【英语生活】史上最贵的白葡萄酒

Christian Vanneque fulfilled a long-held dream today by finally getting his hands on a bottle of 1811 Chateau d'Yquem. It just so happens that his $117,000 purchase has also put him in the history books.

His prized bottle is the most expensive white wine ever purchased, breaking the previous record of $100,000 in 2006 for a bottle of 1787 Chateau d'Yquem. Mr. Vanneque's bottle is also a sweet Sauternes from the same Bordeaux chateau, though his purchase was produced in 1811, a year also known as the 'comet year.' Oenophiles throughout history attribute the appearance of a comet for the reason why wines were extraordinary that year.

Mr. Vanneque is a former sommelier at the Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent and one of the experts at the Judgment of Paris wine tasting in 1976 that pitted the top French and California wines against each other. He unveiled the bottle at a London press conference on Tuesday, jointly held with Steven Williams from the Antique Wine Co., which sold the wine.

'For sure, it's the most expensive bottle I've ever bought,' Mr. Vanneque said in an interview.

He now lives in Bali, Indonesia, where he runs SIP Wine Bar. He said that he plans on using the bottle of D'Yquem as a promotional tool for his new venture, SIP Sunset Grill, which is due to open later this summer.

'It will be featured and displayed in a bulletproof showcase, like a painting, so people can see it easily,' Mr. Vanneque said. 'This showcase will be temperature- and humidity-controlled. It'll be a mini-Fort Knox, impossible to open.'

Antique Wine's Mr. Williams said the bottle came into his possession in 2007 after he bought the entire cellar of a major European private collector. His firm took pains to verify the wines' authenticity, focusing on the glass of the bottle, the color of the wine, the label, the cork and capsule surrounding the cork. The wine was also inspected by the Chateau, where it was taken for recorking in 2007.

'We looked at the components, and they all compared exactly to [the originals],' he said. 'It's in immaculate condition, which is quite remarkable given that it's already 200 years old.'

Mr. Vanneque said he doesn't plan on selling the bottle at his new restaurant, but has marked in his calendar to drink it in 2017 at La Tour d'Argent in Paris to mark the 50th anniversary of his career.

The wine is still very drinkable, he added, unlike a red wine of that age. The same 1811 vintage has received accolades in modern times: The U.S. wine critic Robert Parker tasted the wine in 1996 and gave it a 100-point rating, saying it tasted like 'liquefied crème brûlée.'

'I will never resell it, even if a wealthy Chinese gentleman or a rich man from the Middle East offers to buy it,' said Mr. Vanneque. 'I'm not a fancy collector. I'm not rich. I work very hard. This is important that it's not connected to investing. I'm a sommelier. Wine is for drinking.'

Jason Chow

Antique Wine Co.一瓶酿制于1811年的伊甘酒庄葡萄酒，它的成交价为117,000美元。
克里斯琴·瓦纳克（Christian Vanneque）终于实现了自己长期以来的一个梦想：拥有了一瓶1811年伊甘酒庄（Chateau d'Yquem）酿制的葡萄酒。同时，他花117,000美元买的这瓶酒也让他进入了史册。

Christian Vanneque克里斯琴·瓦纳克（Christian Vanneque）他喜爱的这瓶酒是迄今为止成交价格最高的白葡萄酒。先前成交价格的最高纪录是 2006年以100,000美元成交的酿制于1787年的一瓶伊甘酒庄葡萄酒。瓦纳克购买的这瓶葡萄酒也是同一个波尔多酒庄酿制的苏特恩白葡萄酒，只是他的这瓶酒酿制于被称为“彗星之年”的1811年。古往今来的品酒行家都将那年酿制的葡萄酒品质出类拔萃的原因归结为彗星的出现。

瓦纳克先前是巴黎银塔餐厅（La Tour d'Argent）的侍酒师，是1976年发生了顶级法国葡萄酒与加州葡萄酒之间优劣之争的巴黎品酒会的品酒专家之一。7月26日，他在伦敦的一次新闻发布会上向大家展示了这瓶葡萄酒。当时他与来自出售这瓶酒的古董葡萄酒公司（Antique Wine Co.）的斯蒂芬·威廉姆斯（Steven Williams）共同举起了这瓶酒。

瓦纳克在采访中说，“可以肯定，这是我买过的价格最高的酒。”

他目前居住在印尼的巴厘岛，在那里经营着一家名为“SIP Wine Bar”的餐馆。他说，他打算用这瓶伊甘葡萄酒来为他今年夏天晚些时候开业的“SIP Sunset Grill”餐馆招徕顾客。

瓦纳克说，“我将把它装在防弹玻璃做的展示柜里，摆放在显眼的位置，这个展示柜能够调控温度和湿度。它就像一个迷你的诺克斯堡金库，根本不可能打开。”

古董葡萄酒公司的威廉姆斯说，这瓶酒是他2007年从一个很有实力的欧洲私人收藏者手中收购了一整酒窖葡萄酒之后获得的。他的公司在验证这瓶葡萄酒的真伪上花了很大力气：分析酒瓶的玻璃、酒的颜色、标签、瓶塞、瓶塞周围的胶帽。他们还请2007年为该酒更换过瓶塞的伊甘酒庄进行了检测。

他说，“我们观察了酒的成分，其比对结果（和原酒）完全一致。酒的品质没有发生任何改变，考虑到它已经存放了200年，这真是相当了不起。”

瓦纳克说，他不打算把这瓶酒放在新开的餐馆里卖掉，但是，他已经在日历上标出了日子，打算在2017年标志着他事业50周年纪念日的那一天在巴黎银塔餐厅喝掉它。

他接着说，这瓶酒仍然可以饮用，和那个年代酿造的红酒不一样。1811年酿造的那一批酒得到了现代品酒人士的高度赞誉：1996年，美国酒评家罗伯特·帕克（Robert Parker）品尝了1811年的酒之后，给那酒打了一百分，说那感觉就像是“融化了的焦糖布丁”。

瓦纳克说，“我绝不会卖掉它，虽然一位很有钱的中国男士和一位中东阔佬出价要买。我不是财大气粗的收藏家。我不是阔佬。我努力工作，凭辛苦赚钱。这和投资没有一点关系。我是侍酒师。酒就是用来喝的。”

Jason Chow

（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）