葡萄酒小礼品花样多

What to give a wine lover? It can be difficult to choose a bottle for a fanatic. How can an outsider judge a connoisseur’s taste or identify the holes in their cellar? I can say, however, that for wine insiders, bottles of deluxe champagne are the gift currency of choice. Krug Grande Cuvée or Dom Pérignon are standard issue, but if you would rather favour a family-owned enterprise then consider Roederer Cristal, Bollinger Grande Année or one of Selosse’s winey champagnes.

送葡萄酒爱好者什么礼物好呢，这是个问题。作为一个外行，去了解内行的口味习惯或者收藏习惯，简直是无法完成的任务。不过我倒是有些放之四海而皆准的解决方案——因为顶级的奢华香槟(Champagne)是不二之眩库克陈年香槟(Krug Grande Cuvée)或者唐·倍里侬香槟(Dom Pérignon)属于标准参考，但如果你更喜欢家族型品牌，那么路易王妃水晶香槟(Roederer Cristal)、首席法兰西丰年香槟(Bollinger Grande Année)或者皇冠(Selosse)的任意一款香槟都是考虑的对象。

Those shopping in London could take advantage of the special offer in Selfridges’ wine department on Fridays and Saturdays up to Christmas Eve. You can buy Mo?t’s new, drier, considerably improved, standard non-vintage blend (called Brut Impérial; the old White Star bottling that used to be sold in the US is no more) in bottles, magnums (containing the equivalent of two bottles), jeroboams (four bottles’ worth) or methusalehs (eight) and have them “personalised with a festive illustration and message written in gold calligraphy and accented with Swarovski crystals.

塞尔福里奇百货公司(Selfridge)葡萄酒专柜在周五和周六有特价促销，优惠一直持续到圣诞节前夕(Christmas Eve)，在伦敦(Londonn)购物的朋友们倒是可以趁这个机会出手采购。皇家天然香槟(Brut Impérial)是酩悦(Mo?t)品牌的普通型无年份(non-vintage)香槟，其最新上市的产品口感更干(dry)，质量也有了大幅的提升，瓶型有标准装瓶型(bottle)（750毫升）、一升半装瓶型(magnum)（两个标准装瓶型容量）、三升装瓶型(jeroboam)（六个标准装瓶型容量）以及六升装瓶型(methusaleh)（八个标准装瓶型容量）。不仅如此，这款香槟还经过了个性化的包装，包括节日插图、金字书法的寄语以及施华洛世奇(Swarovski)水晶装饰。

But you may wish to give something more durable than a bottle of wine, however sparkling its accent. The new toy of the season for serious wine collectors is a Pourvin Light (pourvin.com), a battery-powered gadget designed by an Australian couple that you hang round a bottle neck to provide a strong light under the bottle to highlight the sediment during the decanting process. (Or, you could buy them a candle, and save yourself ￡50 for the silicone version and ￡130 for the stainless steel model, though this is unlikely to satisfy the gadget lover.)

不过你可能会把选择礼品的目光从葡萄酒转向器具，毕竟器具可以多次使用，而葡萄酒喝完也就没有了。对于认真的葡萄酒收藏者来说，时下最新奇的是一种叫“倒酒光(Pourvin Light)的物件（可以在pourvin.com上查到），这个由一对澳大利亚夫妇发明的小器具由电池驱动，可以固定在瓶颈上，当酒倒入醒酒器时能够作为光源，以便醒酒者看清葡萄酒中的沉淀。这个物件价格不低，硅树脂(silicone)材料制作的需要五十英镑，不锈钢材料的则需要一百三十英镑。如果你只是买了个蜡烛做光源送给朋友的话，倒真是省了不少钱，只不过如果你的朋友是个物件控，区区蜡烛肯定没法满足他的胃口。

If all that decanting malarkey seems just too 19th century, there’s a neutral stainless steel filter from the corkscrew specialists Screwpull (stocked widely in the UK) that will simply filter out the sediment. Be warned though that if it’s anything like the earlier model I have, the mesh can rapidly become blocked so you need to pour very slowly.

如果你认为通过醒酒来除渣的理论老套得像是十九世纪的陈芝麻烂谷子，那么有一样东西在英国随手可以买到，这就是著名开酒器品牌拔钻(Screwpull)开发的一款不锈钢过滤器。这款过滤器只会起到除渣的作用而不会影响酒的香气，不过需要提醒的是，如果你用的是和我同款的旧型号产品，那么倒酒速度一定要慢，否则容易堵塞网眼。

I’m distinctly vieux jeu myself, so what would make my heart beat faster would be yet another antique decanter to add to my collection. (I have never forgotten the entirely correct advice that the ideal present for someone with a dozen chess sets is a 13th.) Those specialising in such things include Susan Antiques of Portobello Market, Jeanette Hayhurst in Tetbury, Laurie Leigh in Stow-on-the-Wold and Delomosne near Devizes.

我也算是个老行家(Vieux Jeu)，所以最让我感到心跳加速的礼物是给我的醒酒器收藏品中再增加一名古董成员。送礼的金科玉律就是如果有人已经收集了十二副象棋，那么最好的礼物就是让他拥有第十三副。在我们身边深谙此道且非常擅长的商家比比皆是，比如博尔贝罗市集(Portobello Market)的苏珊古董(Susan Antiques)、泰特伯利(Tetbury)的杰尼特·海耶赫斯特(Jeanette Hayhurst)、斯托昂泽沃尔德(Stow-on-the-Wold)的劳瑞·雷(Laurie Leigh)还有迪韦齐斯(Devizes)附近的德罗莫斯尼(Delomosne)。

An alternative would be to buy a well-designed modern decanter. I have always liked Berry Bros’ (bbr.com) simple bottle (￡43) and, especially, magnum (￡53) decanters with handsome flat stoppers (shipped to UK only). These seem rather better value than their new The Wine Merchant’s range of glasses (also UK only) – attractive, but at about ￡50 a pair and designed for hand washing (but dishwasher safe), I find myself preferring Zalto’s Denk’Art Bordeaux ones, even at ￡30 each, partly because they are so explicitly dishwasher-friendly as well as exceptionally thin.

充满设计感的现代型醒酒器也是不错的选择，比如我一直以来就非常喜欢贝瑞兄弟(Berry Bros)（网站为bbr.com）的一款简易型醒酒器（仅在英国有售），这款醒酒器装配有扁平的酒嘴，非常美观，标准容量规格售价为四十三英镑，一升半容量规格售价为五十三英镑。同品牌中，这个级别产品的性价比要高于另一个级别的产品——酒商系列(The Wine Merchant's range)。酒商系列的产品（仅在英国有售）采用玻璃为原料，造型虽然非常引人注目，但一对售价为五十英镑，而且需要手工清洁（尽管也可以用机器洗涤）。尽管扎尔托(Zalto)的丹卡波尔多(Denk’Art Bordeaux)系列产品售价高达每个三十英镑，但我发现自己还是抑制不住自己的喜爱之情，可能是因为它能够机洗并且非常轻薄吧。

You could personalise a decanter by having it engraved. Tracey Sheppard of Winchester is a very highly regarded Fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers and might just be able to engrave a fine initial or two in time for Christmas. The problem with decanters though is that they do not identify the wine inside them. You can always scrawl something on them with felt-tip pen but it is hardly an elegant solution. Some arch traditionalists like to hang the relevant cork round the decanter neck, skewering it on prongs on the end of a chain, typically decorated with vine leaves. You can order such a thing from London’s specialist store for wine accoutrements, Around Wine (aroundwine.co.uk), and the various models cost between ￡20 and ￡30 each.

你也可以通过雕刻的方式来制定个性化的醒酒器，我推荐位于温彻斯特(Winchester)的玻璃雕刻家协会(Guild of Glass Engravers)会员特蕾西·谢泼德(Tracey Sheppard)，在那里你可以在醒酒器上雕刻上一两个词首大写字母作为圣诞节礼物送人。不过醒酒器有个问题是无法为所盛放的葡萄酒提供可辨识的信息，当然我们可以用记号笔在醒酒器上写字，但是考虑到字容易歪七扭八，样子会很不好看。传统主义者喜欢用一个小链子绕在醒酒器脖子上，把相应葡萄酒的木塞固定在链子末端的尖头上，而且还常常弄几片葡萄叶做装饰。如果你也想要达到这样的效果，可以在伦敦的葡萄酒装备专卖店“酒边游戏(Around Wine)买到（网址为aroundwine.co.uk），根据型号的不同，售价从二十到三十英镑不等。

Design devotees would probably prefer ZeBag (zebag.fr), a carrier for six bottles on their side with a smart aluminium handle. This thoroughly 21st-century item folds flat when empty and is a sort of Conran-esque alternative to the more cumbersome, and potentially tights-snagging, six-bottle wicker basket. But, at ￡50, ZeBag is dearer than most of its wicker counterparts.

喜欢设计感的你也许会看中有着二十一世纪时代先锋感的产品——侧包(ZeBag)（网址为zebag.fr），这个葡萄酒收纳工具能够同时放六瓶葡萄酒，铝制提手设计非常巧妙，不用时可以折叠为扁平形状，是厌倦了笨重柳条筐朋友们的好伴侣。不过要说价格，确实要比柳条筐高出很多，每个需要五十英镑。

Much more reasonable at about ￡20, and just the right shape for a stocking filler, is the brand new, cleverly designed and cunningly marketed Corkcicle (corkcicle.com). It looks like an icicle attached to a cork in a range of designs and apparently, via the freeze gel inside the plastic icicle, cools your wine – either keeping a white cool or chilling a red that is a little too warm (a cardinal sin). It’s certainly more compact than those jackets you also prepare by putting in the deep freeze, and much less messy than an ice bucket. And it’s a novelty that the whole family can play with. It was one of Oprah’s “Favorite Things of 2012. Need I say more?

如果你觉得侧包有点贵，那么我再推荐另外一个圣诞礼物，一款设计和市场定位都非常巧妙的全新产品——塞环(Corkcicle)（网址为corkcicle.com）。这款产品像是一个连接在酒塞上的冰柱，通过塑料材料体中的冷凝胶为葡萄酒降温。白葡萄酒通常情况下要低温饮用，所以会用得多些，但是如果有些红葡萄酒温度过高，这款产品肯定也有用武之地（毕竟过高的温度对葡萄酒来说可是头等大罪）。它比我们常用于冰酒的水套结实，又比冰桶方便，男女老少都能轻松使用，售价只有二十英镑——拥有这么多优点，能入选2012年度奥普拉(Oprah)的“最喜爱物品也是理所应当。对这样有卖点的产品，我也不用再多说什么了。

Corkscrews are some of the most popular wine hardware gifts. Screwpull was the prototype model for those looking for something that would reliably extract a series of corks with minimal effort. (The oil engineer who designed them meant them to be of use to us feeble women.) The standard model costs about ￡50, the fancy one closer to ￡130, and they come with a guarantee – which is just as well for those who pull as many corks as I do. I should point out however that the lever action of the Screwpull can be too forceful for very old corks, for which I usually revert to a simple antique corkscrew with a hollow helix and a particularly sharp point.

开酒器(corkscrew)是最流行的葡萄酒工具之一，也是很好的礼物。无论是像我这样的开酒老手还是不太熟练的初学者，如果想要选购一个能够毫不费力处理不同类型酒塞的开酒器，拔钻的产品最值得信赖（这种开酒器的发明者是一位石油工程师，据说此人当时设计这个物件的目的就是服务于手无缚鸡之力的女士）。这个品牌标准型号的产品售价为五十英镑，花式型号价格比较高，接近一百三十英镑。不过我发现对于非常年老的木塞来说，拔钻的开酒器在撬动时施与的力道有点太大，每次遇到这个情况，我都会用回到那种螺旋钻采用中空设计并且头很尖的普通型开酒器。

An alternative recently designed expressly for old corks however, which may easily crumble or be too damp for a more vigorous instrument, is The Durand at a cool ￡125 (www.durand.com). This is a combination of a classic screw with, at right angles to it, the two-pronged instrument commonly known in the US as an Ah So or butler’s friend, which you insert either side of a cork and wiggle it out without piercing it at all.

年老的酒塞非常潮湿，而且很容易被开酒器弄出碎屑，不过现在已经有了专门的工具，那就是售价不菲（一百二十五英镑）的杜兰德(The Durand)（网址为www.durand.com）。这款产品是常规酒钻和双叉式开酒器的二合一，给开酒者更多开酒方式的选择。双叉式开酒器在美国有不同的昵称，比如“这样啊和“管家之友，使用时不用通过钻塞的方式开酒，而是将两个叉形贴片从酒塞侧面塞入，通过扭动的方式拔龋

The one bit of equipment that can on occasion seem absolutely vital is Screwpull’s champagne star (also from Around Wine), a strong, simple four-pronged twister that fits into the grooves of a recalcitrant champagne cork. It can spell all the difference between frustration and celebration.

拔钻还有一个产品用途比较特殊，那就是香槟星（也可以在“酒边游戏买到），这个旋转球形状的工具有四个叉，正好可以嵌入香槟塞顶上的凹槽，是开香槟的最佳工具。

www.jancisrobinson.com

www.jancisrobinson.com

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Useful addresses

购买地点推荐

Around Wine

酒边游戏

57 Chiltern Street, London W1U 6ND

地址：57 Chiltern Street, London W1U 6ND

020 7935 4679, www.aroundwine.co.uk

电话：020 7935 4679

. . .

网址：www.aroundwine.co.uk

Susan Antiques

. . .

117 Portobello Road, London W11 2DY

苏珊古董

www.portobelloglass.com

地址：117 Portobello Road, London W11 2DY

. . .

网址：www.portobelloglass.com

Jeanette Hayhurst

. . .

Long Street Antiques, 14 Long Street, Tetbury

杰尼特·海耶赫斯特

07831 209814

地址：Long Street Antiques, 14 Long Street, Tetbury

. . .

电话：07831 209814

Laurie Leigh

. . .

Church Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire

劳瑞·雷

01451 833693 www.laurieleighantiques.com

地址：Church Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire

. . .

电话：01451 833693

Tim Osborne

网址：www.laurieleighantiques.com

Court Close, North Wraxall, Chippenham, Wiltshire

. . .

01225 891505, www.delomosne.co.uk

蒂姆·奥斯伯恩(Tim Osborne)

. . .

地址：Court Close, North Wraxall, Chippenham, Wiltshire

Tracey Sheppard

电话：01225 891505

Winchester

网址：www.delomosne.co.uk

01962 860024, www.traceysheppard.co.uk

. . .

特蕾西·谢泼德

城市：温彻斯特