David Allen MW

在20世紀(jì)90年代熱播的美國(guó)情景喜劇《老友記》中，菲比可是一個(gè)相當(dāng)超凡的角色，對(duì)于“找到你的龍蝦”，她解釋了自己的想法。在劇中她表示“大家都知道，一對(duì)龍蝦相愛(ài)后會(huì)成為終身伴侶……”以及“你是真的可以看到一對(duì)老龍蝦夫婦爪子牽著爪子，在它們的魚缸里繞著走來(lái)走去”。我不知道這是不是真的，但有一份禮物讓我確信，我找到了自己的龍蝦，這就是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…h(huán)olding 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，我從一位顧客手中買了半瓶1988年份的滴金酒莊葡萄酒，他們買下了這瓶酒但覺(jué)得欣賞不來(lái)，所以準(zhǔn)備轉(zhuǎn)手賣掉。我很開(kāi)誠(chéng)布公地告訴他們，這瓶酒幾乎沒(méi)什么價(jià)值了。我決定，等我通過(guò)葡萄酒大師的考試時(shí)，就用這瓶酒來(lái)慶祝。幾年過(guò)去了，這一夢(mèng)想也逐漸遠(yuǎn)去，包括要用醴鐸侍酒師系列的蘇岱酒杯來(lái)喝這款酒。這可是一個(gè)秘密，我從來(lái)沒(méi)有告訴過(guò)任何人，以防它永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)……

醴鐸是來(lái)自?shī)W地利的玻璃廠商，以開(kāi)發(fā)各種適合不同葡萄酒風(fēng)格和品種的特殊形狀酒杯而聞名。每一支酒杯的形狀都能夠?qū)⑻囟ǖ钠咸丫屏飨蛏囝^上最合適的位置。侍酒師系列是醴鐸的頂級(jí)系列酒杯，采用優(yōu)質(zhì)的奧地利水晶并由人工吹制而成。蘇岱的酒杯有獨(dú)特的郁金香形狀用來(lái)捕捉香氣，閉緊嘴唇，小口飲用，就能讓甜甜的葡萄酒最先抵達(dá)舌尖，那里正是糖分的感知區(qū)域。

2010年9月，我終于收到消息，得知自己通過(guò)了葡萄酒大師的考試，可以用“MW”這個(gè)稱號(hào)了！我期待著這個(gè)消息并估摸著如果通過(guò)了考試，或許可以趁著午休時(shí)間溜去倫敦，參觀醴鐸的商店，買一對(duì)合適的杯子。但事與愿違，我的上司和公司老板決定帶我出去一起慶祝。于是那天晚上，我就沒(méi)有足夠的時(shí)間去商店購(gòu)物，回家的路上真是感到有些失落。

一到家，我的妻子就告訴我，她給我買了一件禮物，還送給了我一對(duì)醴鐸侍酒師系列的蘇岱酒杯一她可完全不知道，這是我那天最想買的東西！但她就是去了那家我最想去的商店，買了我最想買的那對(duì)酒杯！想到這些，我脖子后面的汗毛都豎了起來(lái)！

那天晚上，我們并沒(méi)有喝那瓶滴金酒莊，而是把它留到了之后幾天我們結(jié)婚紀(jì)念日的慶?；顒?dòng)上。有些人會(huì)質(zhì)疑，一支酒杯真的能改變飲酒者對(duì)于某款葡萄酒的品鑒能力嗎？要知道，這些酒杯可并不便宜，它們的價(jià)格幾乎和葡萄酒差不多。但對(duì)于同一款葡萄酒來(lái)說(shuō)，用醴鐸酒杯飲用可比用普通的酒杯飲用美味多了，肯定物超所值一當(dāng)然，我可能有些偏見(jiàn)，因?yàn)閷?duì)我而言，這份禮物是無(wú)價(jià)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）：葡萄酒信息搜索網(wǎng)站W(wǎng)ine-Searcher（葡萄酒搜索引擎）的葡萄酒總監(jiān)。從業(yè)近30年，具有豐富的葡萄酒銷售、推廣、培訓(xùn)、品鑒等方面的知識(shí)。