現在是香檳旺季，因為正在假日狂歡的人們開始想喝點有氣泡的，沉迷于買起泡酒、喝起泡酒。（我全年都沉迷。）英國市場營銷公司葡萄酒智情機構（Wine Intelligence）剛剛發布的報告指出，美國每年大概有4500萬人喝過起泡酒——其中一些人只在節假日喝。

當然，他們喝的不都是昂貴的香檳。但是，新年前夕你還不打算在起泡酒上多花點錢，你準備什么時候花？

一起來喝香檳吧。但得保證你喝對了。

你被那些閃亮的名字和熟悉的名字騙了

大部分香檳都是把價格沒那么高的非陳年基酒和年份香檳混合，以保持該品牌口味和風格的一致性。這樣你打開一瓶路易王妃（Roederer）或凱歌香檳（Veuve Cliquot）時，就能知道會嘗到什么味道。但是，如果你挑了一瓶帶有具體年份的陳年香檳，你花的錢基本上總是能給你帶來更大驚喜。（庫克陳年香檳Krug Grande Cuvée是個例外。）也就是說，你得避開你熟悉的那些東西，比如非陳年款的酩悅（Mo?t）、瑞納特（Ruinart）、泰廷哲（Taittinger）、寶祿爵（Bollinger）等。（順便說一下，這些品牌都生產上等的年份特釀）。

釀造年份香檳的葡萄產自同一年——酒標上的那年。這種酒釀造量小，通常只在葡萄長勢最好的年份生產，上市前陳年的時間更長。因此，這類酒個性更獨特，口味更深層更豐富。它們的價格遠低于香檳酒莊浮夸的特釀香檳，比如唐培里儂（Dom Perignon），但卻為很多人偏愛。

近期最佳年份：2002年，2004年，2008年，2012年 高價值投資之選：2008年漢諾（Henriot Brut，85美元），2009年寶祿爵（Pol Roger Brut，78美元），2008年德樂夢（Delamotte，76美元）

只買一兩瓶

要買一兩箱。節日期間市場對香檳的需求猛增，價格卻急劇下跌。幾年前，Fivethirtyeight.com網站的數據顯示，節假日時香檳每瓶均價大約比平日低18％。

該網站引用了芝加哥大學兩位經濟學家的研究，解釋了為什么平常的供需模式在這里不成立——因為季節性香檳買家對價格也十分敏感，零售商通過降價來吸引這些消費者。也許他們會愛上彼此！

你為聚會準備的是標準瓶香檳

我不知道你的朋友如何，但我的朋友不會滿足于只喝一兩杯。如果你打算招待四個人以上，請選擇大瓶（相當于常規瓶的兩倍容量）。用大瓶裝慶祝，能讓你看上去十分大方，而且這樣你還不用開太多瓶子。

把香檳存放在冰箱里

冰箱可不是用來保存葡萄酒的低溫室。酩悅香檳（Mo?t& Chandon’s）的葡萄酒品質經理表示，拔出軟木塞之前，香檳在冰箱冷藏室中可以放上三四天，但冰箱里溫度過低又過于干燥，不適宜長期儲存。因為軟木塞會變干，導致空氣進入，既破壞了酒的風味，氣泡也會變少。

你應該把瓶子立放在冰箱門里還是平放？固執己見的香檳釀造商布魯諾·派拉德（Bruno Paillard）堅稱，直立存放會導致香檳失去泡沫。

一般情況下，應在侍酒前15分鐘左右取出酒瓶。就像金發姑娘和三只熊故事里的粥一樣，侍酒溫度要恰到好處。如果溫度過低，會影響香氣揮發，如果溫度過高，就無法感受到那種明快的、直沖味蕾的清爽。理想的侍酒溫度為47至50華氏度（8至10攝氏度）。

開瓶時太過隨意

香檳酒瓶中的壓力（氣泡產生的）可以導致軟木塞從瓶中飛出的速度達到每小時近25英里。飛出的軟木塞可能會、也確實曾經擊中臺燈、客人甚至造成更大范圍的危害。

要像專業人士一樣正確移除軟木塞。不，不是讓你買香檳刀，學習怎么砍掉瓶身的上半部分。首先，取下軟木塞上的金屬絲網。傾斜瓶身，保證其瓶口不對準任何人，在瓶子頂端放一條毛巾。用一只手抓住軟木塞的頂部，同時用另一只手扭動瓶子，直到軟木塞開始松動并輕輕彈出。倒酒時要輕柔，這樣泡沫才不會溢出酒杯。

打開之前絕對不要搖。

你翻出了別人送你的笛形杯

現在讓我們希望你已經屈服于潮流的壓力，把那些像模特一樣纖細的笛形杯收了起來（雖然我有時還是很喜歡他們的）。真正的香檳杯是有曲線的。我最喜歡的其中一種香檳杯是玻璃品制造商利曼（Lehmann）生產的球狀杯身的郁金香杯Jamesse精品大香檳杯（每只37.5美元），它可以突出酒的香氣，讓氣泡騰涌的時間更久。

喝香檳配巧克力

巧克力配香檳是情人節營銷時的胡說八道——這種想法只是簡單地把人們喜歡的兩種商品放在一起。他們一點也不配。巧克力太甜，導致酒的酸味更加尖銳，口感更苦。

別管商家怎么說，香檳不是配什么都行的，而且如果整頓飯只喝香檳真是無趣得很——哪怕是跨年夜也是如此。

沒錯，香檳很適合搭配咸味和油炸食品，魚和薯條、炸薯條甚至松露爆米花和熱狗都行。新鮮的酸味能夠穿透鹽和脂肪。但它和湯搭配也很棒，我多年前在海茨葡萄園（Heitz Vineyards）吃過一頓飯，那里的釀酒師喬·海茨給每位客人的湯里都倒了點香檳酒，才又倒在每個人的酒杯中。除了熱湯和冷酒產生的鮮美對比，氣泡也讓湯的味道更加突出。

用軟木塞把喝剩的香檳塞起來

或者還更糟，你用Saran牌保鮮膜封住了上半部分瓶身。爭點氣！買一個合適的香檳塞，良好的密封性能保證幾天內氣泡都不會消失。

在任意一家葡萄酒商店或像Williams-Sonoma這樣的地方花6到10美元都能買到一個基礎款。關鍵要看密封得緊不緊。得買一個不會漏的。

而且不要總是在第二天吃早午餐時把剩下的香檳倒入橙汁中做含羞草雞尾酒。在我看來，這種做法是對好品質香檳的浪費，上等的香檳不需要額外添加其它口味，就可以作為迎接新年的完美方式。（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

This is peak Champagne season, when holiday revelers start thinking bubbles and obsessing over buying and drinking fizz. (I do it all year.) U.K.-based marketing company Wine Intelligence just released a report that estimates 45 million Americans partake in sparkling wine annually—and some of them drink bubbly only during the holidays.

Of course, not all of that is expensive Champagne. But if you’re not going to splash out a little more for effervescence around New Year’s Eve, when will you?

Join the party. Just make sure you’re doing it right.

You’re fooled by flash and familiar names

Most Champagne is the less-expensive nonvintage stuff that blends vintages to achieve a consistent taste and style. That way you’ll know what you’re going to taste when you open a bottle of Roederer or Veuve Cliquot. But you’ll almost always get more bang for your buck by picking a bottle with a vintage date on it. (Krug Grande Cuvée is one exception.) That means avoiding the stuff you’re familiar with, like nonvintage bottles of Mo?t, Ruinart, Taittinger, Bollinger, etc. (all make splendid vintage-dated cuvées, by the way).

For vintage Champagnes, grapes must come from a single harvest, the year on the label. They’re made in small quantities, usually only in top years, and are aged longer before release. As a result, the wines have more distinctive personalities, with deeper and fuller flavors. They cost a lot less than a Champagne house’s flashy prestige cuvee (such as Dom Perignon), but many people actually prefer them.

Top recent vintages: 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012Good value bets: 2008 Henriot Brut ($85), 2009 Pol Roger Brut ($78), 2008 Delamotte ($76)

You’re buying just a couple of bottles

Buy a case or two. Demand for Champagne skyrockets during holiday season, but at the same time prices drop sharply. A few years ago, Fivethirtyeight.com estimated the average price of a bottle was 18 percent lower at holiday time than during an average week.

The site cited research from two University of Chicago economists that explains why the usual supply-and-demand model doesn’t hold—because seasonal Champagne buyers are also super price-conscious, and retailers lower prices to reel them in. Maybe they’ll fall in love!

You’re getting regular-size bottles for a party

I don’t know about your friends, but mine aren’t satisfied with only a glass or two of bubbly. If you plan to entertain more than four people, spring for magnums (the equivalent of two regular bottles). The big size shouts celebration, makes you look incredibly generous, and, besides, you won’t have to open so many bottles.

You’re storing Champagne in the refrigerator

A refrigerator is not some wine-preserving cryogenic chamber. Three or four days in a food fridge before popping the cork is fine, says Mo?t & Chandon’s wine quality manager, but the conditions are too cold and too dry for longer-term storage. They dry out the cork, which lets in air that flattens a wine’s flavors and causes it to lose its sparkle.

Should you stand the bottle up in your refrigerator door or keep it horizontal? Opinionated fizz maker Bruno Paillard insists it will lose bubbles if you store it upright.

In general, take the bottle out about 15 minutes before serving. Like the porridge in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the temperature should be just right. Serving the wine too cold blanks out the aromas, and if it’s too warm, it loses the bright crispness that perks up your taste buds. The ideal temperature is 47F to 50F (8C to 10C).

You’re casual about opening the bottle

The pressure in a Champagne bottle (because of the bubbles) can shoot out a cork at nearly 25 miles an hour. Flying corks can and do cause damage to lamps, guests, more.

Remove them properly, the way the pros do. No, that doesn’t mean hunting down a Champagne saber and learning how to slash off the top of the bottle. First, take off the wire cage over the cork. Tilt the bottle so it’s pointing away from anyone and put a towel over the top. Grab the top of the cork with one hand while you twist the bottle with the other until the cork starts to loosen and gently pops out. Pour slowly, so the bubbles don’t overflow the glass.

And don’t you dare shake before opening.

You’re dragging out those flutes someone gave you for a present

By now, let’s hope you’ve bowed to the pressure of fashion and put away those model-thin flutes (although I still like them sometimes). Real Champagne glasses have curves. One of my favorites is glassmaker Lehmann’s tulip-shaped, rounded-bowl Jamesse Prestige Grand Champagne Glass ($37.50 each), which highlights aromas and keeps bubbles fizzing longer.

You’re serving Champagne with chocolate

The chocolate and Champagne pairing is Valentine’s Day marketing nonsense—the idea that two items people love belong together. They don’t. Chocolate is far too sweet, points up the wine’s acidity, and makes it taste bitter.

Despite what producers say, Champagne doesn’t go with everything, and an entire dinner with only Champagne to drink is awfully tiresome—even on New Year’s Eve.

Yes, it’s great with salty and fried foods including fish and chips, French fries, even truffled popcorn and hot dogs. The zesty acidity cuts through the salt and fat. But it’s also a great partner with soup, as I learned at a long-ago dinner at Heitz Vineyards, where winemaker Joe Heitz splashed some fizz in each guest’s soup, then in the glasses. Besides the delicious hot soup/cold wine contrast, the bubbles made the soup’s flavors pop.

You’re trying to cork up leftover Champagne

Or worse, you’re wrapping the top of the bottle with Saran wrap. Have some pride! Instead, invest in a proper Champagne stopper with a tight seal that will keep fizz from losing its bubbles for several days.

You can find a basic clamp model at any wine store or places such as Williams-Sonoma for $6 to $10. The key factor is the tightness of the seal. You want one that’s leakproof.

And don’t always dump leftovers in orange juice for mimosas at the next day’s brunch. To me that’s a waste of good Champagne, which doesn’t need extra flavors to be the perfect way to greet a new year.