找到我的龙虾

David Allen MW

在20世纪90年代热播的美国情景喜剧《老友记》中，菲比可是一个相当超凡的角色，对于“找到你的龙虾”，她解释了自己的想法。在剧中她表示“大家都知道，一对龙虾相爱后会成为终身伴侣……”以及“你是真的可以看到一对老龙虾夫妇爪子牵着爪子，在它们的鱼缸里绕着走来走去”。我不知道这是不是真的，但有一份礼物让我确信，我找到了自己的龙虾，这就是2支酒杯！

In the hit 1990s US sitcom Friends， Phoebe，a rather unworldly character， explains theidea of finding your lobster. She argues“itis a known fact that lobsters fall in love andmate for life...”and that“you can actuallysee old lobsters couples walking round theirtank…holding claws.”l have no idea if thisis true， however the gift of two wineglassesconfirmed for me that l had indeed foundmy lobster！

有一次，我从一位顾客手中买了半瓶1988年份的滴金酒莊葡萄酒，他们买下了这瓶酒但觉得欣赏不来，所以准备转手卖掉。我很开诚布公地告诉他们，这瓶酒几乎没什么价值了。我决定，等我通过葡萄酒大师的考试时，就用这瓶酒来庆祝。几年过去了，这一梦想也逐渐远去，包括要用醴铎侍酒师系列的苏岱酒杯来喝这款酒。这可是一个秘密，我从来没有告诉过任何人，以防它永远无法实现……

醴铎是来自奥地利的玻璃厂商，以开发各种适合不同葡萄酒风格和品种的特殊形状酒杯而闻名。每一支酒杯的形状都能够将特定的葡萄酒流向舌头上最合适的位置。侍酒师系列是醴铎的顶级系列酒杯，采用优质的奥地利水晶并由人工吹制而成。苏岱的酒杯有独特的郁金香形状用来捕捉香气，闭紧嘴唇，小口饮用，就能让甜甜的葡萄酒最先抵达舌尖，那里正是糖分的感知区域。

2010年9月，我终于收到消息，得知自己通过了葡萄酒大师的考试，可以用“MW”这个称号了！我期待着这个消息并估摸着如果通过了考试，或许可以趁着午休时间溜去伦敦，参观醴铎的商店，买一对合适的杯子。但事与愿违，我的上司和公司老板决定带我出去一起庆祝。于是那天晚上，我就没有足够的时间去商店购物，回家的路上真是感到有些失落。

一到家，我的妻子就告诉我，她给我买了一件礼物，还送给了我一对醴铎侍酒师系列的苏岱酒杯一她可完全不知道，这是我那天最想买的东西！但她就是去了那家我最想去的商店，买了我最想买的那对酒杯！想到这些，我脖子后面的汗毛都竖了起来！

那天晚上，我们并没有喝那瓶滴金酒庄，而是把它留到了之后几天我们结婚纪念日的庆祝活动上。有些人会质疑，一支酒杯真的能改变饮酒者对于某款葡萄酒的品鉴能力吗？要知道，这些酒杯可并不便宜，它们的价格几乎和葡萄酒差不多。但对于同一款葡萄酒来说，用醴铎酒杯饮用可比用普通的酒杯饮用美味多了，肯定物超所值一当然，我可能有些偏见，因为对我而言，这份礼物是无价的！

once bought a half-bottle of thewonderful 1988 Chateau d' Yquem froma customer-they had been given it andfelt they would not be able to appreciateit， and were prepared to accept a price forit that I quite openly told them was at thelow end of its value. I decided that wouldbe the bottle I celebrated with when Ifinally passed the Master of Wine examsSeveral years passed and this dreamgrew， to encompass drinking the winefrom Riedel Sommelier Sauternes glassesThis was a private dream， and I nevertold anybody else about it in case it neverhappened...

Austrian glass-maker Riedel made theirname developing glasses especiallyshaped to suit different wine styles andvarieties. Each is shaped to deliver aparticular wine to the position on thetongue where it will be most appreciatedThe Sommelier Range comprisespremium， hand-blown glasses made offine Austrian crystal. The Sauternes glasshas a distinct tulip-shape to capture thearomas， a tightly turned-in lip and smallopening that ensure the sweet wine firstreaches the tip of the tongue where sugaris normally perceived.

In September 2010 I finally received thenews that I had passed and could use theletters M.W！ I had expected the newsand reckoned that if I passed， I mightbe able to slip into London in my lunch-break， visit the Riedel shop and buy theappropriate glasses The day turned outdifferently， my boss and the owner of thecompany took me out to celebrate！ Thatevening there wasn't sufficient time tovisit the shop and make the purchase， so Ireturned home feeling slightly deflated.

On reaching the house my wife told meshe had bought me a gift and presentedme with a pair of Riedel SommelierSauternes glasses without knowing thatthis was the one thing I most wanted topurchase that day， she had visited thevery shop I wanted to visit and boughtthe exact glasses I had so wanted to buyThin king of this still ma kes the hairs onthe back of my neck stand on end！We didn't drink the d' Yquem that nightbut saved it for the celebration of ourwedding anniversary several days laterSome people are skeptical about theability of wineglasses to alter d rinker'sappreciation of wines. These glasses werenot cheap， costing about as much as thewine， but compared to the same winefrom other glasses the improvement wasastounding and well worth it I may bebiased however， as to me the gift waspriceless！

David Allen MW

葡萄酒大師（Master of Wine）：葡萄酒信息搜索网站Wine-Searcher（葡萄酒搜索引擎）的葡萄酒总监。从业近30年，具有丰富的葡萄酒销售、推广、培训、品鉴等方面的知识。