里奥哈加冕“2011年最佳葡萄酒产地”

    回顾我在2011年大量的品酒笔记和经历，有一件事显得格外突出。里奥哈正在出产的许多葡萄酒皆是当下的上上之选，其价位足以让苏格兰人汗颜。在我看来，里奥哈是2011年最佳葡萄酒产区。这个位于西班牙北部的葡萄酒之乡已经证明，其葡萄酒的成熟度堪与任何其他葡萄酒相媲美，甚至比许多名气更大、价位更高的葡萄酒还要出色。葡萄酒陈化及其装瓶后继续蜕变、日臻醇厚的能力是葡萄酒这种物质之所以如此富有吸引力、令人着迷的核心元素之一。

    如同许多葡萄酒产区一样，里奥哈在上世纪最后十年经历了一段狂飙突进的时期。大规模投资，技术诱惑，以及一个似乎一心想用橡木力量替代之前所有的葡萄酒品种的市场，使得许多生产商难以抗拒加入现代化阵营的诱惑。正如几乎所有目睹其钟摆荡过鼎盛时期的葡萄酒产区一样，我们现在看到它正有所回潮，其速率或许比上升期慢，但毫无疑问的是，里奥哈的潮流正在改变。我在这里先陈述一个事实：虽然我赞赏好的勒德分子，但我本人并不是一个厌恶技术的人。但在一个产地成功实施不同种类的葡萄酒风格，至少是一个稳妥的商业选择，也是我个人非常赞赏的做法。

    我赞赏里奥哈并不仅仅是因为它具备单纯的金融优势，还因为并非每个人生来就是做传统酿酒商的料。做一个老派的酿酒商需要某些特性，更不用提风土条件（这个术语指的是生产葡萄酒的环境）了，这种条件可遇不可求。要是我们迫使所有的酿酒商都生产我们所青睐的风格，比如说“天然风格”，许多厂商恐怕都得倒闭，少数成功者将独霸市场。到那时，消费者在喝什么方面将别无选择，而且将承受更高的价位，我们将由此丧失我们的集体自我。里奥哈不仅生产超传统和超现代风格的葡萄酒，还生产介于两者之间的所有风格，它几乎能够满足所有的口味。

    最后一个因素（也是Snooth品酒网站之所以选择里奥哈作为2011年最佳葡萄酒产地的重要依据）非常简单，即价位。我今年品尝过许多30美元及不到这一价位、产自里奥哈的葡萄酒，其他相同价位的葡萄酒根本无法与其媲美。甚至在更高的价位上，里奥哈葡萄酒的品质优势依然显而易见。在低价位领域，它根本就没有敌手。

    比如，想象一下你掏出20美元，购买一瓶2004年出产的里奥哈格兰华美葡萄酒（Rioja Gran Reserva）之后所获得的东西。你获得的是一瓶已经为你精心陈化了一段时间的葡萄酒。没错，里奥哈的部分吸引力在于该产地的一项要求：甚至在顾客掏钱购买之前，里奥哈的酿酒商就已经开始为顾客陈化葡萄酒。这不是期货骗局，这只是官僚主义的一个特例。

    里奥哈是2012年必须关注的葡萄酒产区。里奥哈葡萄酒太好了，简直无法忽略，而且还在持续改善。酿酒商正在探寻如何对里奥哈作出更富现代气息的诠释，从而增添葡萄酒的种类，人们对葡萄栽培和窖藏越来越关注，这些方面也日益得到改善。甚至传统主义者也不能否认，他们同样从这种变化中得到了实惠。

    译者：任文科

    Looking back on my reams of tasting notes and experiences, one thing really stuck out in 2011. Rioja is producing some of the finest wines available at prices that can make a Scotsman blush. Rioja is my region of the year for 2011. The northern Spanish wine region has proven that its wine ages as well as any other, and can age even better than many more famous and costly examples. The ability of a wine to age, to improve in the bottle while morphing into something profound, is one of the core elements that makes wine such an attractive and enthralling subject.

    Like many wine regions, Rioja went through a rather convulsive final decade of the last century. With massive investments, technological temptation, and a marketplace that seemed intent on replacing all that had come before it with oaken power, it was difficult for many producers to resist the urge to join the modern set.As with almost all wine regions that saw their pendulum swing past their apex, we are now seeing it come back down, perhaps more slowly than on the way up, but without a doubt, Rioja's tides are changing. Let me just state for the record that while I appreciate a good Luddite, I am not myself a practicing member. But having a variety of wine styles successfully implemented in a region is, if nothing else, a safe and secure business choice and one that I applaud.

    Not only do I applaud the region for the simple financial advantages it offers, but also because not everyone is cut out to be a traditionalist winemaker. Being an old-school winemaker takes certain attributes, not to mention terroirs (a term for the environment in which a wine is produced), of which there are simply not enough to go around. If we forced all winemakers to make the style we preferred, say "natural" for example, I am afraid that many would fail and the few who succeeded would have the market all to themselves. We would be kicking our collective selves as consumers would be given little choice as to what to drink and would be paying more. With wine made in hyper-traditional and hyper-modern styles and all that falls between, Rioja is able to satisfy nearly all palates.

    And the final factor, the keystone of Rioja's choice as Snooth's region of the year in 2011, is simple. It is pricing. I tasted so many $30-and-under wines from Rioja this year that simply blew away almost all other wines at the same price point. Even at higher price points, the values are still there. And at lower price points, there is simply no competition.

    Think of what you get when you plunk down $20 on a 2004 Rioja Gran Reserva, for example. You're getting a beautiful wine that has been lovingly aged for you. Yes, part of Rioja's appeal is the regional requirement that Rioja producers age your wine for you, before you even pay for it. This is no futures scam, it's a bureaucratic anomaly.

    Rioja is a region you must explore in 2012. The wines are simply too good to ignore and they are continuing to improve. Producers are learning where to join the line with more modern interpretations of Rioja, and even the traditionalists can't argue that they benefit from increasing awareness and improvement of viticultural and cellaring concerns.