A Drink Only Made in Winter 冰酒——凛冬专属佳酿

⊙ Jason Lai

⊙ BillyBudd 译

Here, in northeastern Liaoning Province,winter can be1)harsh. For months, almost nothing grows on these frozen plains, except for one surprising product, more commonly associated with the Mediterranean—grapes.But these grapes make something special,ice wine.

Ice wine’s made from frozen grapes.And the freezing process concentrates the acids and the sugars in the fruit, giving the wine an2)intensely sweet flavour. So, even in this raw state, you can really taste the difference. It’s so much stronger. It tastes like a3)raisin.

Here, summers are warm, but the winters are bitter, perfect conditions for making ice wine. So perfect, in fact, that a third of the world’s ice wine is now produced right here.

Strict rules also surround the harvest.International standards mean that the temperature must be at least -8℃ for 24 hours. And while they wait, the grapes could go4)rotten or be invaded by5)fungus. So,to avoid disaster, they need to be ready to harvest as soon as the conditions are right.

At6)daybreak, it’s7)all systems go. It’s-10℃, so we’re good to go. Now these are the8)crates, they’re from the9)winery and they need filling up. The villagers10)are all keen to help and there’s a real sense of11)urgency in the air.

The grapes grown here are a variety called12)Vidal, chosen for their13)hardy14)properties.

As soon as the grapes are picked, they are transported five kilometres here to the Chateau Changyu Ice Wine Company, the largest producer in China. This is a Europeanstyle chateau that wouldn’t look out of place in15)Bordeaux.

During the harvest this16)plant works 24 hours a day. High-powered presses squeeze out the juice, which is only a fifth of that produced by fresh grapes, and it’s put into17)gigantic18)fermentation tanks where19)yeast is added.And then, all that’s left to do is wait.

Two years after the grapes were picked and the wine is ready to be bottled. Now,each one of these bottles contains the juice of a20)staggering 2.5 kilograms of grapes. These bottles will grace21)connoisseur’s dinner tables across China and increasingly across the world in this22)evermore-international industry.

After my hard day harvesting, I’m more than ready for a glass of wine. So I join Mr. Zhang, the technical manager of the23)plantation, in the bar. I can’t wait.

Oh, that’s really good. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and it’s really quite24)refreshing.I’ll toast to that. Gambei!

1) harsh [hɑːʃ] adj. 严酷的

2) intensely [ɪnˑtenslɪ] adv. 强烈地

3) raisin [ˑreɪz（ə）n] n. 葡萄干

4) rotten [ˑrɒt（ə）n] adj. 腐烂的

5) fungus [ˑfʌŋɡəs] n. 真菌，菌类

6) daybreak [ˑdeɪbreɪk] n. 破晓，黎明

7) all systems go 万事俱备，一切就绪

8) crate [ˑkreɪt] n. 板条箱

9) winery [ˑwaɪnərɪ] n. 葡萄酒酿酒厂

10) be keen to 热衷于……，渴望于……

11) urgency [ˑзːdʒənsɪ] n. 紧急性，紧迫性

12) Vidal 威代尔，一种由欧洲葡萄和美国葡萄杂交而来的白葡萄品种，抗寒能力极强，是极佳的冰酒酿酒葡萄。

13) hardy [ˑhɑːdɪ] adj. （植物）耐寒的

14) property [ˑprɒpətɪ] n. 特性，性能

15) Bordeaux 波尔多，法国西南部港市，被誉为世界红酒之乡。

16) plant [plɑːnt] n. 工厂，车间

17) gigantic [dʒaɪˑgæntɪk] adj. 巨大的，庞大的

18) fermentation [fзːmenˑteɪʃ（ə）n] n. 发酵

19) yeast [jiːst] n. 酵母

20) staggering [ˑstæɡərɪŋ] adj. 令人震惊的，惊人的

21) connoisseur [kɒnəˑsзː（r）] n. 鉴赏家，内行

22) evermore [evəˑmɔː（r）] adv. 今后，永远

23) plantation [plɑːnˑteɪʃ（ə）n] n. 种植园，大农场

24) refreshing [rɪˑfreʃɪŋ] adj. 提神的，使清爽的

百科

◆ ice wine 冰酒：冰酒是一种甜葡萄酒，是在气温较低时，利用在树上自然冰冻的葡萄酿造的葡萄酒。冰酒残留糖分极高，口感极为甜美。冰酒的酿酒葡萄对气候的要求极为苛刻，要求种植地区必须具备纬度高、温度低的条件，因此全球只有几个国家可以生产冰酒。

参考译文

在中国东北的辽宁省，冬天当真十分冷酷。接连数月，这些冰原上近乎寸草不生，但也有例外。这是一种出人意料的作物，更多与地中海联系在一起，那就是葡萄。不过，这些葡萄造就的是一种独特之物——冰酒。

冰酒采用冰冻葡萄酿就而成。葡萄本身含有的酸跟糖分在冰冻的过程中得以浓缩，让以此酿成的葡萄酒具备了一种更加浓郁的甜味。因此，即便这些葡萄还处于未加工阶段，你也能真切地品尝到其中的不同。它非常甜，味道与葡萄干类似。

辽宁省的夏天温度适宜，冬季却严寒无比，为酿造冰酒提供了完美的条件。实际上，这简直太完美了，以至于当今全球三分之一的冰酒都产自此地。

葡萄采收的条件也非常严格。国际标准规定，冰酒的酿酒葡萄必须在不高于-8℃的低温下持续冰冻24小时。而在等待的过程中，葡萄可能会发生腐烂，或遭到真菌侵蚀。因此，为了避免惨剧，人们必须在时机成熟时尽快采收葡萄。

破晓时分，一切就绪。现在是-10℃，我们可以动手了。来自酿酒厂的板条箱已摆放到位，接下来就是要让它们盛满葡萄。村民们都乐于出一份力，此刻你可以感觉到一种真切的紧迫感。

威代尔因其极强的抗寒能力成为此地种植的葡萄品种。

葡萄一经采摘后便被立即运到五公里之外的张裕黄金冰谷冰酒酒庄，张裕公司是中国最大的酿酒商。这是一座欧式风格的酒庄，即便放在法国的波尔多也会显得非常和谐。

在采收期内，该酿酒厂会全天24小时不间歇地运转。大马力压榨机榨出果汁，不过榨出的葡萄汁量仅为新鲜葡萄榨汁量的五分之一。随后，这些葡萄汁被倒进巨大的发酵器中，再加入酵母。接下来就是耐心等待了。

在葡萄采收两年后，酒终于可以装瓶了。让人吃惊的是，每瓶冰酒内所含的葡萄汁量相当于榨取了2.5公斤的葡萄。在这个今后将愈发国际化的行业里，这些葡萄酒将点缀中国，乃至全世界葡萄酒鉴赏家的餐桌。

经过一天的辛苦采收后，我迫不及待想来一杯冰酒，于是我在吧台与葡萄园的技术经理张先生一同品酒。我都等不及了。

噢，这太棒了。酒很甜，但又不会太腻，相当提神。我要为这个来干一杯，干杯！