【英语生活】意大利人的“香槟酒”

Prosecco, or sparkling wine from Italy, is often considered the cheap alternative to Champagne. That status was reaffirmed three years ago when Rich Prosecco packaged it in a can and marketed it in ads that featured Paris Hilton in a skimpy outfit sipping the bubbly from a straw.

Why does Prosecco get such a bad rep? And what makes it so much cheaper than the French bubbly? Following in the footsteps of the WSJ's wine columnist Will Lyons and his column on Cava (Spanish sparkly), here's the lowdown on the drink that you've thought was best served as a Bellini.

Made in a tank. Prosecco differs from Champagne in how it's made and where it's from (certified Champagne must be made in the Champagne region of France). Champagne requires a complicated two-step process known as the 'traditional' method: a base wine that has already undergone its first fermentation is bottled, then spiked with a small mixture of sugar and yeast right before its capped with a metal crown. The sugar/yeast mix causes the secondary fermentation, which adds the carbonation. Later, the metal crown is removed, along with any of the sediment that builds up in the bottle, and a small dosage of sugar according to the desired sweetness the winemaker wants to achieve is added to the bottle. At that point, the mushroom-shaped cork and a wire cage is placed to ensure the cork doesn't pop involuntarily.

Sounds complicated? It is, especially when you compare it to Prosecco and most other sparkling wines, which use the 'tank' method. In this process, the secondary fermentation occurs in a large sealed tank, rather than a bottle. Also unique to Prosecco is that sometimes, winemakers will cut short the secondary fermentation to produce a less fizzy variety called frizzante gentile. The fully-carbonated version is called spumante and is generally more expensive than the less bubbly ones.

Plentiful, cheap and on tap. From a business standpoint, the tank method has its advantages: it's far cheaper to produce large quantities it's not as fussy as dealing with it each bottle individually. However, there are some major disadvantages too. For one, the bubbles in the resulting sparkling wine won't be as small and consistent as those found in bottle-fermented sparklers. And all those subtle flavors that are common in Champagne including that toasty biscuit flavor are not to be found with the tank technique. In the case of Prosecco, it's more one-dimensional on the palate, heavier on citrus flavors and lacking the long finish of top-end Champagnes. For these reasons, Prosecco is priced far below Champagne in Hong Kong, one can easily find a bottle of Italian sparkling for 115 Hong Kong dollars (US$15), while Champagne starts at more than twice that price. Italians see the drink as a casual affair as well, as it's often served on a tap, like beer, and delivered to bars in kegs.

The Bellini effect? But Prosecco's cheap and cheerful reputation is exactly why it has become so wildly popular in recent years: in the U.S., sales of Prosecco grew from 450,000 cases in 2007 to 750,000 cases in 2009, according to beverage trade website Shanken Daily. The publication also predicts that Prosecco could match Champers sales in the States (last year, the U.S. bought 1.3 million cases of French bubbly). Part of the rise of Prosecco may be the rise of the Bellini, the classic brunch drink invented at Harry's Bar in Venice, made up of two parts Prosecco and one part peach purée and served in a Champagne flute. Olive Garden, the mass Italian chain in America, even serves up a frozen version of it now, though we're sure this concoction would make Venetians gasp in horror.

Jason Chow

Amy Sussman for The Wall Street JournalProsecco起泡酒
Prosecco酒就是意大利的起泡酒，经常被看作是法国香槟的廉价替代品。三年前，这种形象被进一步深化：葡萄酒酿造商Rich Prosecco推出了易拉罐包装，并且请帕丽斯口希尔顿（Paris Hilton）做广告来推销这种酒。在广告中，穿着暴露的帕丽斯口含吸管，啜饮着这种起泡酒。

Prosecco的形象为什么如此廉价？什么原因让它相较于法国起泡酒便宜很多？在大家的心目中，它最好是调成贝利尼酒（Bellini）来饮用。现在，追随《华尔街日报》的葡萄酒专栏作家威尔口莱昂斯（Will Lyons）及其有关卡瓦酒（Cava，西班牙起泡酒）的专栏文章，我们来深入了解一下这种酒。

酒罐酿制。Prosecco与法国香槟酒的不同之处体现在酿造方法和来源上（正规法国香槟酒必须产自法国香槟地区）。法国香槟的酿造必须经过复杂的两步酿造，该流程被称为是“传统”酿造方法：将第一次发酵后的初级酒（base wine）装瓶，在盖上边缘带有锯齿的金属瓶盖之前加入糖和发酵剂，使之产生气泡。糖与发酵剂的混合物会导致二次发酵，增加碳酸气的饱和度。接下来，去掉金属瓶盖，过滤掉瓶中累积的沉淀物，根据需要的甜度给瓶中加入适量糖。这时候，塞入蘑菇形的软木塞，加上铁丝箍以保证软木塞不会意外崩出。

听起来挺复杂？确实如此，尤其是与Prosecco和其他大多数用“酒罐”发酵的起泡酒相比时。在这些起泡酒的酿造过程中，二次发酵在一个很大的密封酒罐中进行，而不是在酒瓶中进行。Prosecco还有一个独特之处是：酿造商经常会简化二次发酵过程，酿制出各种泡沫较少的被称为“frizzante gentile”（微泡酒）的Prosecco。碳酸气达到饱和的Prosecco被称为“spumante”（起泡酒），一般比气泡较少的Prosecco价格更高一些。

量大、价廉、打开龙头即可取用。从商业角度来看，酒罐酿制法具备几方面的优势：数量大，单位成本低，省去了逐瓶酿制处理的麻烦。但同时，也有一些重要的不利之处。第一，和瓶装发酵的起泡酒相比，这种起泡酒的泡沫不够细腻和均匀。法国香槟酒普遍具有的各种细腻的味道，包括那种烤饼干的味道，酒罐酿制法都无法再现。Prosecco给舌头的感觉更为单调，只有一种浓重的柑橘味，缺少顶级法国香槟酒那种悠长而丰富的口感。因此，在香港，Prosecco价格远低于法国香槟酒。花上115港币（约15美元）就可以买到一瓶意大利起泡酒，但一瓶法国香槟酒的起价是这个价格的二倍还要多。意大利人也将Prosecco看作是一种寻常酒水，因为它像啤酒一样，可以打开龙头取用。这种酒是像啤酒一样用小酒桶送到酒吧里去的。

受了贝利尼酒的影响？但是Prosecco价廉、甘冽的特点正是它近年来广受欢迎的原因：来自酒水交易网站Shanken Daily的数据表明，美国市场Prosecco的销售量从2007年的450,000箱增加到2009年的750,000箱。该网站出版的刊物预测，Prosecco在美国的销售量将与法国葡萄酒的销量一争高下（去年，美国进口了130万箱法国起泡酒）。Prosecco销量的增加很可能是由于贝利尼酒销量增加所致。贝利尼葡萄酒酒是威尼斯Harry’s Bar餐厅发明的经典的早午餐饮品。它由两份Prosecco和一份桃泥勾兑而成，然后倒在香槟杯里端给客人。美国的大型意大利连锁餐厅Olive Garden甚至推出了冷冻版本的贝利尼酒。我们敢肯定，这种调配法肯定会让意大利人惊讶得大跌眼镜。

Jason Chow

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