按销量计最大的波尔多葡萄酒出口市场。

其他葡萄酒也可能将因去年的天气和中国的需求而受益。但直到这些葡萄酒装瓶及出售时，情况才会清楚。波尔多葡萄酒不同寻常，因为对于5%的顶级酒庄来说，当它们的一批佳酿还在酒桶里未装瓶的时候，期货合约就已在交易了。最早在明年，2009年波尔多葡萄酒才会装瓶。

《高贵地腐烂：波尔多葡萄酒的革命》（Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution）一书作者埃基克森（William Echikson）说，波尔多葡萄酒每年的质量变化也比其他多数地区要显著。一个重要原因是，波尔多位于法国大西洋沿岸，这里的气候复杂多变。

波尔多也有当地规则，比如禁止在葡萄上遮盖东西以防雨淋，这使葡萄的命运任由天气摆布。

去年波尔多的夏季较为炎热，7月和8月日平均最高气温为79华氏度。据代表该地区葡萄酒业的波尔多葡萄酒行业协会（Council of Bordeaux Wine）称，这是理想的成熟条件。在葡萄采摘前的9月，白天温暖、夜间凉爽，使害虫远离葡萄。

白马庄园（Chateau Cheval Blanc）总经理勒顿（Pierre Lurton）说，大自然对我们太仁慈了。

2009年葡萄酒的美誉今年3月不胫而走，当时一位葡萄酒专家品尝了最新的葡萄酒。全球最有影响力的批评家之一帕克（Robert Parker）在他的《葡萄酒倡导者》（Wine Advocate）简讯里写道，某些2009年波尔多葡萄酒“可能是我32年来报道波尔多葡萄酒的历程中见过的最好的”。

他写道，就2009年拉菲罗斯希尔庄园葡萄酒来说，这一绝妙葡萄酒的技术指标（酸度和酒精含量）打破了旧纪录。

这些酒的价格尤其非比寻常之处在于，它们直到明年或2012年还将存在酒桶里。波尔多顶级的200或300家酒厂为部分产品使用预售机制。每年夏初，他们与交易商交易期货合约，然后交易商将这些葡萄酒期货合约卖给收藏者、投资客和上等葡萄酒零售商。

通常情况下，葡萄酒装瓶后价格将上涨。人们认为2008年拉菲罗斯希尔葡萄酒不错，但不杰出，去年从庄园出来的售价为每瓶185欧元 (合238美元)。据英国葡萄酒投资企业Cult Wines Ltd.销售经理吉尔林（Philip Gearing）说，目前售价已涨至逾1,000欧元。他说，2009年拉菲罗斯希尔葡萄酒从庄园出来的售价为860欧元。拉菲罗斯希尔一位女发言人拒绝讨论定价问题。

吉尔林说，2009年葡萄酒的定价远超过此前任何年份的葡萄酒。

一个重大因素是中国。根据波尔多葡萄酒行业协会数据，去年波尔多瓶装葡萄酒对中国的出口量是2000年的39倍。2009年波尔多葡萄酒对中国的出口量较2008年增长97%，出口额增长40%。

玛歌庄园总经理庞坦勒维（Paul Pontallier）说，中国目前是我们最重要的市场，甚至超过法国。该庄园最近在香港开设了一家办事处，他说，在过去六到12个月中，中国市场已经开始腾飞了。

酒商认为香港投资者在买入期货，预计未来几年将把葡萄酒卖给中国内地买家，目前内地人已成为年份较长葡萄酒的大买家。这帮助大幅推高了酒价，据Cult Wines公司说，1982年的拉菲罗斯希尔的价格在过去10年增长了14倍。

香港零售业者Altaya Wines销售经理罗厄尔（James Rowell）说，我有种直觉，许多投机性需求是间接由中国内地需求带动的。

诗密拉菲特庄园（Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte）共同拥有人卡蒂亚尔（Florence Cathiard）说，中国人购买的预售酒比以往都多，其庄园已开始提供中文简介。

她说，这真让人难以置信，因为中国人过去并不习惯期货。

卡蒂亚尔说，诗密拉菲特庄园在不到六个小时的时间里就出售了80%的2009年波尔多葡萄酒，价格是2008年的两倍。她预计2009年葡萄酒零售价将为每瓶100美元左右，而平常年份的葡萄酒一般卖50-60美元。

一些批评人士，包括助长了这种疯狂的人说，尽管2009年波尔多葡萄酒尝起来不错，但价格也在高涨。帕克的秘书说，他认为25种左右的顶级葡萄酒的价格高得离谱。

Kimberly Peterson / Jason Chow

Enter the flagon: new wines from China 中国葡萄酒的酒香

作者：英国《金融时报》撰稿人 简希丝•罗宾逊

 2010 年04月29日

Forty-eight hours in China recently was not enough for any profound investigation of the exploding wine scene there but it was enough for me to realise that at long last there are some exciting new developments in Chinese-grown wine.	最近48小时的中国之行不足以对当地葡萄酒行业蓬勃的发展进行任何意义上的深入探究， 但足以让我意识到，中国产葡萄酒终于迎来了激动人心的新发展。
My two previous visits had been in 2002 and 2008 and on the second I had been deeply depressed by the fact that, while the rest of the world was making better wine with every vintage, the quality of the Chinese wine seemed to have stagnated. The typical Chinese wine still tastes like a very poor quality Bordeaux Rouge: sometimes not recognisably vinous, thin from overproduction, tart from under-ripeness, and often tough, thanks to an obsession with the unyielding Cabernet Sauvignon grape that has dominated vineyard plantings in China's new wine drinking era. This seems to me to be precisely the sort of wine least likely to woo a neophyte wine drinker, and least likely to be a good match for Chinese food.	我前两次造访中国分别是在2002年和2008年，而第二次访问曾令我倍感沮丧，当世 界其它地方每一季都能酿制出优质葡萄酒时，中国的葡萄酒品质却似乎已停滞不前。典型的中国葡萄酒口感仍像是品质极差的波尔多红(Bordeaux Rouge)：有时竟分辨不出这是葡萄酒，因过量生产而缺乏厚度、因果实欠熟而显得酸涩，因为迷恋解百纳赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)葡萄顽强的生命力而口感生硬。赤霞珠在中国新葡萄酒产区葡萄作物中占据统治地位。在我看来，这种葡萄酒恰恰最不可能博得初尝葡萄酒者 的青睐，也最不可能与中国食物形成完美的搭配。
But, at long last, I encountered a wine made from 100 per cent Chinese grapes that would surely be an absolutely perfect introduction to wine for anyone – such as the more than a billion Chinese who have, so far, never tasted it. And with its convincing core of fruit, easy grapiness and sizzling crispness, it would be a suitable foil for all manner of mild, spicy, sweet and sticky morsels destined for their chopsticks. The only trouble is that it is white, and therefore, in theory, of limited appeal to Chinese consumers.	但这一次，我终于邂逅了一款100%中国葡萄酿制的葡萄酒，它无疑将成为向任何人—— 例如，迄今为止从未尝过这款葡萄酒的10亿中国人——推广葡萄酒的绝佳之选。其令人信服的水果基调，入口顺滑的浆果口味以及令人振奋的酸爽感受，适合作为 甜、淡、辣、浓各种形式中国小菜的陪衬。唯一的麻烦在于，这是一款白葡萄酒，因此，理论上对中国消费者的吸引力有限。
Symphony, the wine in question, is a joint venture. It is made at Grace Vineyard, by far the most successful producer of Chinese red wine to date, based in Shanxi province, with an Australian winemaker and a Hong Kong fortune behind it. But the idea for this lively, young off-dry Muscat came from Torres China, one of the more successful distribution companies set up with great prescience by the dominant Catalan winemaker Miguel Torres as long ago as 1997. They made 10,000 bottles of the first, 2008 vintage and saw them sell out long before next month's launch of a slightly drier 2009. From the 2010 vintage there will be a red version.	这款葡萄酒就是“协奏曲”(Symphony)，一款合资产品。它由怡园酒庄 (Grace Vineyard)酿造，怡园酒庄总部设在山西省，是目前为止中国最成功的红葡萄酒生产商，它的背后是一家澳大利亚红酒商和一位香港富翁。不过这款年轻而 富有活力的半干麝香葡萄酒的创意来自桃乐丝中国(Torres China)，一家较为成功的销售公司。桃乐丝中国是加泰罗尼亚最有影响的葡萄酒商米高·桃乐丝(Miguel Torres)早在1997年凭借其卓越远见成立的。他们首先酿制了1万支2008年份的协奏曲，并在第二个月推出偏干型的2009年份酒之前销售一空。 从2010年份起将会有红葡萄酒协奏曲面市。
I was also heartened to come across truly inspiring red wines from two new wineries. Jade Valley, a thoroughly modern spa resort and winery, also in Shanxi, is artfully set in a particularly bucolic valley, not far from the site of the famous terracotta warriors, by owner Qingyun Ma, one of China's most influential architects. It was their 2006 Pinot Noir that was the biggest shock of all: it was delicate, fruity, perfumed and did actually taste of Pinot Noir (quite a feat for a Pinot Noir grown anywhere, let alone in the wilds of China). This is clearly a small, newish Chinese producer that is worthy of anyone's attention.	我还被两个新葡萄酒庄出产的真正鼓舞人心的红葡萄酒所打动。翡翠谷(Jade Valley)，一个彻头彻尾的现代水疗度假村和葡萄酒庄，同样位于陕西，被匠心独具地安排在田园风味十足的山谷中，距离著名的兵马俑风景区不远，为中国 最有影响力的建筑师之一马清运所有。他们的2006年黑比诺(Pinot Noir)是其中最大的惊喜：它精致而果味十足、气味芬芳并具有纯正的黑比诺口感（无论在哪里种植都需要相当的技巧，更不要说在中国的山野之地）。这显然 是一家值得引起任何人注意的新生代小型中国葡萄酒生产商。
Silver Heights, up in the Helan Mountain region of Ningxia province, west of Shanxi, is another bright light to have emerged on the modern Chinese wine scene. Silver Heights' Summit red Bordeaux blend is made by one of China's few female winemakers, Emma Gao. She trained in Bordeaux and it certainly shows. The vineyard, at an altitude of 1,200 metres, belongs to her family and the small quantity of wine made is distributed by Torres, for whom she once worked.	银色高地(Silver Heights)位于宁夏的贺兰山区，是现代中国葡萄酒产业涌现的又一亮点。银色高地的阙歌(Summit)波尔多混酿红葡萄酒是由高源(Emma Gao)——中国极少数女性酿酒师酿造的。她曾在波尔多受训，这一点显而易见。海拔1200米的葡萄园属于她的家族所有，少量葡萄酒由她曾经效力的桃乐丝 分销。
Ningxia seems to be the most popular province for the latest round of investment in Chinese vineyards. The climate here is much drier than that of Shandong province on the east coast where so many of the first vineyards of the modern era were located. Yet winter temperatures rarely fall as fatally low as in Muslim Xinjiang in the far west where vines have to be banked up for survival every autumn, and which is so far from China's main centres of wine-drinking population.	宁夏似乎是最近一轮中国葡萄园投资最热门的省份。这里的气候比东部沿海的山东更为干 燥，山东是众多现代首批葡萄园的所在地。而冬季的气温又不像西部偏远的新疆穆斯林区，很少降到生命线以下，在那里每年秋季必须将葡萄藤埋起来才能存活，而 且距离中国主要的葡萄酒饮用人口中心又太遥远。
Pernod Ricard have also invested in Helan Mountain. After an early involvement in the Dragon's Seal brand, the French multinational has now set up in a joint venture with locals in Ningxia province and an Australo-Chinese team is already making a range of solid varietals using Helan Mountain as a brand name. (Chinese laws on appellations and the protection of place names are so far non-existent). Because of the cold winters here, the Pernod Ricard team are considering planting Cabernet Severny that incorporates genes from the Mongolian species Vitis amurensis.	保乐力加(Pernod Ricard)也在贺兰山区进行了投资。在早期涉足龙徽(Dragon's Seal)品牌后，这家法国跨国公司如今与宁夏当地公司以及一个澳中团队一起建立了合资企业，以贺兰山为品牌名生产了一系列优质品种（中国法律至今尚无对 称谓和产地名的保护）。由于这里冬季严寒，保乐力加团队正考虑种植解百纳塞佛尼(Cabernet Severny)，一种结合蒙古种山葡萄基因的俄罗斯赤霞珠。
One company, Tontine Wines, specialises in wines made from all-amurensis vines grown in Jiangxi province in the south-east of China. Nearly three quarters of the wines they sell under the Tongtian and Tongtian Hong labels are sweet.	通天酒业(Tontine Wines)是一家专门酿制各种山葡萄酒的公司，这种山葡萄生长在中国东南部的江西省。公司以通天或通天红商标销售的葡萄酒中有近四分之三为甜酒。
Doubtless many more foreign bees are currently buzzing round the honeypot that is the potential for Chinese wine. Honiton Energy, an alternative energy company based in Beijing, plans to invest $50-$100m in establishing a Chinese wine operation that will include importing a “big volume of wine from a reasonably good, large, but financially troubled winery in either New Zealand or Australia, and rebrand[ing] it in China”. This is presumably to tide them over while their Chinese vineyards are established.	毫无疑问，还有更多的外国蜜蜂正围着蜜罐嗡嗡作响，这个蜜罐就是极具潜力的中国葡萄酒 产业。总部设在北京的替代能源公司宏腾能源(Honiton Energy)计划投资5千万-1亿美元，用于中国葡萄酒的运作，其中包括“从新西兰或澳大利亚相对优质、大型但存在财务困境的酒庄进口大量葡萄酒，并在 中国重新进行品牌命名”。这也许是在它们的中国葡萄园建立之后的权宜之计。
The eyes of the fine wine market in China are on the joint venture announced last year between the owners of Château Lafite (whose French wines' commercial success in China has been truly astounding) and the Chinese giant Citic group. To the surprise of many they have chosen to invest in Penglai in humid Shandong, as has another Bordeaux-Chinese joint venture. The main partner in Great River Hill winery is Dr Karl-Heinz Hauptmann, co-owner of Bessa Valley in Bulgaria with Stephan von Niepperg of Château Canon la Gaffelière in St-Emilion, with practical expertise from Marc Dworkin of Bordeaux. The first wines are expected in 2012.	中国精品葡萄酒市场的目光都集中在去年成立的一家合资公司身上。该公司由拉菲酒庄所有 人（拉菲在中国的商业成功堪称一个真正的奇迹）和中国企业巨头中信集团共同组建。让很多人吃惊的是他们选择在湿润的山东蓬莱投资，这里还有另一家波尔多 ——中国合资公司。大好河山葡萄酒业公司(Great River Hill winery)的主要合作伙伴是保加利亚贝萨山谷(Bessa Valley)的共同所有人卡尔·海因茨·赫伯特曼博士(Dr Karl-Heinz Hauptmann)和位于圣-达美隆(St-Emilion)出产嘉芙丽永(la Gaffelière)的卡农酒庄(Château Canon)的史蒂芬·冯·尼佩希(Stephan von Niepperg)，以及具有专业实践经验的波尔多酿酒师马克·德沃金(Dworkin of Bordeaux)的。第一批葡萄酒预计在2012年问世。
For a long time, the so-called Sino-French Joint-Venture Dynasty Winery was envied as being capable of producing some unusually good Chinese wine, with a particularly admired Chinese winemaker. Wine distributors ASC were keen to acquire this property but the deal fell through and it has been acquired by the Taiwanese family that owns the neighbouring land. But the key to success in China is distribution.By no means all of these hopeful new wine producers have the networks in place for selling their wines. Only the giant companies Cofco with their Great Wall and premium brand Château Junding, Changyu, Dynasty and Dragon Seal can afford the sums necessary to buy their way in to mass distribution in the complex jungle that is the Chinese wine market.	在很长一段时间里，所谓的中法合资王朝酒业(Dynasty Winery)一直以能够生产品质非凡的中国葡萄酒，以及拥有德高望重的中国酿酒师而为人艳羡。葡萄酒经销商圣皮尔(ASC)热衷于收购这一产业但交易以 失败告终，而后它被拥有邻近土地的台湾家族所收购。但是在中国成功的关键在于销售。不管怎么说，所有这些满怀希望的新兴葡萄酒生产商都没有现成的网络销售 他们的葡萄酒。只有行业巨头中粮集团(Cofco)以及旗下的长城(Great Wall)和优质品牌君顶酒庄(Château Junding)、张裕(Changyu)、王朝和龙徽能够承担在丛林密布的中国葡萄酒市场打开大规模销售之路所必需的费用。
For tasting notes on current Chinese wines, see Purple pages of www.jancisrobinson.com	对当今中国葡萄酒的品酒记录请参看www.jancisrobinson.com的 紫色网页。
	译者/诸彦青

美酒美食搭配大法 Advice on Wine-Food Pairings

2010年 02月 10日 09:16

What wine goes with this dish? What dish goes with this wine? We're asked those questions all the time. We recently had an experience that might help answer them.

Our story starts a few years ago, when we were in Napa for a quick trip, staying at a small hotel in Rutherford. After we had dropped our luggage in our room, our noses led us to a pretty, little restaurant attached to the hotel. It was early afternoon and the restaurant was closed, but there was a buzz at the bar. There, with about a dozen bottles of wine and several plates of food before them, were the restaurant's staffers, including the chef and the sommelier. We asked what they were doing and they said they were trying to pair wines with foods that would become the next week's wine-pairing menu.

We asked for a reservation for that night, and they looked at us as if we were crazy. We didn't know then that the restaurant, La Toque, was pretty famous and reservations were hard to come by. We vowed to return, and we finally did during our recent trip to Napa and Sonoma. Arriving anonymously with Media and Zoe, we found a prix fixe menu for $85. For an extra $45, which turned out to be a bargain, they'll pour the wine they've selected for each dish. The menu changes every Wednesday.

Elevated Tastes
We believe that great pairing of wine and food is what elevates fine restaurant dining from delicious to truly memorable. As more top American restaurants present tasting menus, we always find it fun to tell the sommelier to match each course with a different wine - 'and be bold.' We set a price limit and then sit back and enjoy being surprised. Sometimes the staff sees this as a fun mission - such as at New York's Gramercy Tavern, Chicago's Charlie Trotter's and Yountville's French Laundry, where we've had meals we'll always remember because of the pairings. But other times, even at expensive and famous restaurants such as Daniel in New York, the staff approaches this with a lack of passion, and we quickly forget the food and the wine.

At La Toque, things were different because so much thought had been put into the pairings before we sat down. The matches were inspired and some were downright risky, such as Gary Farrell Pinot Noir and monkfish with red-wine sauce, fava beans and white asparagus. Pinot with monkfish? Monkfish and red-wine sauce? White asparagus with red wine? Hard to believe, but it worked. After floating back to our hotel, it occurred to us the people who created such magic could probably give us some tips about pairing our own meals to wine. So we called chef and owner Ken Frank and his sommelier, Scott Tracy.

'A little growth happens every Wednesday,' Mr. Frank told us. 'Sometimes we're matching the wine to the meat or matching to the sauce. Sometimes we'll make a match that works with parts of a dish. Sometimes one works with the whole thing and it just sings. Sometimes the wine brings out the best in the dish. Sometimes a wine and a food bring out the best in each other. Sometimes there are parallel tones and they're in perfect harmony.'

One recent pairing that pleased Mr. Tracy was sashimi of dayboat scallop with Japanese vegetable salad, paired with a dry Alsatian Riesling. Why? 'I wanted some fruit here to balance the pickled vegetables and a bit of weight for the spice, and I knew it needed to finish dry to cut the sauce cleanly,' he says.

Both men are quick to say that this is poetry, not science, and that it's all about finding what works through trial and error. Still, in a series of interviews with Mr. Frank and Mr. Tracy, here are some lessons we gleaned from what they told us:

1. Start with what you know and grow from there. Trust your palate. Just like cooking - and wine - common sense and experience are what count.

2. Show no fear; experiment. When in doubt, pop the cork and try a new wine. Never stop exploring. A couple of weeks ago, La Toque offered seared rare yellowfin tuna on a marmalade of red onion and portobello mushroom. Before going on to the next paragraph, close your eyes and think about what wine you'd serve that with.

No, wait, take another minute. OK, now.

La Toque served it with a Sangiovese - the earthy Italian varietal with a core of upfront fruit - from Washington. 'It was just fabulous,' Mr. Frank says. The Sangiovese, Mr. Tracy says, 'has a beautiful, cherry note with leathery tones and it worked well with the mushroom and the sweetness of the onions. Sangiovese works well with beans as well. It has a great affinity for certain dishes like beans and herbs.' If you remember that Sangiovese is what makes Chianti in Italy, you can begin to appreciate this context, and almost taste the combination.

3. Open the wine while you're cooking and taste it. It might inspire you.

4. Generally speaking, the more oak in a wine, the less versatile it is with food. The sommelier asks: Sweet butterscotch and vanilla are great flavors, but are you having popcorn and ice cream for dinner tonight? That said, for those members of the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) Club who think no big California Chardonnay ever pairs well with food, Mr. Frank gives an example of a pairing that sang: 'A rich, buttery, toasted oak, typical big California Chardonnay with Alaskan halibut with a toasted leek beurre blanc sauce, sauteed corn and chanterelle mushrooms.'

5. Sauces are a lost art in most kitchens. They're a bridge between wine and food, and they are as important to the wine as they are to the main ingredient.

6. Have Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc handy. They're so versatile. Of course, there's California Pinot Noir and Oregon Pinot Noir and Burgundy made from Pinot Noir, not to mention Cabernet Franc from all over the world. And they're all different. But that's what's fun about this - you never can be sure. You need to experiment to get this right for you. La Toque pairs American Pinot Noir with fresh corn polenta with seared foie gras and chanterelles, for instance, because 'the sweet corn with the rich, savory seared foie gras and sautéed chanterelles may be the perfect complement to soft, forward Pinot Noir,' Mr. Frank says. 'But paired with a more traditional-style red Burgundy, the sweetness of the corn overpowers the wine and can almost make it taste sour.

'With Burgundy,' he says, 'the fruit is less lush and berrylike, and there's often a little funk that I find very sexy in the right amount at the right time.' Mr. Frank often serves that with his 'Forager's Salad,' which he says 'evolves through the year with either root vegetables in winter or beans in summer, wild mushrooms of the season, duck or pork confit and sometimes foie gras and fresh truffles.' Why? 'The natural slight sweetness of the vegetables, the earthy mushrooms and pork or duck flavors bring out all that is good about red Burgundy.'

7. Finally, the more willing you are to try new wines, the more opportunities you have to try a different pairing. Gruner Veltliner is a weighty white wine that's a specialty of Austria. It's not widely available everywhere yet, but be on the lookout for it because it's quite tasty and different. Mr. Frank created a skate dish with pea curry sauce that he describes as 'a very unusual dish, and hard to pair.' Sure sounds like it. 'If you try to match to the pea flavor, the curry throws you a curve,' he says. 'So after trying at least four or five wines, even Scott was scratching his head. And then the Gruner Veltliner light went on! It was like bingo on the first sip. It handled the minerally vegetable tones of the peas and the exotic aromatic quality that hooked up with the curry. We were saved.'

Mr. Tracy adds: 'We had the winner and it was instant. People would never think of ordering it. But it's pairings like that that turn the lights on.'

Dorothy J. Gaiter / John Brecher

 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》。

哪

种葡萄酒适合配这道菜？什么菜适合搭这种葡萄酒？人们总是向我们提出诸如此类的问题。我们近期的一段经历也许有助于解答这类疑问。

故事缘起于几年前，我们去著名葡萄酒产地加州纳帕山谷(Napa)做短途旅行，住在Rutherford的一家小宾馆。把行李放在房间后，我们一路闻香，来到酒店旁的一个小餐厅。当时正值午后，餐厅没有营业，但吧台那儿却热闹非凡。包括主厨和酒侍在内的餐馆工作人员都聚在一起，面前摆放着十几瓶葡萄酒和几碟菜。我们上前询问，他们说正在研究葡萄酒和菜肴的亲和度，准备下周的美酒美食搭配菜单。

相关报导

品葡萄酒的11个常见问题
新手品酒 从哪里开始？

我们提出要预订当天的晚餐，他们直勾勾地盯着我们，彷佛看到一群疯子。当时我们并不知道，这家名叫La Toque的餐厅非常有名，很难订到位子。我们暗下决心，有机会一定要再来一次，不久前再度去纳帕山谷和索诺玛(Sonoma)时终于如愿以偿。我们和梅蒂亚(Media)和佐伊(Zoe)一道造访那家餐厅，在菜单上找到一份85美元的套餐，只要多加45美元（事后证明这个价钱太值了），他们就会为每一道菜倒上与之相匹配的葡萄酒，套餐的菜品每周三都有所改变。

提升品味

我们相信，如果葡萄酒和菜肴搭配得当，在一家不错的餐馆用餐的感受就会从好吃提升到难忘。在美国，越来越多的顶级餐厅推出品味菜单，我们总是乐此不疲地让酒侍给每道菜倒上不同的葡萄酒，并让他们“大胆尝试”。我们给选用葡萄酒的价格定个上限，然后就往椅背上一靠，享受美酒与美食的搭配给我们带来的惊讶。一些餐厅觉得这种做法很有趣，比如纽约的Gramercy Tavern，芝加哥的Charlie Trotter's和扬特维尔(Yountville)的French Laundry，那里的酒食搭配总让我们记忆犹新。但在其他餐厅，即使是一些名声在外且价格昂贵的餐厅，比如纽约的Daniel，服务生对这种做法却没啥兴趣，我们也很快就忘掉了那里的食物和葡萄酒。

在La Toque餐厅的感受截然不同，因为在我们坐下用餐前，他们就已经精心设计好美酒佳肴的搭配方式。有些搭配是神来之笔，有些则很有冒险精神，比如法雷尔酒厂(Gary Farrell)的黑品乐(Pinot Noir)红葡萄酒与“蚕豆白芦笋红酒酱安康鱼”的组合。黑品乐配安康鱼？安康鱼加红酒酱？白芦笋搭配红酒？难以置信，但真的很棒。晕晕乎乎地回到酒店后，我们突然想到，打造这一魔幻组合的人也许能给我们提供一些美酒美食的搭配小窍门。就这样，我们给餐厅老板兼主厨肯•弗兰克(Ken Frank)及其酒侍斯考特•特雷西(Scott Tracy)打了个电话。

“每个周三，我们的菜单都会发生一点变化。”弗兰克向我们介绍说，“有时我们用葡萄酒搭配肉食，有时用葡萄酒搭配酱汁，有时让酒去配菜肴的一部分，有时让酒去配整道菜肴；简直妙不可言。在某些情况下，葡萄酒能凸现出菜肴的精华，有时则相互烘托，有时两者琴瑟相合，达到一种完美的和谐。”

最近让特雷西感到愉悦的一款搭配是“日式蔬菜沙拉扇贝生鱼片”跟亚尔沙斯区薏丝琳干白(Alsatian Riesling)的组合。为什么呢？特雷西说，我想用一些果味来平衡腌菜中稍重的味道，我知道得用干白来搭配，在菜肴浓郁的酱汁之中给人以清新口感。

弗兰克和特蕾西都坦言，美酒美食的搭配就像做诗一样，不是一门严谨的科学，而要通过不断的尝试和失败来寻找最佳的组合方式。尽管如此，在与弗兰克和特雷西的一系列交谈中，我们总结了如下一些要点：

1、从自己熟悉的开始尝试。相信自己的感觉，选酒和烹饪一样，常识和经验才是最关键的。

2、不要害怕，多试几次。如果无法确定一款搭配是否合适，不妨换种新的葡萄酒试试，永远不要停止探索。几周前，La Toque餐厅推出一道菜，“红洋葱褐蘑菇微醺黄鳍金枪鱼”。在看下一段之前，先闭上你的眼睛，想想自己会选什么葡萄酒与之搭配。

不，等一等，再想一分钟。好了，往下看吧。

La Toque餐厅选的是从华盛顿运来的一款朴实无华、果香味浓郁的意大利红葡萄酒桑娇维赛(Sangiovese)。弗兰克说，感觉简直太棒了。特雷西说，桑娇维赛有一种黑樱桃的气息，强劲坚实，与蘑菇和洋葱的甜味非常相配，跟豆子也很搭。桑娇维赛与豆类和香草有一种天生的亲和力。桑娇维赛葡萄是用来酿造产自托斯卡纳区的勤地酒(Chianti)的主要酿酒葡萄，了解这一点，你就能开始体会其特点所在，并几乎能亲身感受到桑娇维赛与那道菜的美妙融合。

3、在家做菜的时候不妨打开一瓶葡萄酒品尝一下，说不定能给你带来灵感。

4、通常而言，一种葡萄酒里的橡木味越重，与菜肴搭配的多样性就越低。虽然橡木味是葡萄酒的一种独特风味，但并不适宜与菜肴搭配。这好有一比：奶油和香草的味道都很好，但你用晚餐时会选择爆米花和冰激淋做主食吗？ABC俱乐部(Anything But Chardonnay，即认为霞多丽葡萄酒太过泛滥的人)认为，好的加州霞多丽葡萄酒根本没办法配任何菜肴。对此，法兰克给出一个绝妙的搭配：大品牌的加州霞多丽葡萄酒口感浓郁，呈明亮的柠檬黄，拥有完整的橡木味，配上“白奶油沙司嫩烤玉米鸡油菌阿拉斯加大比目鱼”这道菜是最好不过了。

5、在大多数的烹饪过程中，调制酱汁是一门失传的艺术。酱汁是沟通葡萄酒和菜肴的一架桥梁，不但对食材主料的发挥很重要，对葡萄酒的选择也有很大的影响。

6、家中不妨常备黑品乐和品丽珠(Cabernet Franc)葡萄酒，它们适合各种场合。当然，黑品乐有加州的，俄勒冈的，还有法国勃艮第(Burgundi)黑品乐；品丽珠就更不用提了，产地遍及世界各地。而且，不同产地的黑品乐风格不一，但这也是乐趣所在，因为你永远说不准下一瓶会是什么味道，必须多尝试才能找到自己喜欢的品种。举例而言，La Toque餐厅将产自美国的黑品乐葡萄酒与“干煎肥鹅肝鸡油菌及玉米粥”搭配，因为“玉米的微甜以及干煎肥鹅肝鸡油菌的丰腴恰好与黑品乐细致平滑的口感相得益彰”，弗兰克说，“但如果这道菜搭配传统风格浓厚一些的勃艮第黑品乐，红酒的风味会被玉米的甜度掩盖住，品起来有些发酸。”

“勃艮第黑品乐的果香不那么浓郁，如果保存时间理想，饮用适量，勃艮第黑品乐的口感往往强劲有力，让人感觉很性感。”弗兰克说。他经常用这款酒配“掠夺者沙拉”(Forager's Salad)，这道菜“历经多年的改良演变，冬天可以用马铃薯、胡萝卜等根用蔬菜，夏天可以用豆类，外加时令野生蘑菇，配上脆皮鸭肉或猪肉，有时选用鹅肝和新鲜块菌。”为何如此搭配？“因为蔬菜的天然气息和微甜、野生蘑菇以及猪肉或鸭肉的风味能激发出勃艮第黑品乐红酒的精华所在。”

7、最后一点，你越愿意尝试新的葡萄酒，就越有机会体验新的酒食搭配方式。格联纳威特林那(GrunerVeltliner)是一款口感厚重的奥地利著名葡萄酒，目前还未在全球广泛供应，但由于口味上佳，特点鲜明，很多人都在找这款酒。弗兰克发明了一道用豌豆咖喱酱的冷盘，以他自己的说法，这道菜“非常独特，很难找到葡萄酒与之搭配” 。事实也确实如此。“如果你想匹配豌豆的气息，就很难兼顾咖喱的味道，”他说，“我们尝试了至少四五种葡萄酒，但都不行，连斯考特都开始挠头了。最后我们灵机一动，选了格联纳威特林那葡萄酒，喝上第一口，就发现这简直是天作之合，它兼顾到了蔬菜的天然气息以及咖喱特有的异香，我们得救了。”

特雷西补充说：“我们找到了一对绝配，人们根本想不到这样的组合，而正是这类灵光乍现的选择，给我们带来无尽的享受。”

Dorothy J. Gaiter / John Brecher

Liquid Assets: La Tour d'Argent's Big Pour

By MATTHEW ROSE

With a world-class wine cellar auctioning off some of its holdings, many collectors are hoping for bargains

PARIS—"Our wines live in total darkness," said David Ridgway. The head sommelier of the fabled Left Bank restaurant La Tour d'Argent was half gliding, half trotting, like a well-heeled hobbit, through a maze of chilly, damp and dimmed alleys buried two stories below the Quai de Tournelle. Pointing to the high wooden racks holding thousands of bottles of precious French vintages, he added, "Watch your step."
One of the world's top wine specialists, Mr. Ridgway has been carefully creating this world-class cellar of 420,000 bottles for nearly three decades, handpicking bottles directly from producers and maintaining the cellar at a constant 12 degrees Celsius (about 54 degrees Fahrenheit) and 85% humidity. "Each bears a small tower—the crest of La Tour d'Argent—indicating they arrived as two-year-olds," Mr. Ridgway explains proudly. "And they stay for the rest of their lives."

La Tour d'Argent

From left: Château Mouton Rothschild (1970), Pétrus (1983), Vosne-Romanée Henri Jayer (1988), a 1947 rum, Vieux Cognac 'Clos du Griffier' Café Anglais (1788)

Well, not all of them.
On Dec. 7 and 8, some 18,000 bottles, a little more than 4% of La Tour d'Argent's holdings, are slated for auction at Piasa's Salon Hoche in Paris. With expected proceeds of an estimated €1 million, or about $1.5 million, the event is one of the most eagerly anticipated Paris wine auctions since Mayor Bertrand Delanöe sold off former Mayor Jacques Chirac's Bordeaux collection in 2006.
Proceeds, Mr. Ridgway says, will go to replenish the cellar with 2009 wines and refurbish the centuries-old restaurant upstairs, restoring luster to its panoramic view of Notre Dame, the Seine and the rooftops of the capital. Founded in 1582, La Tour d'Argent has served kings, queens and presidents.
The auction of high-end Premier Cru (first growth) Bordeaux classics—such as Château Latour, Lafite-Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild, Ausone, Haut-Brion, Cheval Blanc and Château Margaux—doesn't include very many of the most sought-after vintages, such as 1945s, and just one Pétrus, a magnum from 1983, with an estimate of €900, or about $1,350. Among the Burgundies, which now make up 60% of the cellar, are Meursault Clos de la Barre Lafon, Puligny Montrachet Referts Sauzet and Vosne Romanée Jayer, but none of the crowning glories of Pinot Noir like La Tâche and Romanée Conti, which are kept under lock and key in the cave.
Three bottles of pre-Revolutionary Vieux Cognac "Clos du Griffier" from 1788 will be offered, with an estimate of €2,500 each. La Tour d'Argent inherited them when its owner, André Terrail, married the daughter of the owner of Paris's famed Café Anglais. He merged the fungus-covered bottles into his restaurant cellars in 1914, and they haven't moved since. "They are very drinkable. The last one I had was perfect," Mr. Ridgway says. "The fungus is actually a good sign and an excellent preservative—on the outside of the bottle, that is."
Provenance and conservation are meaningful to wine collectors, as well as to the restaurants Piasa expects to bid. Yet in some cases, the auction estimate is less than the price for the same bottle on La Tour d'Argent's 400-page wine list. Piasa, not La Tour d'Argent, made the estimates. "We developed the estimates based upon the market, without considering the prestige of La Tour d'Argent," says Alexis Velliet, Piasa director and auctioneer. "It is difficult to say how much provenance adds to the value of the bottle," he adds. "Only the buyers know."
Price inflation and insatiable global demand from buyers including oil-rich Russians and Chinese industrial magnates have made the top French wines unaffordable. The auction's low estimates tell of prices paid for grand cru wines before the market took off in the late 1970s. "In 1982, I bought 15 cases of the 1982 Pétrus," says Mr. Ridgway. "At 142 francs per bottle [about $30], I knew I was acquiring an amazing wine. It was a giveaway!"

La Tour d'Argent

The cellar at La Tour d'Argent.

Some believe the low estimates are meant to whet buyers' interest. "Estimates for many lots are extremely low and will probably go for twice what's marked in the catalog," said Romik Arconian, a Paris rare-wine merchant, who says he intends to bid on a few lots.

One wine enthusiast is less than enthusiastic about the Tour d'Argent auction. Albert Givton, a Canadian wine expert and author based in Vancouver, British Columbia, calls the auction "an accountant's sale." "The accountants essentially told them to sell just enough to come up with the money required to renovate the restaurant, get rid of stuff they don't want and throw in the odd little treasure—the Vieux Cognac—as an appetizer," he says.
"If it's a '47 Pétrus, great, but if it's a Volnay—who cares? You can buy that in the street," Mr. Givton continues. "If they were serious, they would sell 100,000 bottles and throw in some of the real treasures—their fantastic first growth Bordeaux, La Tâche, old Château d'Yquems…stuff like that."
André Terrail, the third-generation owner of La Tour d'Argent, disagrees. "We have La Tâche and Romanée Conti, but we have very few," he explained. "These aren't difficult to sell. What we're selling is overstock. Not a single bottle that we aren't proud of. All the wines offered in the sale are still on the menu."
One wine expert who will most certainly bid is ... David Ridgway. "I'm not a wine nut, and wine is not my religion," he says. "And yes, I'll probably be bidding—but for the wines no one else wants, because, well, I know they will be good."
—Matthew Rose is a writer and artist based in Paris.