冰酒是这样酿造出来的，珍贵又美味

There are few regions in the world where you can make true "ice wine," a sweet, dessert-style vintage. You need warm summers to grow quality grapes. But the fruit must be picked and pressed when it’s well below freezing. So you need frigid winters.

世界上仅有很少的几个区域能酿造出真正的“冰酒”——一种芳香的、甜点风格的葡萄酒。它需要炎热的夏天以种植出高品质的葡萄，同时，又必须在气温低于冰点时来采摘、压榨，所以冬天又得足够寒冷。

Most of the ice wine in the U.S. is imported from Canada or Germany. But a growing number of wineries in places like upstate New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have started making their own, giving American consumers the option of buying domestically produced bottles.

美国大部分的冰酒都是从加拿大或德国进口的。但在纽约州北部、密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州等地，越来越多的葡萄酒酿造厂也开始制作冰酒，这让美国的消费者们多了一个购买国产葡萄酒的选择。

Coyote Moon vineyards, a family-owned winery in Clayton, N.Y., just a few miles from the Canadian border, began making ice wine last year. As an arctic front settled on the vineyards recently, creating the perfect harvesting conditions, workers harvested the grapes for next year’s vintage.

啸月酒庄葡萄园是位于纽约州克莱顿的一家家族酿酒厂，距加拿大边境只有几英里，自去年开始酿造冰酒。最近，一个北极锋停留在了葡萄园里，为葡萄的收获创造了完美的条件，工人们收获了葡萄用于酿造来年的美酒。

It was 3 degrees Fahrenheit when the winery’s crew trudged out to 30 rows of vines dedicated to ice wine. It was so cold that the snow was squeaking underfoot. The temperature dropped to zero just as the sun peeked over the horizon. The vines were cast in orange. And the snow glowed blue.

当酒庄的工人们去采摘那30行用于酿造冰酒的葡萄时，气温只有华氏3度。天太冷了，雪踩在脚下吱吱作响。当太阳从地平线上升起时，气温刚好达到零度。葡萄藤被光照成了橘色，雪也散发出蓝色的光。

"All of our grapes are covered with netting," says the winery’s marketer, Christine Shanley, her eyelashes caked with ice. "So you can look through the nets and you see all your friends, bundled up, shivering, picking the clusters."

一名叫Christine Shanley的工人说，“所有的葡萄都被网盖着。”她的睫毛上粘满了小冰块。“所以你可以透过这些网看到你所有的同伴们，裹得严严实实的，冻得哆哆嗦嗦的，采摘下这一束束的葡萄。”

Robert Heyman, a man with a burly beard and a red wool hat works fast along one row. The grapes look almost black, brittle and abandoned. He cracks bunches off the vine with his bare hands and drops them into a bucket. "Ah, it’s nothing compared to ice fishing," he says, chortling. "No brain, no pain."

Robert Heyman是一个留着大胡子，戴着一顶红色呢帽的男人，他在一行葡萄架前快速采摘着。葡萄看起来几乎像是黑色的，脆脆的，摇晃着。他赤手空拳把葡萄从藤上摘了下来，然后把它们放进桶里。他笑着说：“啊，这跟冰上钓鱼差不多。大脑也冻木了，不知道疼痛。”

The vineyard has grown two kinds of grapes for ice wine this year, both cold climate varietals: frontenac (red) and frontenac gris (white). This is only their second winter making the product for mass distribution. It’s the first for frontenac gris, so there’s still some experimenting involved.

今年，啸月酒庄种植了两种冰酒葡萄，两种都是低温气候品种：芳堤娜（红色）和灰芳堤娜 (白色)。这只是他们大规模生产冰酒的第二个冬天，也是第一次种灰芳堤娜，所以仍有一些是实验的。

"We’re letting these grapes essentially turn into raisins," says co-owner Tony Randazzo.

其合伙人Tony Randazzo说，“我们是让这些葡萄自然的风干的。”

The chemistry behind ice wine involves letting the water in the grape crystallize in the cold, leaving the sugars to concentrate and mature. "We’re taking the best of the best of that kind of sweet goodness that’s left, and turning that into wine," says Randazzo."That’s really where the magic happens."

冰酒背后的化学过程是让葡萄中的水在寒冷中结晶，使糖分集中并成熟。Randazzo说：“我们正在尽最大的努力做到留下最好的甜度，然后把它变成冰葡萄酒。”“这真的是奇迹发生的地方。”

Ice wine is believed to have started in Germany in the 1700s, when winemakers had to make the best of a frozen harvest. But Canada has become the world’s leader today. In the United States, ice wine is made throughout upstate New York, as well as parts of Michigan.

据信，冰酒起源于18世纪的德国，当时酿酒师必须充分利用冰冻的收获。不过如今加拿大已经成为世界冰酒的领袖。而在美国，冰酒只在纽约州北部和密歇根部分地区生产。

Coyote Moon follows Canada’s strict standards. Winemakers have to harvest and press the grapes below 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and there are precise guidelines for alcohol and sugar content.

啸月酒庄遵循加拿大的严格标准。酿酒师们必须在华氏17.6度以下的温度下采摘和压榨葡萄，而且，对于酒精和糖的含量也有精确的指导。

Founder and patriarch Phil Randazzo says，"A lot of guys will take and freeze their grapes, and that’s just not the real deal. They taste different."

其创始人兼族长Phil Randazzo说， “很多人会采摘后再把葡萄冷冻起来，那并不正宗，味道是有差别的。”

He cautions against alternative language on bottles, like ’iced wine’ or ’frozen wine.’ "It’s got to be called ’ice wine,’" he adds.

他让人们警惕酒瓶上的替代语言，比如“冰过的酒”或者“冰冻的酒”，他补充说，应当是“冰酒（ice wine）”才是正确的。

There are big risks to leaving tons of grapes just hanging on the vine long after the traditional late summer harvest. A wind storm can blow away the whole crop. Adequate cold may not come for months. Last year’s warm winter delayed the harvest until February.

在夏末，传统的丰收季节过后将大量的葡萄留在藤蔓上是有很大的风险的。一场暴风雨就会将让其颗粒无收。适当的寒冷可能几个月都不会到来。去年的暖冬使得采摘推迟到了二月。

But the reward is 375ml bottles that fetch $50 and up, and a sweet, fruity, almost creamy taste.

不过，回报是375毫升一瓶的冰酒就能卖到50美元以上，以及这种甜蜜、充满浓郁果香的像奶油一样的口感。

But on this day, there will be no tasting. Ice wine requires patience. After pressing, the juice will ferment and age for a year, just about when it’s time to brave the cold and harvest next year’s frozen crop.

但是这一天，离那美好的滋味还远着呢。酿造冰酒需要耐心。在压榨后，冰葡萄汁水会发酵并经过一年后成熟，正是下一年它又要面对严寒开始丰收的时候。

The bottles with last year’s Frontenac harvest are just about to come in from the manufacturer, meaning Coyote Moon’s ice wine will soon be ready for sweet sipping.

去年用芳堤娜酿的冰酒正要从生产商那里运来，这意味着很快就能尝到啸月酒庄冰酒的甜美滋味了。