张萌的脚:宁夏击败了波尔多。真的如此吗？

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.

一个北京的星期三晚上，半数中国人半数法国人组成的10人专家组，对来分别自中国内陆偏远省份——宁夏和法国著名的波尔多地区的葡萄酒，进行了蒙瓶试酒并加以比较。专家们晃动酒杯，轻轻啜饮来自这两个地区的美酒，一个小时后裁定：宁夏胜出。

 

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.

五种最受喜爱的酒中，四种是来自宁夏，一个干旱的内陆地区，一些中国最好的红酒就产于此。排名第一的是2009年产，来自中国怡园酒庄的庄主珍藏，散发着浓烈橡木清香的卡百内红葡萄酒。其零售价介于450到500元之间，大概合70到80美元。

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

唯一排名前五的波尔多葡萄酒是洛希尔男爵收藏的2009年份的拉菲传说梅多克干红，带有淡淡的水果味。

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.

与波尔多上千年的葡萄酒生产历史相比，中国短暂的葡萄酒历史不值一提。有鉴于此，这种结果令人震惊。波尔多葡萄酒也是中国最受欢迎的葡萄酒，对其大量需求激起了对葡萄酒的大肆炒作，甚至有人愿意为了一瓶酒花上上万元。波尔多葡萄酒最大的出口国是中国。

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

但有几个法国裁判对比赛的公正性提出质疑，他们认为选出的波尔多葡萄酒质量不够好。

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.

比赛要求中有一项是所有的红酒价格相近，介于200元到500元之间，约合30到70美元。中国对于外国进口酒类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，参加试酒的波尔多酒要便宜很多。

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

“这样的比较不公平，”法国品酒裁判托马斯·布雷欧莱特（Thomas Briollet）说道，他也是位中国的红酒进出口部经理。

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.

中国裁判，例如弗兰基·赵，不同意这种看法。他是一家红酒人才培训和咨询公司的创始人，公司主营红酒市场调研和推广。他认为即使是质量最低的波尔多红酒，也是更有经验的老手生产的，销售的市场策略也更加精妙，这些都是刚刚起步的宁夏红酒业不能相比的。

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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.

中国红酒给人的印象是，尝起来像止咳糖浆，过甜过腻。大规模生产的需求也使得很多红酒生产商关注的是数量而不是质量。葡萄树上结的葡萄过多，降低了产品质量。undefined

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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.”

但是宁夏显示中国红酒的未来还是有希望的，吉姆·博伊斯说道，“这里的葡萄园注重产出更好的，更加高级的红酒。”他是一位红酒专家同时也是中国葡萄长城的博客作者。undefined

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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.

中国的红酒消费总量在上升，过去五年内翻了一番，根据英国咨询公司——国际蒲萄酒及烈酒研究所的数据，以体积计算，中国已是世界第七大红酒消费国。20年内中国有望超过美国，成为世界第一红酒消费国。undefined

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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.

博伊斯先生预计中国对波尔多红酒的喜爱会随着人们品味的提高而降低。中国葡萄园也很可能对酒的风味进行试验，创造出更适合当地口味乃至中餐的品种。以其辛辣而出名的四川和湖南美食，无法和波尔多酒搭配，博伊斯先生今年早些时候说道。undefined

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

“你将会看见高质量中国红酒的崛起，”他说，“宁夏已经证明，她可以击败波尔多。”