By the end of his days at Manchester United, it was well known that Alex Ferguson, the club's hugely successful Scottish manager, had developed a growing interest in fine wine. What we didn't know was the scale and depth of his passion.
在亚历克斯·弗格森(Alex Ferguson)执教曼彻斯特联队(Manchester United, 简称:曼联队)的最后一段日子里,曼联队这位超级成功的苏格兰教练对红酒日渐浓厚的兴趣成了众所周知的事情。但我们不知道他对红酒的锺爱究竟到了什么程度和规模。
With the news that Christie's is to sell 5,000 bottles from his cellar, we can see that when it comes to buying wine he appears to have mirrored his football transfer policy of buying only the very best.
不过,佳士得拍卖行(Christie)将拍卖弗格森收藏的5,000瓶葡萄酒的消息让我们看到,在收藏红酒方面,弗格森似乎同样遵循他的足球转会政策,那就是只买最好的。
A quick look through the highlights of the collection Christie's will sell later this year show that off the pitch Sir Alex has assembled a cellar containing some of the rarest and finest wines in the world. In Domaine de la Roman谷e-Conti of Burgundy, Château P谷trus of Bordeaux and Tuscany's Sassicaia, he has bought arguably the top three wines in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Italy. Both Roman谷e-Conti and P谷trus come with price tags well north of EUR1,000 a bottle.
瞥一眼佳士得拍卖行今年晚些时候将拍卖的弗格森爵士主要藏品,你会发现,他在球场之外还在酒窖里收藏了一些全球最珍贵和最上等的红酒。他从勃艮第(Burgundy)的罗曼尼·康帝(Domaine de la Romanee-Conti)酒庄、波尔多(Bordeaux)的柏图斯(Chateau Petrus)酒庄以及意大利托斯卡纳(Tuscany)的西施佳雅(Sassicaia)买到了可能是这三个地区最上等的红酒。罗曼尼·康帝酒庄和柏图斯酒庄所产葡萄酒的价格每瓶都远超1,000欧元。
With his numerous vintages of Domaine de la Roman谷e-Conti, Mr. Ferguson has a wine that every collector in the world would like to own. A red wine which has been described as having the texture of silk and an aroma that ranges from violets, wild cherries, licorice to spice.
弗格森所收藏的大量来自罗曼尼·康帝酒庄的葡萄酒是全世界每一位收藏家都希望拥有的。该酒庄的红葡萄酒被描述为拥有丝质柔滑的口感,并带有香草、野樱、甘草和辛香料的清香。
His tastes are clearly European. This may be a reflection of his days traveling around Europe with Manchester United in the Champions League. But as a proud Scot his large collection of Bordeaux wines follows a long tradition in that country of collecting Claret. For centuries, the red wines of Bordeaux were shipped to the Scottish ports of Glasgow and Edinburgh when the region was under the jurisdiction of the English crown.
弗格森显然有着和欧洲人一样的品味。这或许是因为他经常在欧洲冠军联赛期间随曼联队转战欧洲。但作为一个骄傲的苏格兰人,他大量收藏波尔多葡萄酒,也是受到苏格兰人喜欢收藏法国红葡萄酒的悠久传统影响。在苏格兰处于英国管辖的几个世纪里,波尔多的红葡萄酒被运到苏格兰的格拉斯哥和爱丁堡港口。
Aside from the big ticket names such as Château Latour and Haut-Brion, there are some smart buys. In Château Talbot and Grand Puy Lacoste he has two well-priced wines from a very good year -- 2009, highlighting his eye for a bargain and suggesting that although he likes to buy the best, he is perhaps a canny Scot after all.
除了收藏拉图(Chateau Latour)酒庄和侯伯王(Haut-Brion)酒庄所产的上等葡萄酒之外,弗格森也会进行一些划算的买卖。他从大宝酒庄(Chateau Talbot)和拉古斯酒庄(Grand Puy Lacoste)购买了两瓶价格合理、产于2009年这一好年份的葡萄酒,这凸显出了弗格森具有捡便宜货的眼光,同时也表明,虽然爵爷喜欢买最好的,他骨子里或许仍是一个精明的苏格兰人。