What does it mean to say that Kowloon Water Conservancy is controlled by fortune telling?

Do you know the true meaning of "vintage" of red wine?

We in China are always keen on the vintage of red wine.

When drinking red wine, I often hear them say "year".

What "is the vintage of this red wine good?" "Is it a good year or a bad year?" "Which new year is better than the old wine?" and so on.

Although they don't know much about red wine.

This makes liquor, beer, whisky and brandy all envy. "Why do people seldom talk about our year?"

It is still the credit of Lafite in 1982!

Ask anyone casually, "Why was Lafite famous in' 82?" "Ha, you don't know, 1982, what a good year! "

In this way, "Nian" has become the thinking inertia of China people, and everyone who drinks red wine must say "Nian".

In the minds of middle-aged uncles, they will talk about "year" or understand the sign of red wine!

However, it also confuses many curious babies. "Small tower, small tower, is the year really that important?" What does this mean? "

This year is a vintage year in Britain.

Simply put, it's a series of numbers on the wine label.

Four Arabic numerals, often in the middle of the wine label (as shown below), well, this is the year!

These four numbers actually tell you when the wine grapes of this bottle of wine were picked.

Take "82 Lafite" as an example. The four numbers "1982" are the "year" of this bottle of Lafite.

It means that the grapes used to brew this bottle of Lafite red wine were harvested from the vine in 1982, which has been 37 years since (20 19).

Vintage is a unique symbol of wine.

At the banquet, you can also notice that Maotai, Wuliangye and other liquors, beer, whisky and brandy are not marked with "year" on the bottle labels.

So wine often says, "I am a grateful person." I am very grateful for the' that year' I picked from the vine. Since then, I have been there, so I marked' that year' on the bottle and kept it in my heart. "

But is this really the case?

We usually think that all the wine grapes in a wine are picked in the same year.

But what winemakers and wine merchants will not tell you is that the laws of some wine-making countries also allow "mixing a small amount of wine from other years".

For example, as long as more than 75% of wine grapes from Chile and South Africa come from the same year, "this year" can be regarded as the "year" of this wine.

When you were in the restaurant, you saw a bottle of 20 17 Chilean red wine.

This "20 17" will be like a girl with a variety of customs, which will make you think and imagine again and again.

Are all its wine grapes taken from 20 17?

Nevertheless, according to Chilean law, at most 25% of wines from other years are mixed.

So, is there any wine made from grapes harvested in 20 16? Wine made from 20 15 picked grapes? Or a few years?

Australia, New Zealand, all EU member states, such as France, Italy and Spain, stipulate that at least 85% of the wines must come from the same year.

Napa Valley, the famous American Napa wine, even raised the standard to 95%.

Sometimes friends treat you to Penfolds 389 and 407 for dinner. Guess if it's mixed with wine from other years.

(Refer to Penfolds 389 and Penfolds 407. What is the difference? 》)

However, in some wine producing areas, it is stipulated that the 100% harvest of wine grapes in that year is the "year".

Lafite and Margaux will clap their chests and say, "Our grapes are all from the same year!" "

Stop!

100% grapes are in the same year, and it is not so important to mix with other years! It tastes the same!

However, if you pout and ask me, "Zheng Xiaota, how do I know if this year's red wine has been mixed with other years?"

I will tell you with regret: "I don't know!" " "

It's a secret!

This is the secret of the winery.

It's easy to understand, just like cooking. Last time the taste was too weak, I added more salt. This time, the smell was too strong, so we added more water.

The purpose of adding other vintage wines is also here to mix the flavor of this year.

On some occasions, you will encounter some red wine, but you can't find the "year" on it.

Once I went to a friend's wedding, and the girl next to me held the red wine on the table, bowed her head in surprise and said to me:

"Zheng Xiaota, the red wine at the wedding banquet has no year. Should the groom buy fake wine? "

I brought it here, looked at the label carefully and said to her, "It's real wine! Some red wines can be marked without' year'. "

Hearing this, the girl was dubious and even thought that you should not protect the groom's face.

No, because some red wines really don't need to be marked with "year", but they do, because there is still one sentence I haven't said.

"These unlabeled red wines are usually cheap wines, such as thirty or forty yuan a bottle."

In France, Italy, Spain and other countries, grapes are everywhere. All the good grapes are picked out to brew high-grade wine and high-quality wine, leaving a lot of inferior grapes.

In other words, the climate in some years is particularly bad, and the quality of the harvested grapes is too poor. Wine farmers stand by and sigh.

So what should we do?

Let's make wine! Make cheap wine!

After these inferior grapes are made into wine, some good wines from last year and the year before last are added and mixed together, and a red wine with moderate taste comes out.

However, none of the liquors in various years, such as the Jiulong Water Control Project, is the first, and the proportion is less than 75% or 85%, so it is impossible to mark the "year".

Of course, there is another way. In order to keep the consistency of red wine taste for many years, like coke sprite, it will remain unchanged for a hundred years.

Therefore, it is impossible to mark the "year" by mixing wines from different years and blending them into a "standard" taste.

However, these wines without "year" do not have much status, and the market price will not be very high, mostly below 50 or 60 yuan.

But people can't live without these cheap wines. They are the best sellers in tobacco hotels and convenience stores in the streets.

People began to "tell" the year, which is only 300 years old.

But its appearance has turned the simple wine industry into a class society with warm and cold human feelings.

This is also an interesting topic at the dinner party.

"The origin of the year is related to the invention of the glass bottle", which can be started from this.

Early Europeans didn't have the concept of year, because glass bottles were not invented at that time, and wine was bought in barrels.

Yes, that's the huge oak barrel, which was the best wine container at that time.

At that time, the British had money, and the sun of the empire never set!

They drink coffee all over Europe and buy red wine all over Europe. Barrels of bordeaux red wine are sent directly to the British peninsula.

However, a decent Englishman has no concept of year. As long as the red wine is not sour or smelly, pour it into his mouth.

It was not until the end of 17 that people began to pay attention to the word "year" with the invention of glass bottles and the use of corks.

Wine is packed in a small-capacity independent bottle, which will breed a unique taste over time and will be different, so it will have fun and taste in tasting.

Among them, the year plays the role of marking time.

/kloc-at the end of 0/8, the glass bottle gradually became what it is now, from a short and fat "sober-up device" to a tall and thin bottle that can now stand upright.

The year begins to become important, because the bottle can be labeled with the "year number".

It was also from that time that Bordeaux red wine had the distinction of "year".

(For bordeaux red wine, you can read this article "bordeaux red wine, what flavor can you drink?" ? 》)

"This year is a good year, and the price of red wine is expensive." "That year is not good, and the price is cheap." "This red wine is suitable for collection." "That red wine is suitable for early drinking."

Years are like domestic commercial housing. A few simple numbers divide people (wine) into three, five and nine.

Since then, the world of wine has been divided into "expensive or not", "grade", "good or bad" and even class solidification (Bordeaux 1855 wine grading system).

However, you should not take "year" as "production date".

I know that in the impression of many people, the year is equal to the date of production.

But brewing wine can't be done in minutes or hours like cooking.

The year is picking wine grapes from trees, and the date of production is to bottle the wine and sell it.

There are essential differences between these two eras.

After three rounds of drinking, people often get drunk. If you tell people concepts and logic, they may not understand. At this time, you can also explain it like this.

The year is like a nominal age, and the date of production is like one year old. The year is "the day when Dad sows" and the date of production is "the day when Mom gives birth to a baby".

When this was said, I was full of spring scenery and beaming!

Actually, you can also look at the bottle. The English label paper on the front has been marked with "year".

The Chinese label on the back indicates the date of production, "XX year X month X day", which will be clearly written.

More than half of the wines will have a difference of one or two years from the "year" to the "production date", just like the difference between the nominal year and the one year old.

I am in "About French Lafite Red Wine", and the most complete information is here! As mentioned above, even Lafite red wine will take at least two to three years from the beginning of grape picking before it can be sold in wineries.

But don't be like my friends in Nanjing, who always "read literature and make sense" and love "being smart".

Having a candlelight dinner with girls and talking about red wine, the girls asked him, "When was Lafite produced in 1982?"

He blurted out, "You told me that the' 82 Lafite was produced in' 82!"