喝香槟的8种错误方式

现在是香槟旺季，因为正在假日狂欢的人们开始想喝点有气泡的，沉迷于买起泡酒、喝起泡酒。（我全年都沉迷。）英国市场营销公司葡萄酒智情机构（Wine Intelligence）刚刚发布的报告指出，美国每年大概有4500万人喝过起泡酒——其中一些人只在节假日喝。

当然，他们喝的不都是昂贵的香槟。但是，新年前夕你还不打算在起泡酒上多花点钱，你准备什么时候花？

一起来喝香槟吧。但得保证你喝对了。

你被那些闪亮的名字和熟悉的名字骗了

大部分香槟都是把价格没那么高的非陈年基酒和年份香槟混合，以保持该品牌口味和风格的一致性。这样你打开一瓶路易王妃（Roederer）或凯歌香槟（Veuve Cliquot）时，就能知道会尝到什么味道。但是，如果你挑了一瓶带有具体年份的陈年香槟，你花的钱基本上总是能给你带来更大惊喜。（库克陈年香槟Krug Grande Cuvée是个例外。）也就是说，你得避开你熟悉的那些东西，比如非陈年款的酩悦（Moët）、瑞纳特（Ruinart）、泰廷哲（Taittinger）、宝禄爵（Bollinger）等。（顺便说一下，这些品牌都生产上等的年份特酿）。

酿造年份香槟的葡萄产自同一年——酒标上的那年。这种酒酿造量小，通常只在葡萄长势最好的年份生产，上市前陈年的时间更长。因此，这类酒个性更独特，口味更深层更丰富。它们的价格远低于香槟酒庄浮夸的特酿香槟，比如唐培里侬（Dom Perignon），但却为很多人偏爱。

近期最佳年份：2002年，2004年，2008年，2012年 高价值投资之选：2008年汉诺（Henriot Brut，85美元），2009年宝禄爵（Pol Roger Brut，78美元），2008年德乐梦（Delamotte，76美元）

只买一两瓶

要买一两箱。节日期间市场对香槟的需求猛增，价格却急剧下跌。几年前，Fivethirtyeight.com网站的数据显示，节假日时香槟每瓶均价大约比平日低18％。

该网站引用了芝加哥大学两位经济学家的研究，解释了为什么平常的供需模式在这里不成立——因为季节性香槟买家对价格也十分敏感，零售商通过降价来吸引这些消费者。也许他们会爱上彼此！

你为聚会准备的是标准瓶香槟

我不知道你的朋友如何，但我的朋友不会满足于只喝一两杯。如果你打算招待四个人以上，请选择大瓶（相当于常规瓶的两倍容量）。用大瓶装庆祝，能让你看上去十分大方，而且这样你还不用开太多瓶子。

把香槟存放在冰箱里

冰箱可不是用来保存葡萄酒的低温室。酩悦香槟（Moët& Chandon’s）的葡萄酒品质经理表示，拔出软木塞之前，香槟在冰箱冷藏室中可以放上三四天，但冰箱里温度过低又过于干燥，不适宜长期储存。因为软木塞会变干，导致空气进入，既破坏了酒的风味，气泡也会变少。

你应该把瓶子立放在冰箱门里还是平放？固执己见的香槟酿造商布鲁诺·派拉德（Bruno Paillard）坚称，直立存放会导致香槟失去泡沫。

一般情况下，应在侍酒前15分钟左右取出酒瓶。就像金发姑娘和三只熊故事里的粥一样，侍酒温度要恰到好处。如果温度过低，会影响香气挥发，如果温度过高，就无法感受到那种明快的、直冲味蕾的清爽。理想的侍酒温度为47至50华氏度（8至10摄氏度）。

开瓶时太过随意

香槟酒瓶中的压力（气泡产生的）可以导致软木塞从瓶中飞出的速度达到每小时近25英里。飞出的软木塞可能会、也确实曾经击中台灯、客人甚至造成更大范围的危害。

要像专业人士一样正确移除软木塞。不，不是让你买香槟刀，学习怎么砍掉瓶身的上半部分。首先，取下软木塞上的金属丝网。倾斜瓶身，保证其瓶口不对准任何人，在瓶子顶端放一条毛巾。用一只手抓住软木塞的顶部，同时用另一只手扭动瓶子，直到软木塞开始松动并轻轻弹出。倒酒时要轻柔，这样泡沫才不会溢出酒杯。

打开之前绝对不要摇。

你翻出了别人送你的笛形杯

现在让我们希望你已经屈服于潮流的压力，把那些像模特一样纤细的笛形杯收了起来（虽然我有时还是很喜欢他们的）。真正的香槟杯是有曲线的。我最喜欢的其中一种香槟杯是玻璃品制造商利曼（Lehmann）生产的球状杯身的郁金香杯Jamesse精品大香槟杯（每只37.5美元），它可以突出酒的香气，让气泡腾涌的时间更久。

喝香槟配巧克力

巧克力配香槟是情人节营销时的胡说八道——这种想法只是简单地把人们喜欢的两种商品放在一起。他们一点也不配。巧克力太甜，导致酒的酸味更加尖锐，口感更苦。

别管商家怎么说，香槟不是配什么都行的，而且如果整顿饭只喝香槟真是无趣得很——哪怕是跨年夜也是如此。

没错，香槟很适合搭配咸味和油炸食品，鱼和薯条、炸薯条甚至松露爆米花和热狗都行。新鲜的酸味能够穿透盐和脂肪。但它和汤搭配也很棒，我多年前在海茨葡萄园（Heitz Vineyards）吃过一顿饭，那里的酿酒师乔·海茨给每位客人的汤里都倒了点香槟酒，才又倒在每个人的酒杯中。除了热汤和冷酒产生的鲜美对比，气泡也让汤的味道更加突出。

用软木塞把喝剩的香槟塞起来

或者还更糟，你用Saran牌保鲜膜封住了上半部分瓶身。争点气！买一个合适的香槟塞，良好的密封性能保证几天内气泡都不会消失。

在任意一家葡萄酒商店或像Williams-Sonoma这样的地方花6到10美元都能买到一个基础款。关键要看密封得紧不紧。得买一个不会漏的。

而且不要总是在第二天吃早午餐时把剩下的香槟倒入橙汁中做含羞草鸡尾酒。在我看来，这种做法是对好品质香槟的浪费，上等的香槟不需要额外添加其它口味，就可以作为迎接新年的完美方式。（财富中文网）

译者：Agatha

This is peak Champagne season, when holiday revelers start thinking bubbles and obsessing over buying and drinking fizz. (I do it all year.) U.K.-based marketing company Wine Intelligence just released a report that estimates 45 million Americans partake in sparkling wine annually—and some of them drink bubbly only during the holidays.

Of course, not all of that is expensive Champagne. But if you’re not going to splash out a little more for effervescence around New Year’s Eve, when will you?

Join the party. Just make sure you’re doing it right.

You’re fooled by flash and familiar names

Most Champagne is the less-expensive nonvintage stuff that blends vintages to achieve a consistent taste and style. That way you’ll know what you’re going to taste when you open a bottle of Roederer or Veuve Cliquot. But you’ll almost always get more bang for your buck by picking a bottle with a vintage date on it. (Krug Grande Cuvée is one exception.) That means avoiding the stuff you’re familiar with, like nonvintage bottles of Moët, Ruinart, Taittinger, Bollinger, etc. (all make splendid vintage-dated cuvées, by the way).

For vintage Champagnes, grapes must come from a single harvest, the year on the label. They’re made in small quantities, usually only in top years, and are aged longer before release. As a result, the wines have more distinctive personalities, with deeper and fuller flavors. They cost a lot less than a Champagne house’s flashy prestige cuvee (such as Dom Perignon), but many people actually prefer them.

Top recent vintages: 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012Good value bets: 2008 Henriot Brut ($85), 2009 Pol Roger Brut ($78), 2008 Delamotte ($76)

You’re buying just a couple of bottles

Buy a case or two. Demand for Champagne skyrockets during holiday season, but at the same time prices drop sharply. A few years ago, Fivethirtyeight.com estimated the average price of a bottle was 18 percent lower at holiday time than during an average week.

The site cited research from two University of Chicago economists that explains why the usual supply-and-demand model doesn’t hold—because seasonal Champagne buyers are also super price-conscious, and retailers lower prices to reel them in. Maybe they’ll fall in love!

You’re getting regular-size bottles for a party

I don’t know about your friends, but mine aren’t satisfied with only a glass or two of bubbly. If you plan to entertain more than four people, spring for magnums (the equivalent of two regular bottles). The big size shouts celebration, makes you look incredibly generous, and, besides, you won’t have to open so many bottles.

You’re storing Champagne in the refrigerator

A refrigerator is not some wine-preserving cryogenic chamber. Three or four days in a food fridge before popping the cork is fine, says Moët & Chandon’s wine quality manager, but the conditions are too cold and too dry for longer-term storage. They dry out the cork, which lets in air that flattens a wine’s flavors and causes it to lose its sparkle.

Should you stand the bottle up in your refrigerator door or keep it horizontal? Opinionated fizz maker Bruno Paillard insists it will lose bubbles if you store it upright.

In general, take the bottle out about 15 minutes before serving. Like the porridge in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the temperature should be just right. Serving the wine too cold blanks out the aromas, and if it’s too warm, it loses the bright crispness that perks up your taste buds. The ideal temperature is 47F to 50F (8C to 10C).

You’re casual about opening the bottle

The pressure in a Champagne bottle (because of the bubbles) can shoot out a cork at nearly 25 miles an hour. Flying corks can and do cause damage to lamps, guests, more.

Remove them properly, the way the pros do. No, that doesn’t mean hunting down a Champagne saber and learning how to slash off the top of the bottle. First, take off the wire cage over the cork. Tilt the bottle so it’s pointing away from anyone and put a towel over the top. Grab the top of the cork with one hand while you twist the bottle with the other until the cork starts to loosen and gently pops out. Pour slowly, so the bubbles don’t overflow the glass.

And don’t you dare shake before opening.

You’re dragging out those flutes someone gave you for a present

By now, let’s hope you’ve bowed to the pressure of fashion and put away those model-thin flutes (although I still like them sometimes). Real Champagne glasses have curves. One of my favorites is glassmaker Lehmann’s tulip-shaped, rounded-bowl Jamesse Prestige Grand Champagne Glass ($37.50 each), which highlights aromas and keeps bubbles fizzing longer.

You’re serving Champagne with chocolate

The chocolate and Champagne pairing is Valentine’s Day marketing nonsense—the idea that two items people love belong together. They don’t. Chocolate is far too sweet, points up the wine’s acidity, and makes it taste bitter.

Despite what producers say, Champagne doesn’t go with everything, and an entire dinner with only Champagne to drink is awfully tiresome—even on New Year’s Eve.

Yes, it’s great with salty and fried foods including fish and chips, French fries, even truffled popcorn and hot dogs. The zesty acidity cuts through the salt and fat. But it’s also a great partner with soup, as I learned at a long-ago dinner at Heitz Vineyards, where winemaker Joe Heitz splashed some fizz in each guest’s soup, then in the glasses. Besides the delicious hot soup/cold wine contrast, the bubbles made the soup’s flavors pop.

You’re trying to cork up leftover Champagne

Or worse, you’re wrapping the top of the bottle with Saran wrap. Have some pride! Instead, invest in a proper Champagne stopper with a tight seal that will keep fizz from losing its bubbles for several days.

You can find a basic clamp model at any wine store or places such as Williams-Sonoma for $6 to $10. The key factor is the tightness of the seal. You want one that’s leakproof.

And don’t always dump leftovers in orange juice for mimosas at the next day’s brunch. To me that’s a waste of good Champagne, which doesn’t need extra flavors to be the perfect way to greet a new year.