A friend of mine who works in the retail wine business suffered the worst fate imaginable for somebody in his trade: He lost his sense of smell. One day he came down with a bad cold. When it finally lifted, he could no longer distinguish between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc, or even a Chardonnay from a Pinot Noir. The aromas were gone. More than a year later, they've yet to return.

一個在葡萄酒零售業(yè)工作的朋友遭遇了該行業(yè)從業(yè)者能想象到的最糟糕的命運：他失去了嗅覺。有一天他得了重感冒。病情最終好轉以后，他卻再也分不清赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)和長相思(Sauvignon Blanc)，甚至連霞多麗(Chardonnay)和黑皮諾(Pinot Noir)都分不出來。酒的芳香聞不到了。一年多以后也沒恢復。

While my friend can now detect a few strong smells — such as perfume, hair-coloring chemicals and fish — he still can't make out the scent of a wine. It's an affliction he's managed to keep a secret from both co-workers and customers. When making a presentation during the tastings and dinners that are part of his job, he avoids talking about aromas or flavors, and focuses instead on the wine's history and production. So far, no one seems to have noticed. When he introduced some Napa Cabernets at a recent dinner, his recitation drew raves.

現(xiàn)在我的朋友能聞出幾種比較重的味道──比如香水、染發(fā)劑和魚──但他仍然聞不到酒香。這是他一直瞞著同事和客戶的一個痛苦的秘密。工作中，在品酒會和晚宴上做演示時，他會避免談到芳香或味道，而是重點介紹酒的歷史和生產。目前為止似乎還沒有人注意到。最近在某晚宴上介紹納帕谷赤霞珠(Napa Cabernets)時，他準備的臺詞引起了熱議。

What if the wines had been faulty or corked, I asked. My friend said that he had prepared for that possibility by having someone taste every wine before it was served. But he was growing increasingly desperate. He'd tried acupuncture, herbs and various medications. He'd consulted several doctors, including neurologists. Nothing had worked. It has left him unable to appreciate virtually anything about wine — and quite depressed.

我問他，如果那些酒有問題或者有木塞味兒怎么辦。我的朋友說，這點他做好了準備，他請人在每瓶酒上桌前進行了品嘗。但他越來越絕望了。他試過針灸、草藥和各種不同的藥物治療。他看過很多醫(yī)生，包括神經科醫(yī)生，但沒有任何效果。這讓他無法鑒別葡萄酒的幾乎任何東西──也讓他相當沮喪。

As a professional wine journalist, I view my friend's story with equal parts sadness and dread. What if I were to wake up one morning in the same situation? Although we talk of the 'flavor' of wine or food, almost everything that we taste is actually what we smell. Aroma is nearly everything in a wine.

作為專業(yè)葡萄酒記者，我在同情我朋友遭遇的同時，也感到害怕。假如我某天早晨醒來也出現(xiàn)同樣的狀況怎么辦？雖然我們總是說葡萄酒或食物的“味道”，但我們嘗到的幾乎所有東西實際上都是我們聞到的氣味。氣味幾乎是葡萄酒的全部。

I told my friend I'd try to help. So I did some research and located the Taste and Smell Clinic in Washington, D.C., which specializes in olfactory and gustatory problems. I emailed the contact on the website and soon received a response from the clinic's director, Dr. Robert Henkin. When I explained my friend's situation, Dr. Henkin told me it was called hyposmia. He said a reduced ability to smell was a 'hidden epidemic' and that over 21 million people have 'some aspect of smell loss.'

我告訴朋友我會試著幫他。所以我做了些調查，找到了華盛頓特區(qū)的味覺與嗅覺診所(Taste and Smell Clinic)，這家診所擅長解決嗅覺和味覺方面的問題。我在網(wǎng)站上通過郵件進行了聯(lián)系，不久就收到診所主任羅伯特·亨金(Robert Henkin)的回復。我說明了朋友的情況后，亨金博士告訴我這叫做嗅覺減退癥。他說嗅覺減退是一種“隱蔽的流行病”，超過2,100萬人有“一定程度的嗅覺喪失”。

The late, great enologist and University of Bordeaux professor Emile Peynaud had much to say about the value of smell. In fact, in his seminal 1983 book, 'The Taste of Wine, ' Mr. Peynaud posited that a sense of smell 'may be ten thousand times more sensitive than that of taste.' Mr. Peynaud devoted an entire chapter of the book to smell and 'wine odors, ' which he even organized into 10 basic types: animal (i.e., meat), balsamic (e.g., pine), woody, chemical, spicy, empyreumatic (e.g., smoky, roasted notes), estery (byproducts of alcoholic fermentation), floral, fruity and vegetal.

已故的偉大釀酒師、波爾多大學(University of Bordeaux)教授埃米爾·佩諾(Emile Peynaud)對嗅覺的價值有發(fā)言權。事實上，在他1983年出版的頗具開創(chuàng)性的書籍《葡萄酒的味道》(The Taste of Wine)里，佩諾認為，嗅覺“可能比味覺要敏感數(shù)萬倍”。佩諾在書中用整整一章的篇幅講嗅覺和“酒香”，他甚至將它們分成了10種基本類型：動物性（也就是肉味），香脂（比如松脂），木香，化學品，辣，焦味（比如煙熏和烘烤），酯香（酒精發(fā)酵的副產品），花香，水果香和植物香。

Mr. Peynaud also defined the difference between 'aroma' and 'bouquet' — two words used interchangeably by most wine drinkers. Aroma, he wrote, is applicable to wines in their youth, when they are full of primary fruit. Bouquet best describes wines with age, in which the fruit is more subtle and other notes like earth and minerals come to the fore. (For the sake of simplicity, I will use the word aroma for all smells in this column.)

佩諾還對芳香(aroma)和酒香(bouquet)的定義進行了區(qū)分──大多數(shù)葡萄酒飲用者這兩個詞都混著用。他寫道，芳香適用于果香四溢的年輕葡萄酒。酒香最好用來形容成熟的葡萄酒，其果香比較微弱，泥土和礦物質等其他香味開始浮現(xiàn)出來。（為簡單起見，本文中我會用芳香來籠統(tǒng)形容。）

Aromas reveal a great deal about a wine — starting with its grape variety. As anyone who's ever encountered a spicy, lychee-nut-laden Gewurztraminer knows, it's a grape that doesn't smell like anything else. The same holds true of a zingy, herby New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or, for that matter, a meaty Syrah. These wines will tell you who they are in a sniff.

一款葡萄酒的芳香可以說明很多東西──首先就是葡萄品種。喝過充滿辛辣和荔枝干果味的瓊瑤漿(Gewurztraminer)的人都知道，這種葡萄的香氣是獨一無二的。有著令人愉悅的草藥味的新西蘭長相思也是一樣，還有帶肉味的西拉(Syrah)。嗅一嗅，就能知道這些是什么酒。

Aromas can also reveal the age of the wine, the amount of acidity, alcohol and oak. Nearly every aspect of a wine can be found with your nose save for the five qualities you can find only with your tongue (salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami).

芳香還能說明葡萄酒的年份、酸度、酒精度和橡木味。除了只有舌頭能品嘗到的五種味道（咸、酸、甜、苦和鮮），葡萄酒的任何味道都可以用鼻子嗅到。

And aroma can reveal if a wine is flawed. As Napa winemaker Aaron Pott said, 'Aromas are the key to the wine's health.' Mr. Pott relies a great deal on aromatic information when he's making a wine. 'A bad aroma is the first signal you get that something may be going terribly wrong, ' he said. Was it possible to make a great wine that doesn't have a great nose? (In wine-speak, 'nose' refers to aroma.) Absolutely not, said Mr. Pott. 'It would be like trying to make a supermodel without a head.'

從氣味可以聞出酒是不是有瑕疵。納帕谷釀酒師亞倫·波特(Aaron Pott)說過：“氣味是葡萄酒健康與否的關鍵。”波特釀酒時非常重視氣味信息。他說：“難聞的氣味是說明什么東西嚴重有問題的首要跡象。”有沒有可能釀造一種氣味不好的好葡萄酒？波特說，絕對不行。他說：“就像是打造一個沒有頭的超模。”

An odd analogy, but a vivid picture: A wine with no nose is incomplete, although some wines don't rely as much on aromas as others. For example, I think Cabernet Sauvignon can get by on structure and texture, while Pinot Noir is utterly defined by its aroma — a vivid fragrance marked by fruit, herbs and earth.

很奇怪的比喻，但是卻很形象：沒有氣味的葡萄酒是不完整的，盡管有些酒并不是很依賴于氣味。比如，我覺得赤霞珠只要結構和質地上可以就行了，而黑皮諾則是完全由氣味所主宰──一種以水果、草藥和泥土味為標志的生動的芳香。

Pinot Noir came to mind first for Bernard Sun, corporate beverage director of the Jean-Georges Restaurants group, during our recent aroma chat. Customers didn't really pay attention to a wine's smell unless they were true oenophiles, he said. To him, aroma meant a great deal — in fact, he always recalled wines by how they smelled. He named a few particularly memorable red Burgundies: Ponsot Clos de la Roche and Tollot-Beaut Chorey-les-Beaune.

最近聊到氣味的時候，Jean-Georges Restaurants 集團企業(yè)餐飲總監(jiān)伯納德·孫(Bernard Sun)首先就想到了黑皮諾。他說，顧客不會真正注意到一款酒的氣味，除非是真正的品酒行家。對他來說，氣味非常重要──事實上，他總是會以氣味來記住那些酒。他提到了兩種讓他記憶特別深刻的勃艮第紅酒(red Burgundies)：Ponsot Clos de la Roche和Tollot-Beaut Chorey-les-Beaune。

The latter was one of his all-time favorites. A simple and light-bodied red wine overshadowed by wines from neighboring Burgundy villages Corton and Pommard, Chorey-les-Beaune is especially beloved for its aromas, said Mr. Sun. 'Chorey-les-Beaune doesn't have the texture or body of a Corton, but it has a beautiful nose, ' he said. 'The aroma is the part of the wine that really seduces you.' It was, he said, the sexiest part.

后者是他最愛的紅酒之一。孫說，簡單、酒體輕盈的Chorey-les-Beaune紅葡萄酒比不上鄰近的勃艮第科爾頓(Corton)和波瑪村(Pommard)酒莊所產的酒，但它因為氣味而特別受青睞。他說：“Chorey-les-Beaune沒有科爾頓那樣的質地或酒體，但氣味非常美。氣味是這款酒真正吸引你的地方。”他說氣味是最性感的部分。

I doubt my scent-challenged friend cares whether or not the aromas are sexy; I think he'd settle for any aromas at all. My friend truly loves wine. More than just his profession, it was a huge part of his life.

我覺得我那位嗅覺有問題的朋友不會在乎氣味是否性感；我覺得他根本不會滿足于任何氣味。我的朋友真心愛葡萄酒。它不僅僅是他的職業(yè)，更是他生活中巨大的一部分。

I showed up at the Taste and Smell clinic to meet with Dr. Henkin. He led me into an office that looked like a large filing cabinet filled with manila folders. Viral infections like the one my friend suffered were particularly common, said Dr. Henkin. Other triggers included allergies, head injuries and dementia. People tend to notice the problem fairly quickly, but they are prone to put off seeking help. Dr. Henkin estimated the average person waited two and a half years after they'd lost their sense of smell to visit him. They kept hoping it would return.

我來到味覺與嗅覺診所見亨金博士。他帶我去了一個像是裝滿馬尼拉文件夾的大文件柜的辦公室。亨金博士說，我朋友那樣的病毒性感染特別常見。其他的引發(fā)因素包括過敏、頭部受傷和癡呆癥等。人們往往會相當快就注意到問題，但卻不肯馬上尋求幫助。亨金博士估計普通人會在失去嗅覺后兩年半才會去找他看病。他們總是抱有嗅覺會自己回來的希望。

Dr. Henkin offered to give me the same basic test that he gives every new patient to determine how much loss he or she has incurred. I had a small cold, I said nervously, suddenly afraid that my nose might be faulty.

亨金博士會給每位新病人進行基本測試，以判定病人失去了多少嗅覺。他提出讓我做同樣的測試。我緊張地說，我得了輕微感冒。我突然很害怕我的鼻子會有問題。

He assured me that a cold wasn't an obstacle and escorted me into another file-stuffed room. This one contained a number of brown glass vials. Dr. Henkin told me to quickly sniff from a trio of vials and rate the strength of the aroma of the substance inside each one from 1-100; state whether it was cold, unpleasant or neutral; and to describe the character of the substance too (Was it too minty? Was it flowery or sweet?); and finally he asked me to name which one of the smells was unlike the other two. He repeated the process with a few other sets of three.

他保證說感冒不會妨礙測試，然后帶我進了另外一個塞滿文件的房間。這個房間有很多棕色玻璃藥瓶。亨金博士讓我對著三個瓶子快速吸氣，然后按百分制為瓶內物質氣味的強度進行打分；說出氣味是冷、難聞還是中性氣味；還要描述物質的特征（是否薄荷味太濃？是花香味還是甜味？）；最后他讓我選出一種不同于另外兩種的氣味。他用另外幾組氣味重復了這個過程。

I couldn't touch the bottles, nor sniff any vial more than once, unlike in a wine tasting, where you are free to smell a certain wine multiple times. I mentioned this to Dr. Henkin, hoping he'd allow an exception, but he was unmoved. The test was over in mere minutes.

我不能碰瓶子，每個瓶子也不能聞兩次以上。不像品酒的時候，你可以隨便聞某一種酒。我跟亨金博士提到了這點，希望他能為我破例，但他并不為之所動。測試幾分鐘就結束了。

Dr. Henkin declared I was 'within the range of normal, ' looking at the calculations he'd scribbled on a piece of paper. If I hadn't passed, he said, he would give me more tests and perhaps treatment with oral Theophylline, a drug that's commonly used for suffers of asthma. This is Dr. Henkin's primary means of treatment, though it tends to work with only 50% to 60% of patients.

亨金博士看著他在紙上寫下的各種計算結果，宣布我“處于正常范圍”。他說，如果我沒通過，他就會給我進行更多檢驗，也許還會讓我口服茶 (Theophylline)治療，這種藥通常是用來治療哮喘患者的。這是亨金博士的主要治療方法，但往往只對50%到60%的病人有效。

Dr. Henkin has been working on something that could radically improve the odds of success: a nasal spray version of Theophylline, which he said could cure 'up to 80%' of his patients. But it was still in the development stages; there has only been one small clinical trial. If he lived 'another 10 years, ' the 83-year-old Dr. Henkin said, we could see millions cured. 'Just think of that!' he said in the passionate tone of a man whose 40 years of research may soon be brought to remarkable fruition.

亨金博士一直在研究可以大幅提高成功幾率的一種方法：茶 鼻噴劑，他說可以治愈“高達80%”的病人。但目前依然在開發(fā)階段，只做了小規(guī)模的臨床試驗。83歲的亨金博士說，如果他能“再活10年”，我們可以看到數(shù)百萬人被治愈。他以一個40年研究可能很快就會獲得矚目成就的人的興奮語調說道：“想想多讓人激動！”

I gave my friend Dr. Henkin's information. I don't know if he's called, but I hope for the sake of both my friend and millions of others that Dr. Henkin's potential solution can be realized sooner rather than later. After all, to quote Mr. Peynaud once more, 'The art of drinking, like the art of eating, is thus part of the art of living.'

我給了我朋友亨金博士的聯(lián)系方式。我不知道他有沒有打電話，但為了我的朋友，以及數(shù)百萬和他同病相憐的人，我希望亨金博士研究的治療方法能夠早日取得成功。畢竟，再次借用佩諾的話來說，“和吃的藝術一樣，飲酒的藝術也是生活的藝術”。