你喝奥地利红酒吗？A new Austrian empire?

Austrian white wines have been the darlings of the world’s more sophisticated sommeliers for some years now, but are wine drinkers ready for Austrian reds? In San Francisco, the cradle of Californian wine, the Chronicle last month devoted a long article to them. The forum on my website has been animatedly discussing the burning topic: “Are Austrian reds poised for a popularity explosion?” Last August a high-profile blind tasting was held with the top tasters of Singapore, who ended up preferring Austrian Pinot Noirs to many a famous red burgundy.

多年来，奥地利白葡萄酒历来是全球顶级调酒师的至爱，但葡萄酒爱好者从心底里能接受奥地利红酒 吗？上个月，《旧金山新闻》（the Chronicle，旧金山是加州的葡萄酒主产地）对此作了长篇累牍的报道。本人的网上论坛对这个热门话题讨论得不亦乐乎：“奥地利红酒为全球大流行作好 准备了吗？”去年八月，新加坡的高级品酒师举行了一场备受瞩目的蒙瓶品酒会，黑皮诺(Pinot Noir) 在击败了多款知名勃艮第红酒后最终胜出。

For the first time ever, therefore, I decided at the recent generic tasting of Austrian wines in London, an event held every year at the Institute of Directors, to ignore the whites made on the Danube upstream from the capital and to taste only reds – most of them made south and east of Vienna where Pannonian warmth spreads in from Hungary.

因此，最近在伦敦举行的一场奥地利葡萄酒的通用品酒会（每年一次在董事学会 (Institute of Directors, IOD)举办的盛会）上，我平生第一回决定不喝产于维也纳(Vienna)以西多瑙河(Danube)上游两岸的白葡萄酒，改而只喝红酒——它们多数产于 维也纳东部及南部，从潘诺尼亚平原(Pannonian)吹来的暖湿气流经匈牙利进入维也纳。

I can report that these wines must be very absorbing because my tasting speed seemed to be only about half what it usually is and I ended up for the first time ever being shooed out of the tasting room by the men from Sensible Wine Services, ostentatiously gathering up bottles, glasses, spittoons and ice buckets around me.

我觉得这些酒一定十分醇厚，因为我品鉴的速度似乎只有往常的一半都不到，而我平生第一次到头来是被Sensible Wine Services的员工“赶出”了品酒室，他们装模作样在我身旁收拾酒瓶、酒杯、痰盂以及冰块桶。

As for the quality of the Austrian reds on show at the IOD, I found some that were really, really exciting, but perhaps not quite enough for me to make a blanket recommendation that wine lovers should head decisively to the Pannonian plain for red wine thrills. It does seem to be worth paying a bit extra for single vineyard bottlings, which generally sell for closer to ￡20 than ￡10 a bottle. That said, I have noticed at generic tastings in London that potential exporters have been told so often that the UK market is dangerously competitive, and British wine buyers horribly penny-pinching, that some tend not to bother to show their top wines. (This was manifest, for example, at the recent inaugural generic tasting in London of, believe it or not, Turkish wines.)

就董事学会品酒会上展出的奥地利红酒的品质，我发现其中几款真得让人印象深刻，但也许也不足以 让我毫无保留地推荐葡萄酒迷直奔潘诺尼亚平原去畅饮一番。但似乎真值得多掏点钱去喝酒庄产的单瓶装红酒，通常每瓶售价接近20英镑，而一般瓶装酒通常卖 10英镑。也就是说，我在伦敦通用品酒会上注意到潜在的出口商通常被告知英国市场竞争异常激烈，英国葡萄酒的买家抠门到极点，有些酒庄一般舍不得展出最好 的酒。（信不信由你，最近刚刚在伦敦举行的首届土耳其葡萄酒通用品酒会就是个活生生的例子。）

What Austria can offer, however, is a trio of truly distinctive dark-skinned grape varieties. One of them, Zweigelt, is capable of making exuberantly fruity wines that, in their usual unoaked form, can provide charming drinking for less than ￡10 a bottle. A good introduction to Zweigelt’s juicy flavours would be the regular 2009 from the admired Thermenregion red wine producer Johanneshof Reinisch. This is a big, bold wine that somehow tastes, as well as looks, purple – perhaps because it seems to be stuffed with the fruit of purple-coloured berries.

但是，奥地利所提供的是由三种独特的黑皮葡萄酿制的系列酒。其中一种叫妃泽 (Zweigelt)的葡萄，能够酿造出葡萄味特别浓的酒，这种未经橡木桶存放的酒（每瓶售价不到10英镑）定能让葡萄酒迷们过足酒瘾。品味具有浓郁葡萄 味的妃泽酒，温泉地区(Thermenregion) 知名酒厂Johanneshof Reinisch酿制的2009年出的普通酒是个不错的选择，此酒酒味醇厚浓烈，不但外观呈紫色，喝起来还有点冲——原因象是掺入了大量的紫色浆果。

I found myself admiring two much more serious examples of Zweigelt, however. K+K Kirnbauer’s Girmer 2008 is made from 52-year- old Zweigelt vines whose roots burrow as deeply as 25 metres below the Girmer vineyard in Mittelburgenland. Chock-full of energy, it was aged for 18 months in barrels made from oak grown in a forest owned by the same family, making it a truly local product. Franz Leth, whose vines are grown on the deep loess soils of Wagram, makes particularly striking Zweigelts. The unoaked Leth Klassik 2009 is modelled on the exuberant reds made in Austria before the late-20th-century invasion of the fruit-snatchers, otherwise known as small oak barrels. (One of the reasons that the time may be right for Austrian reds is that Austrian winemakers have ended their love affair with barriques and now have a more balanced relationship with oak.) Leth also makes perhaps the most dramatic Zweigelt of all, in really successful vintages only, in Gigama – late-picked, carefully selected grapes from which maximum flavour is extracted and the result given almost two years in barriques but is not dominated by their influence.

但是，我发现自己特喜欢另外两款更为正宗的妃泽酒。2008年出品的K+K Kirnbauer’s Girmer酒由布尔根兰中部地区(Mittelburgenland)Girmer葡萄园里树龄达52年的妃泽葡萄树酿制而成，它的根深植地下达25 米。活性十足的酒存放在橡木桶里达18个月，桶又由同一家族所有的林木所做，使它成为正宗本地酒。弗朗茨?莱斯酒庄(Franz Leth)的葡萄树长在瓦格拉姆(Wagram)很深的黄土地中，能够酿造出正儿八经的妃泽酒。在20世纪末果酒(fruit-snatchers)大举 上市前，未经橡木桶存放的2009年出品的Leth Klassik酒就是参照品类齐全的奥地利红酒酿制而成，即众所周知的小橡木桶装酒。（奥地利红酒生适逢其时，其中一个原因可能就是奥地利的酿酒商如今不 再单纯用法国大木桶来灌装葡萄酒，更倾向于用橡木桶。）莱斯酒庄还酿造了也许是最浓烈的妃泽酒（只在最好的葡萄收获年份），在Gigama，精挑细选的晚 摘葡萄存放在大木桶里差不多两年后，酒味最为醇厚，但并不会被所装木桶所左右。

Another Austrian red wine grape speciality is St Laurent, whose origins are obscure but whose wines are unusually velvety. The wines tend to lusciousness and can taste a little sweet, lacking the structure and perhaps longevity of Austria’s finest Pinot Noir. Again, Johanneshof Reinisch of Thermenregion made one of my favourite examples, its Holzspur 2004, which actually tasted almost more like a C?te R?tie, so smoky and satin-textured was this marvel, made from very low-yielding vines planted by the grandfather of the current incumbent Michael Reinisch. In Burgenland to the south, on the shores of the Neusiedlersee, both Pittnauer and Umathum make fine, if plumper, St Laurents.

另一种酿造奥地利红酒的特色葡萄是圣洛朗(St Laurent)，它的具体来历不得而知，但它酿制出的葡萄酒特别醇和，酒味甘洌，略带一丝甜味，没有极品奥地利黑皮诺酒的那种纹理，也许存放时间也没有 对方长。此外，温泉地区Johanneshof Reinisch酒厂酿制了我最爱的一款酒——Holzspur 2004，这款极品酒品起来差不多更接近黄金坡红酒(C?te R?tie)，烟熏味重、缎面质感强，它实际上由迈克尔?赖尼希（Michael Reinisch，他目前执掌家族酒庄）的祖父当年所栽种的葡萄树所酿（该树的葡萄产量很低）。在南部布尔根兰地区(Burgenland)新希德尔湖 (Neusiedlersee)湖畔，Pittnauer与 Umathum酒庄均能酿制上乘（更为丰盈）的圣洛朗酒。

But the grape variety that is probably most likely to put Austrian reds on the map is Blaufr?nkisch, known as Kékfrankos over the border in Hungary, and Lemberger in southern Germany and Washington state. It has the most attractive, and currently fashionable, combination of medium rather than full body, a refreshing aroma, and the ability to transmit quite subtle differences in terroir with precision – in Austria anyway. The greatest concentration of fascinating Blaufr?nkisch is in Burgenland, with the wine produced in Leithaberg on the western shore of the Neusiedlersee being so distinctively mineral-soaked that it has earned its own special appellation.

但最让奥地利葡萄酒名扬四海的也许要算Blaufr?nkisch酒了，在奥匈边境地区它被称 为Kékfrankos，在德国南部及美国华盛顿州则被称为Lemberger。它最吸引人（目前也是颇为流行的）的就是集绵绵的口感（而非浓郁丰厚）以 及沁人心脾的酒香于一身，能够精准地反映出奥地利全国每个地方土质的细微差别。布尔根兰酿造的Blaufr?nkisch酒让人魂牵梦萦，质量也最为上 乘，此外位于新希德尔湖西的Leithaberg酒庄所酿制的红酒带有独特的矿物质味，所以使它赢得了特别的名声。

One of many exciting examples I tasted recently in London, Pala 2009, was made from grapes grown across the border in Hungary by the specialist in the variety, Schiefer. For this reason it has to be labelled as an EU Tafelwein, or table wine, rather than anything grander. I loved this and all four Austrian Blaufr?nkisch bottlings presented by Schiefer at the Institute of Directors. Other superior Burgenland producers of fine Blaufr?nkisch include K+K Kirnbauer, Moric, Pichler-Krutzler, Pittnauer, Prieler, Triebaumer and Wohlmuth.

我最近在伦敦品味的多款美酒中，2009年份的帕拉 (Pala 2009)酒由业内顶级酒庄席弗尔(Schiefer)用种植在奥匈边境地区的葡萄品种所酿制。因此，它被誉为欧盟日常用餐酒(EU Tafelwein)，而非名贵酒。我喜欢这酒以及全部四款奥地利瓶装Blaufr?nkisch酒，它由席弗尔酒庄在董事学会上隆重推介。布尔根兰地区 酿制高端Blaufr?nkisch酒的酒庄还包括K+K Kirnbauer，Moric，Pichler-Krutzler， Pittnauer，Prieler，Triebaumer 以及 Wohlmuth。

And then there is the exceptional Spitzerberg site in Carnuntum from which Muhr-van de Niepoort seems to be able to demonstrate an almost Pinot Noir-like aspect to this very promising grape variety.

在卡农图姆(Carnuntum)，种植着极品的Spitzerberg葡萄，由它酿制的Muhr-van de Niepoort酒看来几乎能与黑比诺相媲美，这种葡萄前景无可限量。

Grüner Veltliner may be even more difficult to pronounce than Blaufr?nkisch but its success has probably been partly due to its frequent abbreviation to Gru-Ve, or simply GV. I fear the most obvious initials are unlikely to work the same magic on the variety that might eventually come to be seen as its red wine counterpart.

绿维特利纳酒(Grüner Veltliner)或许要比Blaufr?nkisch酒更难断言，但它在市场上大获成功，部分原因或许是它常被简称为Gru-Ve，甚至GV。我担心 拥有最一目了然缩略词的这款酒不太可能有Blaufr?nkisch酒那样的魔力，Blaufr?nkisch酒可能最终会成为红酒的代名词。

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Jancis’s picks

简希斯的藏酒：

Jurtschitsch Sonnhof, Pinot Noir 2007

Jurtschitsch Sonnhof酒庄出品的2007年份黑比诺酒。

K+K Kirnbauer, Das Phantom 2008/Girmer (Zweigelt) 2008/Vitikult Blaufr?nkisch 2007

K+K Kirnbauer酒庄出品的2008年份Das Phantom酒、2008年份Girmer 妃泽酒，2007年份Vitikult Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Moric, Neckenmarkt Alte Reben Blaufr?nkisch 2008

Moric酒庄出品的2008年份Neckenmarkt Alte Reben Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Pichler-Krutzler, Weinberg Blaufr?nkisch 2008

Pichler-Krutzler酒庄出品的2008年份Weinberg Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Pittnauer, Rosenberg Blaufr?nkisch/Alte Reben St Laurent 2008

Pittnauer酒庄出品的Rosenberg Blaufr?nkisch酒以及2008年份Alte Reben 圣洛朗酒。

Prieler, Blaufr?nkisch 2008

Prieler酒庄出品的2008年份Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Schiefer, K?nigsberg/Szapary/Reihburg Blaufr?nkisch 2008

Schiefer酒庄出品的K?nigsberg酒、Szapary酒以及2008年份Reihburg Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Ernst Triebaumer, Blaufr?nkisch/Cabernet 2009

Ernst Triebaumer酒庄出品的Blaufr?nkisch酒以及2009年份Cabernet酒。

Umathum, St Laurent 2007

Umathum酒庄出品的2007年份圣洛朗酒。

Wohlmuth, Privat Rabenkropf Blaufr?nkisch 2007

Wohlmuth酒庄出品的2007年份Privat Rabenkropf Blaufr?nkisch酒。

Schiefer’s K?nigsberg Blaufr?nkisch 2008, at ￡12.49 from Raeburn of Edinburgh, has to be the bargain. Tasting notes on Purple pages of jancisrobinson.com. Stockists from winesearcher.com

Schiefer酒庄出品的2008年份K?nigsberg Blaufr?nkisch酒，本人以12.49英镑的价格从爱丁堡雷伯恩(Raeburn of Edinburgh)品酒会上淘得，很是划算。品鉴必得请参阅本人网址jancisrobinson.com的黄页，零售商请参阅网 址：winesearcher.com。