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Champagne 香槟 Uncorking success 拔去成功的软木塞 Trendier new champagne brands are upsetting the industry's grand old names 新潮的香槟品牌正在打击老牌的香槟产业。 Dec 19th 2002 | EPERNAY | from the print edition of The Economist 译者：下体老师 TAKE a stroll down the Avenue du Champagne in Epernay, in north-eastern France, and a sense of the wealth and power of the champagne industry is immediate. At one end lies the vast fortress-like headquarters of Mo?t & Chandon, the world's largest champagne producer, owned by LVMH, a luxury-goods house. Then there are the more elegant 19th-century mansions belonging to smaller houses, like Perrier-Jou?t, with its “Maison Belle Epoque”. Finally, you come to the modern headquarters of Mercier, where delivery trucks and tourist coaches jostle for space in the car-park. 沿着法国东北Epernay的香槟大道一直往下走，油然而生一种香槟产业的富有和力量感。一端耸立着像巨大要塞一样的Mo?t & Chandon总部，世界上最大的香槟生产商，隶属于奢侈品集团LVMH。那里还有更雅致的19世纪宅邸属于更小的制造商，比如Perrier-Jou?t和它的“Maison Belle Epoque”。最后，来到Mercier现代化的总部，那里的运输车和旅游车在停车场里争抢车位。 At a time when the rest of the French wine industry is reeling from a steady decline in sales at home, and fierce competition from New World producers abroad, the French champagne industry appears unassailable. Australian or Spanish bubbly has never come close to rivalling the cachet (or the price) of real champagne. French champagne makers have defended their nectar with a clever mix of brilliant marketing and a zealous legal campaign to protect the crucial “champagne” name. 每当法国其它的葡萄酒产业因为国内酒价的剧跌和国外新生产商的激烈竞争而摇摇欲坠的时候，法国的香槟产业往往表现得无懈可击。澳大利亚或西班牙的香槟从来都没有在品质（或价格）上与真正的香槟相提并论。法国的香槟制造商用出色的营销手段和激情的合法活动来捍卫重要的“香槟”品牌。 At first glance, the sales figures seem to speak for themselves. In the 1850s, before champagne became fashionable with the European nouveau riche—and when the wine was mostly sweet-tasting, a bit like today's Asti Spumante—the Champenois were selling around 10m bottles a year. A century later, in 1951, they were selling an annual 51m bottles. By 1999, as preparations for millennium celebrations got going, sales hit a new peak of 327m bottles—or more than $7 billion-worth of champagne. Currently, the champagne industry is suffering a small post-millennium hangover, as sales re-adjust to a normal pattern after the end-of-century binge. But the overall trend for the industry has been to float ever upwards, as surely as the bubbles in a champagne glass. 乍一看，销售量看起来好像在为自己辩护。19世纪50年代，在欧洲暴发户之中香槟变得流行之前----当时葡萄酒大部分都是甜的，有点像现在的意大利白葡萄汽酒---尚普努瓦每年的销售量达到一千万瓶。一个世纪以后，1951年，它们的销售量达到每年5千1百万瓶。到1999年，准备千年庆的时候，销售量达到一个新的高峰3亿2千7百万瓶---或者说价值70多亿美元的香槟。现在，香槟产业正在经历一场小小的后千年宿醉，在世纪狂欢结束之后销售量调节到一个正常的数值。但是这个产业整体的趋势是一直向上浮动的，就像香槟酒杯里的气泡一样。 A family affair 一件家事 Yet the venerable champagne houses are more vulnerable than their opulent mansions and booming sales might suggest. A clue to their problem lies in the geography of the Avenue du Champagne. Unlike the great chateaux of Bordeaux, the big champagne houses are not surrounded by vineyards. They are located firmly in the centre of towns like Epernay and the nearby city of Reims. That is because they are essentially trading houses that manufacture and market champagne. For the most part, they do not actually own the vineyards which produce the red and white grapes that they turn into champagne. 然而德高望重的香槟制造商总是比它们阔绰的宅邸更易受攻击，迅速增长的销售额也许可以证明这点。这个问题的一条线索在于香槟大道的地理位置。不像波尔多的大城堡，大香槟制造商没有被葡萄园包围。它们坚实地坐落于像是Epernay这样的城镇中心和兰斯的附近。那是因为它们基本上是贸易场所，制造然后销售香槟。在极大程度上，它们实际上并没有拥有这些生产红白葡萄然后用来制成香槟的葡萄园。 Drive up into the hills where the grapes are grown, and you see small stone plaques, like tombstones, which mark out the patches of land owned by the houses. One stone will mark a row of vines owned by Veuve Clicquot, another will signal ownership by Louis Roederer or Bollinger. But, largely as a result of French law, which has been structured to prevent the big champagne houses buying out smallholders, 90% of the champagne vineyards are still controlled by some 15,000 small growers. They own patches of vineyard all over the champagne district. Even mighty Mo?t's own vineyards produce just a quarter of the grapes it needs for the millions of bottles it churns out every year. Like almost all the other champagne houses, Mo?t is dependent on buying in grapes. 开到种植葡萄的地方，你会看见一块像墓碑一样的小石碑，上面标示出这些房子所拥有的土地。一块石碑上标示了一排尤乌克里括的藤蔓，另一块标示路易斯罗伊德或柏林杰。但是，主要由于法国法律，为了阻止大香槟制造商收买小农，90%的香槟葡萄园仍然被大约15000名小种植者控制着。他们拥有一片片葡萄园，遍及整个香槟地区。甚至连强大的Mo?t自己所有的葡萄园每年的产量也只是几百万瓶量产目标的四分之一而已。就像所有其它的香槟制造商，Mo?t也是要靠买入葡萄来制酒。 Relations between the growers and the houses have gone through tense periods in the past. In 1911, the growers rioted and trashed the cellars of many of the big houses, because they were buying in grapes from outside the region. It took the arrival of 40,000 troops to restore order. These days, most of the growers make a decent living, and thousands produce their own champagne, which they sell on a small scale—often to visitors who drop by their premises in the small villages that surround Epernay and Reims. The fact that vineyards have stayed in the hands of the same families—often for centuries—is reflected in the names of the small producers. In Chouilly, an ugly little village in the heart of the best chardonnay vineyards, there are directions to no fewer than six champagne makers called Legras. 种植者和制造商之间的关系经历了一段紧张的时期。1911年，种植者们捣毁了好几家大制造商的地窖，因为它们从外部购入葡萄。出动了40000名部队来恢复秩序。这些日子里，大多数种植者过着体面的生活，数千名制造着自己的香槟，以很少的量卖出去---通常卖给顺便拜访Epernay和兰斯周围小村庄的游客。葡萄园一直是在同样的家族手里的事实——经历了好几个世纪——在小生产者的名字里反映出来。在Chouilly，一座位于夏敦诶酒最好的葡萄园中心位置的丑陋小村庄，那里有不少于6家叫做勒格拉的香槟制造商的导向牌。 For the most part, however, it is only the real champagne fans—often clutching the “Guide Hachette”, the bible of the French wine industry—who can be bothered to hammer on the doors of the various branches of the Legras family, or any of the hundreds of other small producers dotted around the region. The real marketing and sales power lies with the big houses. They account for 90% of exports, and 65% of sales in France. 然而在很大程度上只有真正的香槟粉丝——才经常拽着“Guide Hachette”，法国葡萄酒产业的圣经——他们可以捶开各个勒格拉家族分公司的门，或者其他任何散布在这个区域附近的小生产者。真正的营销和销售能力在于这些大制造商。它们占了90%的出口，和65%在法国的销售。 Aux armes, citoyens 备战吧，公民们！ The champagne houses, however, are in danger of becoming victims of their own success. As production has soared, problems of supply have begun to loom. There are precious few vineyards left in the champagne region (which was carefully defined after the 1911 riots) that have yet to be planted. People in the industry reckon that champagne will have reached the limits of its production within a couple of years. When this happens, it will strengthen the position of the growers, who own the increasingly precious grapes. 然而香槟制造商们正在成为它们自己成功的受害者。当产量激增的时候，问题也隐约可见。香槟区只剩下很少几片珍贵的葡萄园（自从1911年的骚乱之后它们就被小心地限制起来了）需要被播种。业内人士估计香槟产量将会在几年之内达到它的上限。当它发生的时候，种植者的地位将会被巩固，因为他们会拥有越来越多珍贵的葡萄。 Their hand will be further strengthened by a European Union ruling, which came into force in 2000, that the champagne region's long-established tradition of fixing grape prices—as part of a negotiated agreement between the growers and the houses—is anti-competitive. As a result, the price of grapes is set to soar and the champagne houses—which traditionally enjoy a gentlemanly and co-operative relationship (do not say cartel, lest Brussels takes another look)—are already being tempted to out-bid each other for grapes. One big wheel in the champagne industry tut-tuts that some of the smaller houses are behaving irresponsibly and paying “whatever it takes” to get hold of supplies. Quite what the going rate is remains perhaps the most closely guarded and controversial subject in the little world of champagne. Although the growers and champagne houses still set an “indicative” price for grapes, a system of secret additional bonuses has evolved. One champagne mogul says that the “greatest fear” of every grower in the region is that his neighbour is getting a better deal than he is. The greatest fear of the champagne houses, meanwhile, is that growers will defect to a better-paying rival. 他们的手将会借2000年即将实行的欧盟条款而伸得更远，这项把香槟区长期确立的关于修正葡萄价格的惯例——作为种植者和制造商之间的议定协定的条款是反竞争的。结果导致葡萄价格猛涨，而本来享受着温柔合作的香槟制造商们（不再声称企业联合，以免布鲁塞尔”另眼相看”）已经开始被逼得去相互竞价了。香槟产业中的其中一个大扭转是一些小型制造商开始出现“无论它得到什么”都会支付的不负责任的行为以掌握贮藏量。现行汇率在香槟的小世界里有着最紧密和最有争议的影响。然而种植者们和香槟制造商们仍然给葡萄设了一个“暗示性”的价格，一套秘密的额外收益已经逐步形成。一位香槟业巨头称这个区域里每一位种植者“最大的恐惧”就是他的邻居正在得到一笔比他更好的交易。也就是说，香槟制造商们最大的恐惧就是种植者们会投奔更高价的竞争者。 Challenges to the traditional dominance of the champagne houses are already emerging. A couple of miles outside Epernay, on a hillside surrounded by vineyards, lies the headquarters of Nicolas Feuillatte—the newest and brashest kid on the champagne block. While most of the great champagne houses have been around since the 19th century, Nicolas Feuillatte has emerged from nowhere in the last 15 years to become the bestselling champagne in French hypermarkets and the seventh-biggest producer overall (see table). What is more, Nicolas Feuillatte is a growers' co-operative. Its pitch to the thousands of small growers is simple: don't sell all your grapes to the big champagne houses, give them to us and share in the profits and glory of your own brand. Some 4,500 growers—a third of the total—have so far taken up the offer. 对传统的香槟制造商们支配地位的挑战已经在浮现出来。离Epernay几公里之外，在一个被葡萄园包围的山腰上，有丽歌菲雅的总部——香槟街区上最新最鲁莽的小朋友。虽然大多数伟大的香槟制造商从19世纪开始就已经在那里了，丽歌菲雅在过去的15年里从不知道哪里的地方窜出来成为了法国高级百货商店里的畅销产品和第7大香槟生产商（见表）。此外，丽歌菲雅是种植者们合作的产物。上千个小种植者都有一个简单的想法：不要把所有的葡萄都卖给那些大香槟制造者，留给自己然后共享自创品牌的收益和荣誉。大约4500名种植者——总的1/3——至今占据着这些供给。 The rapid growth of the Nicolas Feuillatte brand came as a shock to the champagne houses. Grower co-operatives have a long history in champagne—as they do in the rest of the French wine industry—but they have never had a reputation for quality produce or skilled marketing. Nicolas Feuillatte confounded those stereotypes. The firm's production facilities are the biggest and most modern in the region—indeed, they are used, on the quiet, by some of the traditional champagne houses. 丽歌菲雅的快速成长给香槟制造商们带来了打击。种植者合作社在香槟界有很长的历史——正如他们在法国其它的葡萄酒产业——但是他们从未在品质和营销技巧上有过荣誉。丽歌菲雅击败了这些模式化的观念。这家公司的生产设备是这个区域里最大最摩登的——事实上，它们也正悄悄地被一些传统香槟制造商使用着。 The co-operative's marketing has also been innovative and sharp. While the Veuve Clicquots and Mo?ts, naturally enough, emphasise their history and tradition, Nicolas Feuillatte stresses modernity. A tour of a traditional champagne house will always include a view of the deep underground cellars, where the champagne is stored and aged, and perhaps a tasting in a panelled room surrounded by portraits of the founders of the house. At Nicolas Feuillatte, by contrast, visitors see the giant stainless steel vats in which the wine is blended, and the above-ground temperature-controlled storerooms, where specially commissioned works of modern art are displayed. “We like to commission young up-and-coming artists, because it fits with our own values,” says Olivier Cavil, the group's publicity man, before adding, frankly, “it's also cheaper.” The brand's advertising slogan is “Epernay—New York—and Beyond”. 合作社的营销也已经变得创新和犀利。当尤乌克里括和Mo?ts很自然地强调他们的历史和传统的时候，丽歌菲雅强调的是现代性。在传统香槟制造商的观光中总是少不了对地下酒窖的深入拜访，那里贮存着成年香槟，也许还能在被创立者肖像包围的格板房里品尝一口。在丽歌菲雅，相反，观光者会看见巨大的不锈钢大桶里流淌着葡萄酒，还有地上温度控制室，那里陈列着特别制作的现代艺术作品。“我们喜欢请年轻朝气蓬勃的艺术家，因为这比较符合我们的价值，” 这个集团的宣传负责人Olivier Cavil说，还坦率地加上一句“这也更便宜”。这个品牌的广告语是“Epernay——纽约——和超越”。 Nicolas Feuillatte has not risen faultlessly. On the contrary, the faster the brand expanded, the more money it seemed to lose. Intoxicated by their rapid expansion, the co-op's managers poured money into fresh investment. Eventually, the growers—who had to finance the group's losses—staged a revolt. Last year, they turfed out the managing director and installed new bosses. The group expects to return to profit only by the end of 2002. 丽歌菲雅也不是完美无缺的。相反地，这个品牌扩张得越快似乎就越烧钱。他们陶醉于快速扩张，合作社的经理投了更多的钱进去这种新型投资。最终，种植者们——必须承担这些损失的人——就出现了反抗。去年，他们赶走了总经理又设了个新上司。这个团体期望2002年末之前能够创出利润。 Naturally, the upheaval at Nicolas Feuillatte has been greeted with undisguised satisfaction back at the traditional champagne houses in Epernay. Yves Benard, who runs Mo?t's champagne business and chairs the Union des Maisons de Champagne, which groups together the biggest champagne brands, says: “The old management at Nicolas Feuillatte talked like they were on some sort of crusade against the champagne houses; but the new management are serious people.” 对于丽歌菲雅的动荡，Epernay的香槟制造商当然会以公然表示满意来回应了。Yves Benard，经营着Mo?t的香槟生意也是des Maisons de Champagne联盟的主席，组成了最大的香槟品牌，他说：“丽歌菲雅的老管理部门说得好像他们针对香槟制造商们进行了一些改革运动；但是新的管理部门都是一些严肃的人。” It is certainly true that, these days, the managers at Nicolas Feuillatte adopt a more humble tone. Appeals to liberate growers from their serfdom to the champagne houses are no longer in fashion. Instead, the talk is of co-existence and mutual respect. Indeed, most growers have been far too canny to throw in their entire lot with Nicolas Feuillatte—a more usual pattern is to sell some grapes to the traditional houses, some to the co-ops, and perhaps to keep some back to make your own-label champagne. 这些天，丽歌菲雅的经理们的确采取了谦逊的态度。呼吁把种植者们从农奴身份解放成香槟制造者已经不是什么时髦的事了。相反，共存和相互尊重才是真正的主题。事实上，大多数种植者都太谨慎了以至于没办法把他们全部丽歌菲雅的份献上——更平常的一种形式是把一些葡萄卖给传统制造商，一些卖给合作社，甚至也许保留一些来制作自主品牌的香槟。 Indeed, it is the rise of the independent “grower champagnes” that has posed a second big challenge to the big champagne houses. Their great achievement—and the source of their wealth—has been to maintain the image and price of a luxury product, while selling huge volumes. The top wines of Bordeaux or Burgundy, by contrast, are usually produced in tiny quantities by small producers. 事实上，自主的“种植者香槟”的出现给大香槟生产商们造成了第二个大挑战。他们的巨大成功——和他们财富的来源——扶持了一个奢侈品的形象和价格，大量地贩卖。相反，波尔多或勃艮第的顶级葡萄酒，通常只有小生产者小量生产。 But the Burgundy story is a cautionary tale for the Champenois. Thirty years ago, the production and marketing of the top wines from Burgundy was also dominated by négociants: intermediaries who bought and processed the grapes from the growers, much as modern champagne houses do today. But fashions and the balance of power changed. Today, the most fashionable and costly Burgundy wines are produced by individual small growers, cultivating their own tiny plots of land—and receiving fawning profiles in magazines like the Wine Spectator. If a similar fashion for “grower champagnes” developed at the top end of the market, the carefully nurtured image of the big champagne labels might begin to suffer—and the competition for the best grapes in the region would only intensify. 但是勃艮第的故事对尚普努瓦起到了警醒作用。30年前，勃艮第顶级葡萄酒的生产和营销也都受制于négociants:他们是从种植者那里购买和加工葡萄的媒介，很像现在的香槟制造商做的事。但是风格和力量的平衡变了。今天，大多数时髦和昂贵的勃艮第葡萄酒是由个体小种植者生产的，他们耕耘着他们自己的小地——接受着像“葡萄酒观察家”这样的杂志的奉承。如果与“种植者香槟”类似的风格在市场的最终端发展了起来，大香槟品牌被小心扶持的形象也许就要受折磨了——而这个区域里对于最好葡萄的竞争只会更加紧张。 There is little doubt that more small growers are taking the plunge and going it alone. The Chiquet family, champagne makers in the village of Dizy, just outside Epernay, claim to have been the pioneers of the idea of “grower champagnes”. The family had been tending vineyards in the region since the 1700s, but it was not until 1919 that Gaston Chiquet started to manufacture his own champagne. His descendants are now doing well. Nicolas Chiquet, who runs the business today, says that exports of Gaston Chiquet champagnes have grown sharply: they now account for a third of all production, up from a fifth five years ago. The brand, for example, is now stocked by London's poshest wine store, Berry Bros. and Rudd. 毋庸置疑，更多的小种植者们决定冒险一试独自过活。西凯家族，迪齐村的香槟制造商，位置就在 Epernay外边，自称是“种植者香槟”这个想法的先锋。这个家族从18世纪开始就已经照料这个区域的葡萄园了，但是直到1919年加斯东西凯才开始生产他自己的香槟。他的子孙也做得很好。现在经营着这项事业的尼古拉斯西凯称加斯东西凯香槟的出口已经剧烈增长：他们现在占据总生产的1/3,从几年前的1/5开始。这个牌子现在被伦敦最顶级的葡萄酒商店 Berry Bros. 和 Rudd收藏着。 There are now over 4,000 different champagne makers. Mr Chiquet reckons that the small growers benefit from a burgeoning consumer interest in knowing more about a product: where did it come from and who made it? He admits that small growers, no matter how inspired, will not always be able to match the results of the big houses, which have a wider choice of grapes to blend from. Indeed, some small growers produce inferior stuff that is thin and acidic. But the small production runs of the best growers allow them to devote that much more attention to each bottle. Some growers, like Gaston Chiquet itself, R & L Legras in Chouilly and Marguet-Bonnerave in Ambonnay, regularly get high praise from wine critics. 现在有4000种不同的香槟制造商存在。西凯先生认为小种植者是从消费者对于一个产品不断深入的兴趣上来获利的：它从哪里来和谁制造了它？他承认无论小种植者们多有创意，也不可能总是赶上大制造商的成绩，大制造商们有更多的葡萄可以选。事实上，一些小种植者生产着又稀又酸劣质的东西。但是那些小生产量的最优秀种植者可以将注意力投身于每一瓶酒。一些种植者，例如加斯东西凯、 Chouilly的 R & L Legras和 Ambonnay的 Marguet-Bonnerave，经常得到葡萄酒评论家们的高度评价。 The mystique of the single vineyard or the inspired winemaker are already crucial to the images of most posh wines outside champagne. But they are not tools available to the big champagne houses, which achieve consistency, quality and volume by blending different grapes from different vineyards, and indeed different years, in industrial quantities. 单一葡萄园的奥秘或有创意的酿酒师对于大多数除了香槟以外顶级葡萄酒的形象是关键的。但对于大香槟制造商来说他们不是有效的工具，他们通过混合这个产业里来自不同葡萄园不同年份的葡萄达到浓稠度、品质和量上的成功。 To an extent, the champagne houses have seen the threat coming, and are moving to head it off. In the past couple of years, for example, both Mo?t & Chandon and Nicolas Feuillatte (which, in volume and marketing terms, now ranks among the big boys), have begun to produce new ultra-exclusive champagnes. These stress that they are produced from a single grape variety, and a particular vineyard. 在一定程度上，香槟制造商们已经看见了威胁的到临，并且开始阻拦。在过去的几年中，例如 Mo?t & Chandon和丽歌菲雅（从量上和营销术语来说，现已名列大孩子里）已经开始生产极度奢华的香槟。他们强调自己是只从一种葡萄和一个专门的园子生产的。 If this is the way the fashion is going, the big champagne houses are determined to claim the business for themselves. And they seem to be succeeding. Perhaps the two most expensive and successful champagnes, which are based on grapes from particular vineyards, are Clos du Mesnil (which can reach euro370 or $370 a bottle) and Salon—both of which are produced from chardonnay grapes grown around the village of Mesnil-sur-Oger. Both are also owned and made by big houses: Clos du Mesnil is produced by Krug, Salon by Laurent-Perrier. The small growers may already have missed their opportunity to colonise the top end of the market. 如果这就是风格的走向，大香槟制造商决定为自己声张业务。而且他们似乎就要成功了。也许是会两种最贵和最成功的香槟，它们基于专门的葡萄园做出来的，叫做 Clos du Mesnil（每瓶价格高达370欧元或者370美元）和 Salon——两种酒都产自 Mesnil-sur-Oger的村子周围种着的下敦诶葡萄。两种酒也都是被大制酒商所拥有和制造： Clos du Mesnil是由克鲁格生产， Salon由 Laurent-Perrier生产。小种植者也许已经错过了他们殖民最顶级市场的机会。 Big bubbles rising 大气泡正在上升 大制酒商们已经用这个技巧使那些小竞争者和像丽歌菲雅这样的合作社低头，这表示他们在未来处于良好地位。葡萄园供给的瓶颈和随之而来葡萄价格的攀升明显是一个正在迫近的忧虑。但是大制酒商们已经行动起来保护自己了。 Mo?t, for example, has been carefully building up the number of vineyards it controls. It has sold two of its lesser labels—Lanson and Pommery—while hanging on to their vineyards. These now supply the grapes for Mo?t's more important brands: Mo?t & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot and Mercier. The big growers are even muttering about expanding the limits of the champagne region. It is a sensitive matter. The last time they tried this, a century ago, the growers attacked their mansions on the Avenue du Champagne—and they are likely to resist again. 例如 Mo?t，已经在小心加强它能控制的葡萄园的数目。它已经把旗下两家较小的品牌卖掉了——兰森和波默里——同时紧紧抓住他们的葡萄园。只对较重要的品牌提供葡萄：Mo?t & Chandon、 Dom Perignon、 Veuve Clicquot和莫西埃。大种植者们甚至还嘟哝着要扩大香槟区的界限。这是件敏感的事。上次他们做这件事时是一个世纪以前，种植者们攻击了他们位于香槟大道的宅邸——而且他们似乎还是会抗议的。 历史表明香槟制酒商们将会找到一条新路来继续种植并且繁荣兴旺。然而，还有一片乌云也许是香槟界无法避开的：大萧条。香槟区域的繁荣在过去一个世纪以来紧密追随世界经济的命运。曾经有过一回长期的迅速发展被周期性的萧条打断。事实上，因为香槟是一种社交和享乐的酒，它的繁荣和萧条，就像别的奢侈品一样，趋向于扩大这个周期性的变化。20世纪30年代仍然因为香槟区的一个震颤被铭记；1991年的经济低迷也激起香槟销售的严重下滑。如果这个时期有一场战争或者大萧条的话，香槟区对于葡萄用尽的恐惧也许会成为一个陌生和喜爱的回忆。 from the print edition | Christmas Specials
文中提到的前十大香槟品牌： Mo?t & Chandon Veuve Clicquot
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