扼杀传言：葡萄酒并不“通过”软木塞呼吸 | 朱利安 | Decanter
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朱利安/Julien Boulard
葡萄酒真的“通过”软木塞呼吸吗？科学家们通过实验发现，这只是一个流传已久的错误概念……
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图片：采集橡木制作软木塞，Decanter版权图片
作为一名葡萄酒讲师，我难以忍受一些流传已久的错误观念，甚至众多专业人士也无意中参与散播了这些错误。最普遍的传言之一就是“葡萄酒通过软木塞呼吸”。
两年前，我和几位葡萄酒讲师一起研究了一个全新的葡萄酒课程。这个课程由法国葡萄酒从业人员设计，又经过了葡萄酒教育专业人士审核。虽然这套教材的编撰者无疑是才识渊博的行家里手，可是PPT幻灯片里依然出现了一个既错误、且自相矛盾的知识点：“对于红葡萄酒，酒塞的作用是令少量氧气进入瓶中，促进陈年。而对于白葡萄酒，酒塞的作用是阻止氧气进入瓶中，长久地保持新鲜的果味。”酒塞能不能分辨瓶里的酒是红是白，我们先不讨论。最让我介意的是，直到现在，很多人仍然认为红葡萄酒“需要通过酒塞呼吸”才能进一步陈年。
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早在19世纪晚期，法国知名微生物学家路易·巴斯德（Louis Pasteur）就已经指出“氧气是葡萄酒最可怕的敌人”。其实，更准确的说法应该是：“氧气是葡萄酒‘装瓶后’最可怕的敌人”，毕竟酿造过程中少量氧气还是有用的。但是，葡萄酒一旦入瓶，如果氧气持续渗入，只会令葡萄酒更快地奔向不可避免的死亡。任何一个酿酒师，无论TA的产品定位高低，都会尽其所能地推迟香氛和口味的衰退。换句话说，不会有酿酒师希望有外界空气侵入TA的葡萄酒！
几年以前，我拜访了阿尔萨斯酒庄Domaine Paul Blanck。我记得FrédéricBlanck一再强调，葡萄酒在厌氧环境下自然熟化；“葡萄酒需要氧气才能成熟”的说法，根本是个不靠谱的传说。实际上，18世纪人们之所以开始使用软木封瓶，是因为这种材料的自然弹性以及不可渗透性，令其成为阻隔外部空气最有效的屏障。如今，人们发明了螺旋盖等其它封瓶方式，能够比自然塞更有效地达到密闭效果；尽管如此，软木塞的使用之所以依然广泛，正是因为其出色的气密性。
听到这里，DecanterChina.com的读者们可能要说了：“如果葡萄酒不‘需要’氧气来熟化，那陈年葡萄酒的颜色和香氛为什么会变化？难道不是因为有空气钻进酒瓶的缘故吗？”没错，确实有空气进来了；不过重点在这儿：这空气不是“通过”而是“从”酒塞里来的。
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Paulo Lopes博士与波尔多大学合作开展了多项封瓶技术以及氧气渗透研究。他指出，软木塞中80%到90%的成分都是空气。正是塞子中“含有”的这部分空气（以及其中的氧气），会被逐渐释放进葡萄酒中。葡萄酒生命周期的前三年，这种影响尤其明显。
这段时期结束后，氧气通过率（OTR）就变得几乎可以忽略不计了；在这时，软木塞的气密性和螺旋塞的没有什么两样。就算经过八年，只要酒塞质量过硬，酒瓶中的含氧量也能稳定不变。葡萄酒最后逐渐氧化，并不是因为空气“通过”了酒塞，而是因为酒塞逐渐失去了弹性，让空气有机可乘，才从酒塞与瓶壁的缝隙中钻了进来。
陈酿两三年后，葡萄酒氧化发展的速度，很大程度上依然取决于最开始由酒塞释放并融进酒液中的氧气。关于这个问题，2006年Lopes博士和同事们撰写了一篇研究报告叫做《储存姿态对不同封瓶方式的氧气渗透情况的影响*》。报告指出，高品质的酒塞含有更少的皮孔结构（lenticels），因此在葡萄酒陈年初期，释放的氧气量也少。据Lopes博士解释，有些葡萄酒之所以陈年速度更慢，是因为在陈年最初的几年，紧实致密的酒塞释放的氧气更少一些。换句话说，就算一瓶名庄酒已经陈了10年，它的陈化发展速度，依然很大程度取决于“年轻”时酒塞带来的那部分氧气，而非大家所想的，从外部环境“渗透”进来的氧气。
Lopes博士的研究还在继续，预计很快就会有新发现。他将着重研究酒塞中的酚类物质对葡萄酒氧化/还原反应的影响。当然了，如果有什么新成果出炉，我会第一时间告诉大家的。在那之前，记得保持酒塞湿润哦！;-)
* Impact of Storage Position on Oxygen Ingress throughDifferent Closures into Wine Bottles
研究报告原文：https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6850039_Impact_of_Storage_Position_on_Oxygen_Ingress_through_Different_Closures_into_Wine_Bottles
（编译：Sylvia Wu/吴嘉溦， Julien Boulard/朱利安）
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Wine doesn’t ‘breathe’ through the cork
As a wine educator, I find it very frustrating how some myths can live on for so long, sometimes even among wine professionals. One of these common misconceptions is the cork’s relationship with incoming oxygen.
Two years ago, I met with my fellow wine educators to discuss a new wine course. The course was developed in France by specialists of the industry, and double-checked by professionals dedicated to wine education. Despite the undoubtedly reliable background of the authors, an erroneous and contradictory assertion found its way into the PowerPoint slides:
‘For red wines, the cork’s objective is to let some oxygen enter the bottle in order to encourage maturation. For white wines, the cork’s objective is to prevent oxygen from entering the bottle in order to retain its freshness as long as possible.’
Although I am curious to find out how the cork determines the colour of wine, the point which bothers me the most is the fact that still today, people think that red wine needs to ‘breathe’ through the cork in order to evolve.
In the late 19th Century, Louis Pasteur rightly pointed out that ‘oxygen is wine’s worst enemy’. To be more precise, I would add that oxygen is wine’s worst enemy after bottling; considering that some oxygen input is often useful, if not essential, for the transformation of the grape juice into our beloved wine. Once the wine bottled, a sustained oxygen influx will only urge the wine towards its death. Any sound winemaker, regardless of their wine’s market position, will do everything they can to delay the fading away of aromas and flavours. I never heard a winemaker wishing to see some air entering a wine that they had bottled!
When I visited Domaine Paul Blanck in Alsace a few years ago, I remember Frédéric Blanck emphasising that wine matures naturally in an anaerobic environment, and the belief that it needs oxygen to mature is a myth. In fact, the reason why people started to use cork to seal bottles back in the 18th Century was because of this material’s natural elasticity and impermeability, which made it the most efficient barrier against external air. Today cork is still widely used for its excellent airtight properties, even though alternatives such as screw caps can match or even surpass its efficiency.
Another question might occur to DecanterChina’s readers:
‘If wine doesn’t ‘need’ oxygen to evolve, doesn’t the colour-changed and altered aromas in aged wines indicate that some air still gets in the bottle?’
Yes, some air does enter the wine from the cork, but not through the cork. Dr. Paulo Lopes, who has conducted various academic studies with the University of Bordeaux about closures and oxygen ingress, points out that a natural cork stopper is made up of 80% to 90% air, and it is actually this air (and the oxygen it contains) which is gradually released into the wine, especially during the first three years of its life. After this period, the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) becomes negligible, almost similar to that of screw caps, and even after eight years, the oxygen content in a wine sealed under high quality cork remains stable. Wine eventually oxidises not because the air passes ‘through’ the cork, but because the cork loses its elasticity, giving way to atmospheric air via its sides.
According to Dr. Lopes, the pace of the oxidative evolution after the first two or three years depends greatly on the quantity of oxygen which has been released by the cork, and dissolved into the wine during the first years. The research report ‘Impact of Storage Position on Oxygen Ingress through Different Closures into Wine Bottles’ written by Lopes and fellow researchers in 2006 shows that a higher quality ‘flor level’ cork containing fewer lenticels (pores) will release less oxygen during the first years. Dr. Lopes explains that the slower evolution of a wine sealed with a flor-grade cork is partly due to the lesser quantity of oxygen released at the beginning of its ageing in bottle. In other words, even after ten years ageing, your Grand Cru Classe’s oxidative evolution has more to do with the quantity of oxygen released by the cork during its youth — rather than because of a supposed exchange between the bottle and its external environment.
Research is still going on, and new discoveries are expected soon, particularly about the impact of phenolic compounds contained within the cork on the oxidation and reduction of the wine. Of course, I will make sure to let you know about these when the time has come. Meanwhile, keep you corks moist!
(Editing: Laura Seal)
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Decanter作家：朱利安（Julien Boulard）
出生于法国的朱利安从2003年起一直定居中国。他是WSET四级文凭持有者，也正在攻读葡萄酒大师课程（Master of Wine）。他流利的中文（口语及书写）、丰富的葡萄酒知识及经验以及在中国社交媒体上的活跃度使他成为了中国颇受欢迎的葡萄酒讲师。
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