【英语生活】品鉴葡萄酒 你注意酒温了吗？

ONE OF MY EARLY wine mentors, the late, great wine writer Alexis Bespaloff, gave me a brief-but nevertheless valuable-piece of advice: 'If the wine is too warm, put an ice cube in the glass, swirl it around for four seconds then take it out.' His suggestion became what my friends and I called 'The Alexis Bespaloff Four-Second Rule.'

Over the years, I've passed the A.B.F.S.R. along to every wine drinker I know-or, for that matter, anyone I've ever encountered who complained that his glass of wine was too warm. It's a technique best suited to an overly warm red, as cooling a white takes a few seconds longer, but it will make any wine brighter, more refreshing, more vivid. Where as warmth can blur a wine's character, the right degree of coolness brings the wine more fully into focus.

Unlike proper wine glasses or the act of pairing wine with food, wine temperature isn't something that most wine drinkers think much about. Even some wine professionals don't seem to consider it overmuch, judging by the service and storage conditions I've encountered over the years.

I've been in restaurants where the wine bottles were stored at a temperature best described as 'balmy'-stacked over the bar or lined up under lights on some very high shelves. I've even been served red wine in a glass that was taken straight from the dishwasher to the table and was literally too hot to touch. (This happened at a famous steakhouse in New York.)

Correct wine temperature-in both service and storage-is one of the most crucial aspects of the enjoyment of wine. A bottle that is too cold or too warm is a wine that's not going to be fully enjoyed. The ideal temperature for serving isn't actually that far from the one at which the wine should be stored. In both cases the answer varies according to the wine's color, type (sparkling or still) and even varietal.

For example, a sparkling wine should always be served much colder than a still one-in part because sparkling wines are generally high in acidity and a high-acid wine is particularly unpleasant to drink warm-but primarily because the cold preserves the carbon dioxide (aka the bubbles). The colder the bottle of Champagne, the more carbon dioxide is dissolved into its contents, and the longer the sparkle will hold. The inverse is true too: A too-warm Champagne is a Champagne that may well be flat. (While a refrigerator is a good short-term storage place for Champagne, long-term storage in a fridge can also make the wine flat, as such a dry environment will eventually dry out the cork.)

Texture and acidity are important parts of the temperature equation. Non-sparkling white wines are best stored around 50 to 55 degrees (about 10 or 15 degrees warmer than the average fridge) and served a bit warmer if they are particularly full-bodied and rich. For example, a big Chardonnay can be served several degrees warmer than a Sauvignon Blanc-which in turn can be served a bit warmer than, say, a very light Pinot Grigio.

Red wines can be stored around 55 degrees or colder and served about 10 degrees warmer (60 to 65 degrees) though light red wines like Beaujolais or Dolcetto can be served lightly chilled (55 degrees, bearing in mind this is all an inexact science). The rule here is similar to that of white wine: The higher in acidity and lighter in body the wine, the lower the serving temperature. If you only have one place to store wine and are limited to a single temperature setting, the classic cellar is 55 degrees.

Too-cool has a price: When a wine is very cold, the flavors are muted, while other aspects like alcohol and tannins are likely to come to the fore. The aromas will be pretty much obliterated as well. Try drinking an ice-cold glass of red wine and see if you can tell much about it. If this is a good wine then you're missing a lot-of course, if it's a cheap wine it's probably just as well.

As for an oxidized wine (one that is flawed or flat due to excessive exposure to air), it's better served really cold, as a high-profile New York sommelier who preferred to remain anonymous, knows. He was confronted with a large number of oxidative Burgundies that had been flown over from France for a private dinner. The winemaker didn't have replacements for the flawed wines. 'So we piled on the ice,' the sommelier recalled. 'It was the only thing we could do.'

Wine temperature is also a matter of individual taste. Some people like their beverages very cold; some don't like anything on ice. Often this has to do with geography. Chris Baggetta, wine director of Quince and Cotogna restaurants in San Francisco and formerly a sommelier at Eleven Madison Park in New York, found that 'New Yorkers like their whites colder and their reds warmer' than their Bay Area counterparts. Why was that? I asked. Ms. Baggetta speculated that San Francisco's 'more consistent' climate allowed Bay Area diners to be more sanguine about temperature while New Yorkers were more accustomed to extremes in temperatures (not to mention in daily life).

San Francisco diners are more open to discussions about proper wine temperature, said Ms. Baggetta. 'They're really curious and inquisitive about temperature variations,' she said. They're also flexible; they will allow Ms. Baggetta to decide whether or not to leave the bottle on the table or to put it in a bucket with ice. New Yorkers, on the other hand, like what they like.

I told Ms. Baggetta that I hate it when a sommelier puts my bottle of wine in an ice bucket. The wine gets too cold and it's usually somewhere far away, often out of sight. I worry that someone else is drinking my wine (yes, this has happened). Surprisingly enough, Ms. Baggetta agreed with my point; she said she doesn't like to have her bottle far from the table either.

Of course I would always choose too-cold over too warm. Around a decade ago there was a trend among New York sommeliers to serve white wines at room temperature. A sommelier would bring a body-temperature bottle to the table and ask in a disapproving tone, 'You don't want this chilled, do you?' Clearly anyone who replied in the affirmative would be cast as a fool. I'd hedge my answer: 'Just a bit.' A friend who remembers that period said he would always respond, 'Yes! Yes! I want it cold. As cold as you can get it'-an over-the-top response that he said made sommeliers think he was nuts and leave him alone.

Geoffrey Troy, proprietor of New York Wine Warehouse, a retail store and wine storage facility that is home to some great collections of Burgundy and Bordeaux, believes that cold is always best. He cited his father's personal cellar, which was set to a constant 48 degrees (seven degrees colder than the conventional cellar temperature).

The lower temperature kept his father's wines so well that 'they taste years younger than the same wines,' said Mr. Troy, who keeps his professional warehouse at 55 degrees in part because a lower temperature would cost much more. But if he could afford it, he would set his storage thermostat to 48 degrees too, he said. Consider it the Geoffrey Troy 48-Degree Ideal Cellar Rule.

《华尔街日报》——已故的杰出葡萄酒作家亚历克西斯·贝斯帕洛夫(Alexis Bespaloff)是我早年的葡萄酒导师之一，他曾给过我一条简短但很宝贵的建议：“如果葡萄酒温度过高，可在酒杯中放一块冰块摇晃四秒钟时间，然后取出冰块。”这条建议后来被我和我的朋友们称为“亚历克西斯·贝斯帕洛夫四秒钟法则”。

多年来，我把这条法则传递给了我认识的每一位葡萄酒爱好者——或者说我遇到的抱怨杯中之酒过热的每一个人。它是一个最适合冷却温度过高的红葡萄酒的技巧，冷却白葡萄酒则需要延长几秒钟时间，但是无论是何种葡萄酒，该技巧都能使酒的色泽更清澈，口感更清新、更鲜明。较高的温度会让葡萄酒的个性变得模糊不清，而适当的凉度会使酒的口感更加鲜明。

与适当的饮酒杯或葡萄酒与食物的搭配问题相比，酒温这一问题并未得到大多数饮酒者那么多的关注。从我在这些年所见的侍酒和藏酒状况来判断，即便是一些葡萄酒专业人士似乎也未过多考虑过这个问题。

在我去过的一些餐厅中，葡萄酒储存的温度用“暖熏熏”来形容最为贴切——一瓶瓶酒被堆放在吧台上，或是陈列在高高的酒柜上被灯光照射着。曾经有餐厅用一个直接从洗碗机中拿到餐桌上的酒杯给我上酒，那个杯子真是烫得让人不敢触碰。（这件事发生在纽约一家知名的牛排餐厅。）

在侍酒和藏酒时均保持适当酒温是品酒过程中最关键的环节之一，过冰或过热的葡萄酒都无法给人带来尽情的享受。实际上，理想的侍酒温度与藏酒温度相差得并不大。在侍酒与藏酒时，温度多高要取决于酒的色泽、类型（起泡型还是无泡型），甚至还有葡萄的品种。

例如，起泡葡萄酒的侍酒温度应当要比无泡葡萄酒的温度低很多，部分原因是起泡葡萄酒的酸度通常更高，而高酸度的葡萄酒温地喝口感特别不好，但主要的原因是低温可保存住二氧化碳（也就是气泡）。香槟酒酒瓶的温度越低，越多的二氧化碳就会溶解在酒中，气泡保持的时间就会越长。反之亦然，香槟的温度如果过，它的风味很可能就会失之平淡。（冰箱虽然是短期储藏香槟的好地方，但长时间在冰箱中储藏也会使香槟的风味变淡，因为这样一种干燥的环境最终会使软木瓶塞变干。）

质地与酸度是设定酒温的重要因素。无泡白葡萄酒的最佳储藏温度为华氏50度至55度（比普通的冰箱温度高出约10至15度），如果它们的酒体特别丰满且风味浓厚馥郁，那么侍酒的温度要高一些。例如，大瓶霞多丽(Chardonnay)的侍酒温度可比长相思(Sauvignon Blanc)高出几度，而长相思的侍酒温度又要比口感非常清淡的灰比诺(Pinot Grigio)高一些。

红葡萄酒可储藏在华氏55度左右或更低的温度中，侍酒的温度要高出约10度（也就是华氏60至65度），如果是像博若莱(Beaujolais)或多瑟托(Dolcetto)这样的风味清淡的红葡萄酒，它们的侍酒温度可稍低一些（华氏55度，请记住这绝非一门精确的学问）。其中的准则与白葡萄酒类似，酒的酸度越高、酒体越轻盈，侍酒的温度就越低。如果你只有一个藏酒的地方，只能设定一种温度，可参考华氏55度的传统酒窖温度。

酒温过低也要付出代价：如果酒非常冰，它的风味也会变淡，而酒精和单宁等其他方面可能就会突出，另外酒的芳香大体上也会消失殆尽。不妨试试来上一杯冰冷的红葡萄酒，看你能喝出什么感觉来。如果它是一瓶好酒，你的损失会很大，当然，如果它是一瓶便宜的酒，大概它本来也就不过如此吧。

至于氧化了的葡萄酒（即过度暴露于空气而出现瑕疵或风味变淡的酒），如纽约一位不愿透露姓名的大名鼎鼎的侍酒师所知，最好还是以很低的温度侍酒。他曾经经手过一大批为某个私人晚宴从法国空运而来的已氧化的勃艮第葡萄酒，但酒庄又无法替换这批有瑕疵的酒。这位侍酒师回忆道：“所以我们加了大量冰块，这是我们唯一能做的事情。”

酒温也是一个与个人口味有关的问题。有些人喜欢非常冰的酒水，有些人则不喜欢任何加冰的东西，这往往与地理位置有关。旧金山Quince餐厅及Cotogna餐厅的葡萄酒总监克里斯·巴奇塔(Chris Baggetta)曾在纽约的Eleven Madison Park餐厅担任侍酒师，他发现与旧金山湾区的顾客相比，“纽约人喜欢喝更冰的白葡萄酒，但红葡萄酒则喜欢喝更温的”。为什么会这样呢？巴奇塔推测，由于旧金山一年四季的气候“更恒定”，所以湾区的顾客对温度更从容，而纽约人则更习惯极端的温度（更别提在日常生活中了）。

巴奇塔说，旧金山的顾客也更能接受有关适当酒温的讨论。她说：“他们非常好奇，非常想知道酒温的差异。”他们也很能变通，会让巴奇塔决定把酒放在餐桌上还是把它放在加冰的桶中。然而，纽约的顾客只喜欢按自己的方式来。

我告诉巴奇塔说我不喜欢侍酒师把酒放到冰桶中的做法，因为酒会变得非常冰，而且他们一般把酒放在比较远的地方，往往都看不到。我担心别人会把我的酒喝了（是的，这种事情确实发生过）。让我非常惊讶的是，巴奇塔也同意我的观点。她说她也不喜欢把自己的酒放在远离餐桌的地方。

当然，在过冰与过热的葡萄酒之间，我永远会选择前者。大概在10年前，纽约的侍酒师界流行一个做法，就是为顾客奉上室温的白葡萄酒。侍酒师会拿一瓶体温温度的葡萄酒来到餐桌前，用一种不以为然的语气问：“您不想要冰的，是吧？”显然，任何一个回答想要冰葡萄酒的人都会被认为是傻瓜。我会迂回地回答：“稍微冰一点儿。”一位还记得那个时期的朋友说，他总会回答，“要，要，我要冰的，能拿多冰的就拿多冰的。”他说，这一过火的回答让侍酒师觉得他是个疯子，也就不搭理他了。

纽约葡萄酒零售店及藏酒库New York Wine Warehouse藏有很多优质的勃艮第和波尔多葡萄酒，老板杰弗里·特洛伊(Geoffrey Troy)认为，低温总是最好的。他举例说他父亲就把其私人酒窖的温度设定在恒定的华氏48度（比传统的酒窖温度低七度。）

特洛伊称，低温使他父亲的葡萄酒都保存得很好，“品鉴起来它们的酒龄要比同样的酒年轻几年”。他本人则将他的商业藏酒库的温度设在华氏55度，部分原因是调低温度会使成本大幅提高。不过他说，如果他能承担得起的话，他也会把藏酒库的温度调在华氏48度。我们且把它当作“杰弗里·特洛伊华氏48度理想酒窖温度法则”吧。