【英语生活】宁夏葡萄酒击败波尔多？

How do Chinese reds compare to Bordeaux?

In a blind taste test held in Beijing Wednesday night, a group of 10 experts, half Chinese and half French, compared wines from China's remote inland province of Ningxia with those from France's famed Bordeaux region. The judges sipped and swished five wines from each region for nearly an hour before reaching a verdict: Ningxia dominated.

Of the top five favored wines, four were from Ningxia, an arid, landlocked region where some of China's best wines are emerging. The top-ranking one was the 2009 Chairman's Reserve from China's Grace Vineyards, a Cabernet Sauvignon with a bold, oaky flavor. Its retail price is between 450 to 500 yuan, or roughly $70 to $80.

The only Bordeaux was a 2009 Saga Medoc from the Barons de Rothschild Collection, a lighter, fruitier red.

The results were shocking, given that China's short wine history is dwarfed by the thousands of years of Bordeaux production. Bordeaux has also become of the most popular wines in China, spurring major demand that has created a hype around the wine and a willingness for consumers to pay tens of thousands of yuan for a single bottle. Bordeaux's largest country for wine export is China.

But several French judges contested the fairness of the competition, saying the Bordeaux selections weren't high-quality.

One requirement for the testing was that all wines had to be of similar price, ranging from 200 yuan to 500 yuan, or roughly $30 to $70. Chinese taxation policy on foreign imported wine bumps up retail prices nearly 50%, meaning the Bordeaux wines tasted were cheap by Western standards.

'It's not a level playing field,' said Thomas Briollet, one of the French judges and a wine import and export manager in China.

Chinese judges, such as Frankie Zhao, founder of market-research and promotion company Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy, disagreed, saying that even the lowest quality Bordeaux wine is still made with more experienced hands and sold with more nuanced marketing than the vineyards just starting out in Ningxia.

Chinese wine has a reputation for tasting like cough syrup, overly sweet and thick. The desire to produce at a massive scale has also caused many wine makers to focus on quantity rather than quality. Vines are overloaded with bunches of grapes, reducing the quality of the yield.

But Ningxia shows promise for the future of Chinese wines, said Jim Boyce, a wine expert and author of the blog Grape Wall of China. 'The vineyards there are focusing on producing better, more sophisticated wines.'

Wine consumption overall is on the rise in China and has doubled in the last five years, making it the seventh-largest consumer in terms of volume, according to data from British consulting firm International Wine and Spirit Research. The country is expected to overtake U.S. consumption within the next 20 years, making it the top wine consumer in the world.

Mr. Boyce predicts that China's love affair with Bordeaux wines will fade as palates become more sophisticated. Chinese vineyards will also likely experiment with flavors and invent varieties that cater to regional tastes and even Chinese food. Cuisines from such provinces as Sichuan and Hunan, known for their spices, overpower Bordeaux, Mr. Boyce said earlier this year.

'You'll see the rise of high-quality Chinese wines,' he said. 'Ningxia has proven it can beat out Bordeaux.'

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
中国葡萄酒与波尔多（Bordeaux）谁更胜一筹？

12月14日晚在北京举行的一场盲品会上，由五名中国专家和五名法国专家组成的评审团对分别来自中国内陆偏远省份宁夏和法国久负盛名的波尔多地区的葡萄酒进行了评比，两地各五瓶酒。评审们轻轻晃动酒杯，品尝了近一小时，最后判定：宁夏胜出。

五种最受喜爱的酒中有四种来自宁夏。宁夏是一个干旱的内陆地区，一些中国最好的葡萄酒就产于此地。排名第一的是中国怡园酒庄（Grace Vineyards）出产的2009年庄主珍藏（Chairman’s Reserve），它是带有浓烈橡木味的赤霞珠（Cabernet Sauvignon）葡萄酒，零售价在450到500元之间，约合70到80美元。

唯一排名前五的波尔多葡萄酒是罗斯柴尔德男爵精选系列（Barons de Rothschild Collection）2009年拉菲传奇梅多克（Saga Medoc），味道较淡、水果味较浓。

这样的结果让人大跌眼镜，因为与波尔多数千年的葡萄酒生产史相比，中国短暂的葡萄酒历史不值一提。而且波尔多已成为在中国最受欢迎的葡萄酒之一，需求激增导致波尔多葡萄酒受到大肆炒作，消费者也愿意为一瓶酒花上数万元。波尔多葡萄酒最大的出口国就是中国。

但有几位法国评审对这次比赛的公正性提出质疑，他们说选出的波尔多葡萄酒质量不够好。

比赛有一项要求是所有的葡萄酒必须价格相近，介于200元到500元之间，约合30到70美元。中国对外国进口葡萄酒的税收政策使得其零售价增加了近50%，这意味着以西方标准来看，参加比赛的这些波尔多酒很便宜。

法国评审布雷欧莱特（Thomas Briollet）说，这样的评比不公平。他是一名常驻中国葡萄酒进出口经理。

赵凡等中国评审则不同意这种看法。他是葡萄酒市场研究及推广公司Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy的创始人。他说，与刚刚起步的宁夏葡萄园相比，即使是质量最次的波尔多葡萄酒，酿酒师的经验也更丰富，销售的市场策略也更精妙。

一直以来，中国葡萄酒给人的印象是，尝起来像止咳糖浆、太甜太腻。大规模生产的需求也使得很多葡萄酒生产商更多地关注数量而不是质量。葡萄藤上结的葡萄过多，降低了产品质量。

葡萄酒专家、Grape Wall of China博客作者博伊斯（Jim Boyce）说，但是宁夏显示出了中国葡萄酒未来的希望。他说，那里的葡萄园正集中生产更好的、更高档的葡萄酒。

据英国咨询机构国际葡萄酒及烈酒研究所（International Wine and Spirit Research）统计，中国的葡萄酒消费总量在上升，过去五年内增长了一倍，按消费量计算，中国已经是世界第七大葡萄酒消费国。20年内中国有望超过美国，成为世界第一大葡萄酒消费国。

博伊斯预计，随着人们越来越懂品酒，中国对波尔多葡萄酒的喜爱会逐渐淡化。中国葡萄园也很可能对酒的风味进行试验，创造出针对地方口味甚至中餐的葡萄酒品种。博伊斯今年早些时候说，如果搭配以辣闻名的川菜和湘菜，波尔多酒的味道就会被盖过。

他说，你会看到高质量中国葡萄酒的崛起；宁夏已经证明它可以击败波尔多。