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My favorite spring wine is one that is almost impossible to find. Never mind that it's made all over the world -- France and Italy, Germany and Austria and even California and Oregon. Or that it's refreshing and crisp and even pairs well with so-called 'difficult' foods like asparagus and other green vegetables. It remains woefully obscure -- at least to most American wine drinkers.
我最喜爱的春季时令葡萄酒在市面上芳踪难觅。这种酒其实世界各地均有酿制（其中包括法国、意大利、德国、奥地利，甚至还有加州和俄勒冈州），而且清新爽口，就连搭配芦笋及其他绿色蔬菜这类“难搭”食材也是相得益彰。但尽管如此，了解这种酒的人还是少得可怜——至少美国大多数葡萄酒爱好者都对其一无所知。
Silvaner (or Sylvaner as it's known in France and parts of Italy) is a white grape originally grown in Austria, where little of it is planted these days. It has the poor fortune of growing in many of the same wine regions as other, more illustrious and more popular grapes. It flourishes in the Alsace region of France, where it's all but overshadowed by Riesling and Gewurztraminer. It's grown in Italy's Alto Adige, but so are lots of more attention-grabbing grapes, like Pinot Grigio. It has the distinction of being the flagship grape of Germany's Franken region, but how many people talk about the great wines of Franken?
这种酒就是西万尼（Silvaner，或称 Sylvaner，法国和意大利部分地区采用这种拼法）。西万尼是一种原产于奥地利的白葡萄，不过现在奥地利已经基本不种这种葡萄了。西万尼常常不幸与其他更有名、更热门的葡萄品种生长在相同的葡萄酒产区。西万尼在法国阿尔萨斯(Alsace )大量种植，但却在雷司令(Riesling)和琼瑶浆(Gewurztraminer)的映衬下黯然失色。意大利的上阿迪杰(Alto Adige)种植西万尼，但当地也有灰皮诺(Pinot Grigio)等许多更抢眼的葡萄品种。在德国的弗兰肯(Franken)地区，西万尼是崭露头角的主打品种，但又有多少人了解弗兰肯地区的佳酿呢？
I wasn't always so keen on Silvaner. I used to think it was kind of innocuous. (The grape can produce wines that are simple and one-dimensional if the vines aren't old and yields aren't kept low.) But when I tasted a Silvaner made by Ludwig Knoll at Weingut am Stein in Franken a few years ago, I experienced an epiphany of sorts. The Weingut am Stein 2008 'VINZ' old-vine Silvaner was almost Chablis-like in its intensity, with a wonderful mineral quality and a bracing acidity. It was unlike any Silvaner I'd ever had.
我并不是一直都这么喜欢西万尼的。我曾经认为这种葡萄酒有点普通（如果不是采自老藤，产量不限制在较低水平，用西万尼酿制的葡萄酒口感会比较单一，缺乏层次感）。但当我在几年前品尝过弗兰肯酒庄Weingut am Stein的卢德维格·诺尔(Ludwig Knoll)酿制的一款西万尼之后，我突然领悟到了西万尼的真谛。Weingut am Stein 2008年份老藤西万尼葡萄酒VINZ 几乎和夏布利酒(Chablis)一样浓郁，还带有美妙的矿物质感和宜人的酸度。这款酒和我之前喝过的任何西万尼都不一样。
Sadly it seems to have made more of an impression on me than it did on the U.S. market at large. Its Oregon-based importer, Loosen Brothers U.S.A., dropped the wines from Weingut am Stein after three years of trying to sell them. Kirk Wille, the importer's vice president, wrote in an email that Silvaner was just too obscure, and that the educational outreach that his company would have had to mount on behalf of the grape would have been too costly.
遗憾的是，虽然西万尼给我留下了深刻印象，但在整个美国市场上却反响平平。总部位于俄勒冈州的进口商Loosen Brothers U.S.A.曾试图在美国卖这种酒，但在经过三年的努力之后，该公司放弃了Weingut am Stein的葡萄酒。该进口商副总裁柯克·威尔(Kirk Wille)在电子邮件中写道，西万尼太没名气了，推广这种葡萄会让公司付出过高的教育普及费用。
I contacted the winery's head of marketing, Sandra Knoll, to express my regret that her Silvaners were unavailable in the U.S. She replied that the winery was interested in exporting them again, especially since they had been well received by American sommeliers. But she also expressed concern that the 'VINZ' Silvaner had been too pricey for the U.S. market. While it wasn't cheap at $46, it wasn't terribly costly either, considering that many other, less brilliant wines come with much higher price tags. Of course, those wines tend to have the advantage of familiar names, or substantial marketing campaigns.
我联系了该酒庄的营销主管桑德拉·诺尔(Sandra Knoll)，我告诉她，在美国买不到这款葡萄酒让我感到很遗憾。她回复说，Weingut am Stein有意恢复对美国的出口，尤其是考虑到西万尼深受美国侍酒师欢迎。但诺尔也表示，她担心VINZ西万尼酒的价格对美国市场来说太贵了。其实，这款售价46美元的酒虽然不算便宜，但也不算太贵，因为有许多酒品质不如西万尼，价格却要高出一大截。当然了，那些葡萄酒也有优势，它们往往知名度更高，或者营销力度相当大。
Lesser-known wines have found success thanks to grass-roots work on the part of wine professionals. Take, for example, the way that Gruner Veltliner became a household name after a band of American sommeliers decided it was worthy of attention. Why couldn't a similar group help place Silvaner on the vinous map?
Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer for The Wall Street Journal 在葡萄酒专业人士的普及推广下，目前已有小众葡萄酒取得成功的先例。比方说，格鲁纳绿维特利纳(Gruner Veltliner)就是在一群美国侍酒师认定其有关注价值，并进行推广普及之后为人熟知的。那么，侍酒师为什么不能把西万尼也纳入葡萄酒地图呢？
I turned to Joshua Nadel, the wine director of New York restaurants Locanda Verde, Lafayette and the Dutch. Mr. Nadel is a fan of Silvaner and has one on his wine lists at two of his establishments. Yet he thinks the grape has a few problems 'besides the fact that nobody cares about it,' he said. For starters, he said, it's in the middle of a very crowded and competitive category of 'crisp, minerally, old-world white wines like Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc and Riesling.'
我向在纽约餐馆Locanda Verde、Lafayette和The Dutch担任葡萄酒主管的乔舒亚·纳德尔(Joshua Nadel)请教了这个问题。纳德尔是西万尼的拥趸，他把西万尼列入了其中两家餐馆的酒单。但纳德尔表示，他认为 “除没人关注之外”，这种葡萄还存在几个问题。他说，首先，西万尼“和格鲁纳绿维特利纳、白皮诺(Pinot Blanc)及雷司令一样，都属于口感干爽、带矿物香的旧大陆白葡萄”，而这一类葡萄品种繁多，竞争激烈。
Another challenge is its packaging -- it's often sold in the fluted green bottles associated with aromatic wines. Some people look at such Silvaner bottles and fear that the contents will be too sweet. And to make matters worse, other Silvaners -- notably those from Franken -- are packaged in squat flagon-shaped bottles called bocksbeutels. It's a silhouette that Americans of a certain age associate with Mateus, the cheap Portuguese wine popular in the '70s.
另一项挑战来自其包装——西万尼通常装在绿色槽纹酒瓶内出售，会让人联想起加香葡萄酒。一些人看到西万尼的瓶子会担心里面的酒太甜。更糟的是，还有一些西万尼酒（尤其是产自弗兰肯的西万尼）装在一种扁圆的大肚瓶里。某些年龄段的美国人会把这种形状与上世纪70年代流行的一种葡萄牙产廉价葡萄酒蜜桃红(Mateus)联系起来。
Distinctive bottles might also be troublesome to wine merchants who have to figure out how to fit them on their shelves. Costas Mouzouras, wine director of New York wine store Gotham Wines & Liquors, has a single Silvaner (from Franken, in a bocksbeutel) in stock. Mr. Mouzouras said the bottle shape was both a hindrance (a challenge to shelve) but also a help. 'It makes the wine pop,' he said. A fan of the grape, he noted that he would be carrying a few more Silvaners soon.
外形特殊的酒瓶还有可能给葡萄酒商带来麻烦，因为酒商要考虑如何在货架上摆放这些酒。纽约葡萄酒店Gotham Wines & Liquors的葡萄酒主管科斯塔斯·穆祖拉斯(Costas Mouzouras)只存有一瓶西万尼（产自弗兰肯，装在大肚瓶中）。穆祖拉斯说，酒瓶的形状既有弊端（不便在货架上摆放），也有好处。他说：“这种酒瓶能让这种葡萄酒更引人注目。”穆祖拉斯很喜欢这种葡萄，他说，他很快会再进几瓶西万尼。
Tim Finch, the manager of another New York wine shop, K&D Wines, stocks seven Silvaners -- six more than any other store I found in New York. He believes that Silvaner is the 'perfect wine for spring' and a great alternative to Riesling and Gruner Veltliner.
纽约另一家葡萄酒店K&D Wines的经理蒂姆·芬奇(Tim Finch)存有七瓶西万尼——而纽约其他任何一家店最多也只能找到一瓶。芬奇说，他认为西万尼是“完美的春季时令酒品”，也是雷司令和格鲁纳绿维特利纳的替代佳品。
I bought all seven of Mr. Finch's Silvaners and sought out others, eventually accumulating 13 bottles from across the world. I invited some friends to join me for a tasting. Only one of them, who lived in Paris for years and drank it in bistros, had ever heard of the wine. (Another person thought Silvaner was a fellow taster's name.)
我把芬奇的七瓶西万尼全都买了下来，再加上从其他店找到的西万尼，最终搜罗到13瓶产自世界各地的西万尼。我邀请了一些朋友和我一起品酒。其中只有一位朋友（他在巴黎生活过很多年，在小酒馆里喝过这种酒）听说过西万尼（还有一位朋友以为西万尼是另一个品酒人的名字）。
The wines ranged from a light and fruity, off-dry Silvaner by the Teutonic Wine Company in Oregon to some more austere Sylvaners from Alto Adige. Three of the Italian wines were particularly good, including two from the Abbazia di Novacella winery: a refreshing and light Sylvaner ($22) and their Praepositus ($35) that was more minerally, with a bit of an earthy note. The 2012 Sylvaner 'R' Valle Isarco, from the highly regarded Kofererhof winery, showed lovely floral notes and a rounder, richer profile than the others, but fell a bit short of the expectations raised by its $64 price tag. (Kofererhof also produces a much less expensive Sylvaner that was sold out everywhere I looked.)
这些酒口感各异，既有俄勒冈州酒厂Teutonic Wine Company酿制的那种轻盈、散发果香的半干西万尼，也有一些比较紧涩的上阿迪杰产西万尼。有三款意大利产葡萄酒特别出色，其中两款产自酒庄Abbazia di Novacella：一款是爽口而轻盈的Sylvaner（售价22美元），另一款是矿物香更浓，并带有一点泥土芬芳的Praepositus（售价35美元）。有一瓶2012年份Sylvaner 'R' Valle Isarco产自倍受好评的Kofererhof酒庄，散发着迷人的花香，口感比其他酒更圆润浓郁，但鉴于这款酒价格高达64美元，还是让人感觉与预期有一点差距（Kofererhof还酿制一种价格便宜得多的西万尼，但这款酒在我去过的所有商店都卖完了）。
I found three very good Sylvaners from Alsace made by Albert Boxler, Dirler-Cade and Andre Ostertag -- all producers noted for Sylvaners in a region where the grape still gets fairly short shrift. The rich 2011 Albert Boxler Sylvaner ($30) was a great wine with food, while the 2011 Domaine Dirler-Cade Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes ($20) and 2012 Andre Ostertag Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes ($23) were both lighter than the Albert Boxler, with more minerality.
我发现有三款产自阿尔萨斯的西万尼非常棒，这三款酒分别由Albert Boxler、Dirler-Cade 和Domaine Ostertag酿制——在阿尔萨斯这个西万尼葡萄仍然不太受关注的地区，这三家酒庄都以酿制西万尼酒而著称。Albert Boxler 2011年份西万尼（售价30美元）味道浓郁，是佐餐佳酿，相比之下，Domaine Dirler-Cade 2011年份老藤西万尼(Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes)（售价20美元）和Domaine Ostertag 2012年份老藤西万尼（售价23美元）更加轻盈，带有更多的矿物香。
I had a few Silvaners from Germany. The one that really stood out was the delightfully floral 2012 Weingut Hans Wirsching Iphofer Silvaner Trocken. It had a dry, mineral finish and a profile that one friend called 'yummy.' At $17 a bottle, it was also a good deal.
我找到了几款产自德国的西万尼。真正出色的一款是Weingut Hans Wirsching萦绕怡人花香的2012年份Iphofer干西万尼。这款酒回味较干，带着矿物香，一位朋友用“美味”来形容这款酒。该酒售价17美元，可谓物美价廉。
I hope that more Silvaner producers might be inspired to bring their wines to this country -- and that those who once ventured here will consider returning. After all, as Andre Ostertag of Domaine Ostertag put it, 'Silvaner is for wine as bread and butter are for food. It is the basis of taste.' It's a taste that I hope all wine drinkers can try.
我希望有更多的西万尼酿造商看了这篇文章后能考虑把他们的佳酿带到美国市场——我还希望曾在美国市场闯荡过的酿酒商能考虑再回来。毕竟，正如Domaine Ostertag的安德烈·奥斯特塔格(Andre Ostertag)所言：“西万尼之于葡萄酒，就像面包和黄油之于食物。这是味道的基础。”而我希望所有葡萄酒爱好者都能品尝一下这种味道。
