探祕前曼聯主帥弗格森的酒窖

By the end of his days at Manchester United, it was well known that Alex Ferguson, the club's hugely successful Scottish manager, had developed a growing interest in fine wine. What we didn't know was the scale and depth of his passion.

在亞歷克斯·弗格森(Alex Ferguson)執教曼徹斯特聯隊(Manchester United, 簡稱：曼聯隊)的最後一段日子裏，曼聯隊這位超級成功的蘇格蘭教練對紅酒日漸濃厚的興趣成了衆所周知的事情。但我們不知道他對紅酒的鍾愛究竟到了什麼程度和規模。

With the news that Christie's is to sell 5,000 bottles from his cellar, we can see that when it comes to buying wine he appears to have mirrored his football transfer policy of buying only the very best.

不過，佳士得拍賣行(Christie)將拍賣弗格森收藏的5,000瓶葡萄酒的消息讓我們看到，在收藏紅酒方面，弗格森似乎同樣遵循他的足球轉會政策，那就是隻買最好的。

A quick look through the highlights of the collection Christie's will sell later this year show that off the pitch Sir Alex has assembled a cellar containing some of the rarest and finest wines in the world. In Domaine de la Roman谷e-Conti of Burgundy, Château P谷trus of Bordeaux and Tuscany's Sassicaia, he has bought arguably the top three wines in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Italy. Both Roman谷e-Conti and P谷trus come with price tags well north of EUR1,000 a bottle.

瞥一眼佳士得拍賣行今年晚些時候將拍賣的弗格森爵士主要藏品，你會發現，他在球場之外還在酒窖裏收藏了一些全球最珍貴和最上等的紅酒。他從勃艮第(Burgundy)的羅曼尼·康帝(Domaine de la Romanee-Conti)酒莊、波爾多(Bordeaux)的柏圖斯(Chateau Petrus)酒莊以及意大利托斯卡納(Tuscany)的西施佳雅(Sassicaia)買到了可能是這三個地區最上等的紅酒。羅曼尼·康帝酒莊和柏圖斯酒莊所產葡萄酒的價格每瓶都遠超1,000歐元。

With his numerous vintages of Domaine de la Roman谷e-Conti, Mr. Ferguson has a wine that every collector in the world would like to own. A red wine which has been described as having the texture of silk and an aroma that ranges from violets, wild cherries, licorice to spice.

弗格森所收藏的大量來自羅曼尼·康帝酒莊的葡萄酒是全世界每一位收藏家都希望擁有的。該酒莊的紅葡萄酒被描述爲擁有絲質柔滑的口感，並帶有香草、野櫻、甘草和辛香料的清香。

His tastes are clearly European. This may be a reflection of his days traveling around Europe with Manchester United in the Champions League. But as a proud Scot his large collection of Bordeaux wines follows a long tradition in that country of collecting Claret. For centuries, the red wines of Bordeaux were shipped to the Scottish ports of Glasgow and Edinburgh when the region was under the jurisdiction of the English crown.

弗格森顯然有着和歐洲人一樣的品味。這或許是因爲他經常在歐洲冠軍聯賽期間隨曼聯隊轉戰歐洲。但作爲一個驕傲的蘇格蘭人，他大量收藏波爾多葡萄酒，也是受到蘇格蘭人喜歡收藏法國紅葡萄酒的悠久傳統影響。在蘇格蘭處於英國管轄的幾個世紀裏，波爾多的紅葡萄酒被運到蘇格蘭的格拉斯哥和愛丁堡港口。

Aside from the big ticket names such as Château Latour and Haut-Brion, there are some smart buys. In Château Talbot and Grand Puy Lacoste he has two well-priced wines from a very good year -- 2009, highlighting his eye for a bargain and suggesting that although he likes to buy the best, he is perhaps a canny Scot after all.

除了收藏拉圖(Chateau Latour)酒莊和侯伯王(Haut-Brion)酒莊所產的上等葡萄酒之外，弗格森也會進行一些划算的買賣。他從大寶酒莊(Chateau Talbot)和拉古斯酒莊(Grand Puy Lacoste)購買了兩瓶價格合理、產於2009年這一好年份的葡萄酒，這凸顯出了弗格森具有撿便宜貨的眼光，同時也表明，雖然爵爺喜歡買最好的，他骨子裏或許仍是一個精明的蘇格蘭人。