金融时报:关于香槟你不可不知的事

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2021年09月26日

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关于香槟你不可不知的事

阅读文章涨知识——香槟是法国人奉献给世界的绝世佳酿，而年份香槟更是香槟中最珍贵的一员——在葡萄的最佳成熟期采摘并经过最严谨的流程酿造出来。如何挑选香槟？香槟最适合饮用的储藏年份？你是否懂得如何品鉴一瓶优质的香槟？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

lore知识；学问[lɔː]

hail致敬；猛发；使像下雹样落下[heɪl]

notch up创下；达到

ripeness成熟；老练['raɪpnɪs]

cliffhanger扣人心弦的比赛['klɪfhæŋə]

palatable美味的，可口的；愉快的['pælətəb(ə)l]

tactfully巧妙地；机智地['tæktfəli]

aroma芳香[ə'rəʊmə]

limelight众人注目的中心['laɪmlaɪt]

CIVC法国香槟酒行业委员会

tarry-eyed过分乐观的；幻想的['stɑ:ri,aid]

intrinsic本质的，固有的[ɪn'trɪnsɪk]

glamorous迷人的，富有魅力的['glæmərəs]

fizzy起泡沫的；嘶嘶作响的['fɪzɪ]

zesty兴致很高的['zesti]

austere严峻的；简朴的；无装饰的

magnum大酒瓶（容量为1.5升）['mægnəm]

Roederer Cristal水晶香槟

Still sparkling? （895 words）

By Jancis Robinson

Vintage years are important in wine lore. Vintages tend to acquire their reputations early on and are usually stuck with them for the rest of their active lives. The 2001 vintage of red bordeaux, particularly on the right bank, has arguably gained in stature over time, as did the 1993 vintage of red burgundy, but these are exceptions.

In Champagne, the 1996 vintage was hailed early on as exceptionally good, not least because the grapes notched up record levels of both ripeness and acidity. At a recent showing of his excellent NPU prestige bottling, champagne producer Bruno Paillard called the 1996 vintage a “naughty boy” because it was so changeable and such a cliffhanger for producers as they waited for acid levels to fall to palatable levels, “but the result is fantastic for those who have the patience to wait”. This demanding vintage followed the hot summer of 1995, whose earlier-maturing wines were initially regarded as inferior to the dramatic 1996s.

Today there is considerable revisionism about the reputation of the 1996s. Many champagne drinkers and producers are now expressing doubts about how well the 1996s have aged. In some cases, the acidity, rather than tactfully receding into the background to allow mature fruit and complex aromas to blossom, continues to hog the limelight while the fruit seems already to be losing its power. This is particularly true of regular 1996 vintage champagne from less starry producers. The downgrading of 1996 often goes hand in hand with an approving reappraisal of the 1995s. Some 1995 champagnes that have particularly impressed me recently were the P2 late releases of Dom Pérignon, both white and pink, Bruno Paillard's NPU and Charles Heidsieck's Blanc de Millénaires.

It may be worth noting that the only time I have been invited to a generic tasting in Champagne by the inter-professional body, the CIVC, was in 2002 when it asked a group of wine writers from all over Europe to participate in a blind comparison of wines from the 1995 and 1996 vintages. My conclusion at the time was starry-eyed. “On average I have awarded the same overall score to 1995s as to 1996s (3.3 stars), but when you consider that most of the famous names are still on vintage 1995 or older, and that a high proportion of the 1996s [we tasted] are from lesser-known producers, I think the vintage's intrinsic worth shines through.”

Twenty years is quite an age for a champagne, even a vintage-dated one that is generally based on the finest base wines available, but the high acidity of the 1996s should, at least in theory, be enough to keep the best of them soldiering on into their third decade.

The fine-wine trader BI (known as Bordeaux Index before diversifying into pastures new, notably top quality champagne) tends to hold an annual tasting of 10-year-old champagnes. At this year's event were eight 2006 prestige champagnes plus a Krug Grande Cuvée based on the 2006 vintage. But, in honour of BI's 20th anniversary, this year these were supplemented by a dozen 1996 champagnes, including virtually all the most glamorous ones.

Having tasted these 1996s — admittedly some of them extremely expensive — supplemented by a few others tasted recently, it seems you have to head for the crème de la crème of Champagne to be guaranteed a really outstanding 1996, and that, yes, there are disappointments to be found. Two bottles of Gosset Grand Millésime 1996 and a magnum of Lanson Gold Label 1996 were just a bit too tart for comfort.

The weekend before last at a private dinner, for instance, I tasted two bottles of Bollinger Grande Année 1996 from the same case. The first was served blind and I guessed it was at least 10 years older, probably more. It was barely fizzy and had a severe shortage of fruit — the common fault in 1996s that have not aged gracefully. But a second bottle was much, much fresher and zestier, even though it still finished a little dry. My tasting note ended “better than some of the most austere 1996s but not glorious”. (This sort of bottle variation is, alas, all too common in wines both still and sparkling.)

……

The finest 1996 champagne of all in the BI tasting was from a (very rare) magnum of Roederer Cristal. This was a very particular pleasure to taste because, thanks to worldwide demand for Cristal, it is so unusual to come across examples of this luxurious wine with much bottle age on it — and even rarer to find it from the supposedly optimum magnum size. But I swear it was not just the rarity that was so exciting but also the extraordinary range of aromas of gingerbread, baked apples and a positively electric sort of energy in this youthful wine. You would never guess from either the taste or the look of this wine that it was 20 years old.

When I first tasted this wine at the end of 2002, presumably soon after it was released, it was really not very communicative at all and didn't start to show what it was capable of for another eight years or so. I see that when I tasted it, again from magnum, in 2007 I observed: “This should make spectacular old bones — if it's allowed to.” Cristal really does repay patience even if it is hardly ever given it.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.In which year the vintage was hailed exceptionally good?

A.1995

B.1996

C.1998

D.2000

答案(1)

2.Which is not the reason that people will like the champagne?

A.grapes notched up record levels

B.earlier-maturing

C.ripeness and acidity are unexceptionable

D.excellent NPU prestige bottling