Kvass is a mildly alcoholic drink made from fermented rye bread and it is often flavoured with herbs like mint or fruits like strawberries. During the hot summer months on streets in Russia, Belarus and Poland, vendors wheel around large yellow barrels, selling the brewed drink.
As the first grapes of this year's harvest are due to be picked in the coming weeks, wine producers are optimistic about the 2008 vintage. But Raimund Pruem, who has been producing wine in the Moselle Valley for over 30 years, remembers a time when Riesling was not so prosperous.
"The bad reputation of German wine really hurt us," he said. "I will never forget a blind tasting we did a while ago. The judges gave tremendous praise: Against South African and Australian wines, German Riesling did the best. But when they took off their blindfolds and saw the labels they started making excuses for their comments."
Since then, however, German wine has made a comeback, particularly in the US after some Moselle Valley vintners earned the attention of the hugely influential American wine critic Robert Parker.
A new generation of customers
As German vintners don't tend to produce very large quantities of any one style of wine due to the varying conditions in the vineyards, most of their wine sold abroad goes through specialist retailers or online.
Due to the steepness of the slopes virtually all Riesling in the Moselle Valley is hand-picked and despite being very labor intensive, high quality German wines remain relatively inexpensive -- a new reputation that is prized by vintners.
But while Germany's sweet Rieslings are by far the most popular in the US, the German market decidedly prefers the "trocken" variety, the dry wines. Ninety-five percent of the wine the S.A. Pruem winery sells in Germany is dry Riesling.
"There is a generational problem, young people in Germany today do not drink the same wine as their grandparents anymore -- they drink only drier, more expensive wines," Pruem said.
This is a relatively new development since a sudden change in German wine drinkers' pallets in 1976 switched the demand from very sweet Rieslings to bone dry. Such changes are not uncommon in the wine business as each generation of customers presents new demands.
Producers stepping up
Although Raimund Pruem's vineyards have been in his family since 1158 and his daughter is now sharing his marketing responsibilities, the art of winemaking is no longer something taught exclusively from one generation to the next. Virtually all top vintners around the Moselle have studied viticulture and vinification, gathering experience with many grape varieties and in some cases working in vineyards around the world.
While Pruem's ancestors' jobs mainly consisted of winemaking, today German wine producers are increasingly spending their time promoting and selling their wines too.
"When people come here they don't want to meet the sales staff, they want to meet the producer," Pruem explained. "Who else is a better promoter than the producer himself? That's something that has changed totally. My grandfather, my father and even myself when I was younger -- we saw how it doesn't work sitting here, waiting for customers, you have to be active."
There has to be a connection between the producer and his customers, he added: "Customers need communication."
As a result, more and more producers are taking it upon themselves to host large group tastings, wedding receptions and to participate in international tasting events, touring the world with their wines.
An artful business
The change in approach is evident. Producers are experimenting and reaching out more and more: Bottles of other grape varieties such as Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay -- and even the occasional red wine -- are increasingly found on tasting lists around the Moselle Valley.
But the demands of marketing are hard to keep up with.
"I have to sell my wine twice: first to the customer (the retailer), then to my customer's customer," Pruem said. "You have to go with the retailer to ensure the wine is on the shelves and is being taken off the shelves and bought."
Like most other wine producers, Pruem is carrying on the centuries-old art of winemaking: "The art is to taste the juice from the grapes and produce a wine from it that shows the signals of the vineyard." But he is also introducing a new art -- that of public relations.
"My wines need to show character, if they don't show character then forget it." -- Pruem's statement reveals the bottom line for vintners like himself: If their wine fails to meet standards, then not only is their livelihood, passion and reputation at stake, but also their legacy.
Used to express acclamation, salute, or applause.
[Italian and Spanish, (long) live, both from Latin vīvat, third person sing. present subjunctive of vīvere, to live.]
Business.view
Sep 2nd 2008
From Economist.com
“BEHOLD, the atheist’s nightmare,” declares Ray Comfort, an Australian evangelist, as he holds up a banana in a hugely popular video on YouTube. The fruit, he says, testifies to God’s creative genius. It comes with a colour-coding system that shows when it is ready to eat (green is too early, black too late); an easily gripped, biodegradable wrapper; and a “tab at the top” which, unlike that on a can of soda, works so well that when you pull it “the contents don’t squirt in your face.”
Not everyone is convinced. One video response points out that the banana only achieved its user-friendly qualities through evolution over many centuries of farming.
Saviour of Starbucks?But Howard Schultz certainly seems to regard the banana as the answer to his prayers for the recovery of his ailing drinks company, Starbucks. Since July 15th, the firm has been selling two new smoothie-style drinks called Vivanno, both of which are based on an entire banana—one blended with chocolate, the other with a mixture of mango and orange juices.
Mr Schultz, who earlier this year returned to the helm of the company he built into a global giant, deserves credit for trying to return Starbucks to its old approach to innovation, which was all about incremental product variation around a central platform. Just as three drink sizes and various types of coffees, milks and syrups became the core ingredients that people could customise to suit their own tastes, so Vivanno is aiming to take Starbucks into the smoothie trade (popularised by Jamba Juice) without greatly altering its production methods.
Go into a Jamba Juice store, and a team of people frantically peels and mixes fruits and powders. With a Vivanno, a barista must simply peel a banana (the simplest of tasks, thanks to God or several centuries of farmers), which is placed into a blender already in stores for producing iced frappuccino drinks. Happily, there have been no reports of baristas—let alone customers—slipping on stray banana skins.
Already, baristas and customers are suggesting new combinations involving Vivanno ingredients and traditional Starbucks products on the firms social networking website, Mystarbucksidea.com. Ideas include mixing the orange-mango juice with cream to produce something that tastes “just like an Orange Creamsicle” (sic) or mixing the smoothies with the firm’s Tazo teas. And customers are being invited to add a shot of espresso to the banana-chocolate Vivanno.
Certainly, the simple addition of bananas to the Starbucks mix seems to be working more, er, smoothly than the previous big innovation, the hot breakfast sandwich, which required bulky additional equipment and confused customers and baristas alike as to where the sandwich should change hands after heating.
Yet the Vivanno’s taste has received a mixed reception: some customers find it chalky and artificial. Certainly, Mr Schultz was getting carried away when he said to Portfolio magazine recently, “Tell me this isn’t, like, over-the-top! Is that fantastic?”
Your correspondent suspects that many of the grumbling customers have grown so accustomed to the sugar and other fattening ingredients in Starbucks’ drinks that the Vivanno’s natural taste (the fruit provides all the sugar) took them by surprise. Other customers may welcome a healthier option.
Clearly, the Vivanno alone will not revive Starbucks, which expanded too fast and diluted its quality and culture in the process. Getting the store closures right and finding other new products will be crucial.
But the banana beverage may be the turning point. It seems to be catching on with the many Starbucks customers who have complained over the years about the company’s descent into the obesity business. One of the many Starbucks outlets near The Economist’s New York office is selling the Vivanno at four times its target volumes. The firm’s share price, which hit a five-year low the day before the Vivanno was introduced, has since risen by around 10%. If not exactly proof of the existence of God, this does at least suggest that even fallen companies can have some hope of resurrection.
Until now, the changes to the grapes caused by higher temperatures, such as faster maturation, have generally had a positive impact on the wine's taste. But with temperatures expected to continue going up, climate change poses a threat to Spain's wine industry and a challenge for winemakers worldwide.
Report: Danny Wood
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2007 年，八十八歲高齡的英國小說老將萊辛（Doris Lessing）終於捧回諾貝爾獎桂冠；彷彿為打破「諾獎是死吻」的魔咒，她日前快筆交出新著《艾佛烈與愛蜜莉》（Alfred and Emily）。果真老當益壯筆力雄健，新書虛實交錯，寫小說也寫回憶錄，展示萊辛穿梭現實與想像的高超技法，活力咄咄逼人，探觸文學的極至，證明諾獎不是 送給老作家蓋棺論定的封印。 書名中的艾佛烈與愛蜜莉，原來是萊辛的父母：愛蜜莉出身中產家庭，功課好本可進大學，但她和父親唱反調，改讀護士學校。艾佛烈是鄉下人，離開父母到銀行工 作，不料一次大戰讓他斷送一條腿。在醫院他認識照料傷兵的愛蜜莉，當時她的醫生未婚夫才在英倫海峽意外喪命。兩人隨後結婚，都想擺脫原生家庭，大戰後到波 斯（伊朗）求發展，生下萊辛；舉家又遷到羅德西亞（辛巴威）。萊辛艱困的不快樂童年，在黑暗大陸度過，父母冀圖靠農耕賺錢回英國，但命運捉弄，愛蜜莉精神 崩潰臥床一年，艾佛烈患糖尿病，最後連下田都不能。 婚姻不快樂，先生笑著給她錢最讓她惱恨 萊辛早前出版多本自傳，這些往事並不新鮮，1994年《內在的我》（Under My Skin）書裡說：「多年來我一直揣想：如果沒有戰爭，我的父母後來會如何？」新書落實想法，前半虛構大戰未爆發，兩人迥然兩般的際遇：他們因板球賽邂 逅，但並未共結連理。做護士的愛蜜莉嫁給心儀的醫生，沒有生育子女；艾佛烈豪邁又顧家，如願當了英國農夫，娶太太生下雙胞胎兒子，快樂終老。 婚後失去自我的虛構愛蜜莉，感受婚姻的冰冷，對照真實愛蜜莉在羅德西亞荒野的無援和挫折。「她不愁家用，華服要多少買多少；先生要她打扮漂亮。但她仍是 苦，尤其先生把裝錢的信封交給她的時候。十八歲就自力更生，如今婚姻許多讓她不快樂的事情中，就是他笑著給她錢最讓她惱恨。」丈夫死後，愛蜜莉發現自己有 說故事給小孩聽的才華，憶起書在童年何其重要，用丈夫的遺產成立慈善機構，在貧窮區設學校。儘管她不快樂，卻成了群眾景仰的名人。 燕子就要去英格蘭了，牠們比我們先到 新書一分為二，下半部真實悲憫地回顧挫敗父母一生的戰爭傷痕：艾佛烈常夢到死去的戰友，不停說著壕溝、坦克和炮火的慘烈，想擺脫揮之不去的恐懼陰影。愛蜜 莉親見無數傷兵死去，「我們無能為力」。戰爭粉碎了他們的夢和靈魂，讓他們在非洲困陷磨難和絕望，「母親身上沒有傷疤，但她和可憐的父親同是戰爭的受害 者」。一戰給父母的痛苦影響萊辛的世界觀，「那戰爭像活在我的回憶裡」。 到底寫的是血緣親人，書中萊辛難得真情流露，艾佛烈癡想發財回英國務農，但羅德西亞的田地「小得存不下一毛錢」。愛蜜莉原以為殖民地少不了聚會應酬，帶了 大批衣飾，全沒派上用場。愛蜜莉看到屋前飛過的鳥會輕嘆：「啊，燕子就要去英格蘭了，牠們比我們先到。」父親想法比較正面，他對著非洲清澈的星空感懷： 「這在英國看不到，有時候我覺得這樣的夜色就值得了。」 我想要逃離那段可怕的過往，想要自由 新書還有母女間永恆的戰爭，「那句老話『她為了逃離母親而嫁人』是真理」。萊辛不諱言對母親反感，「我那時痛恨母親」。她仔細描繪母親無用的衣飾，試圖揣 摩母親的不快樂深刻感人；但誠實無隱的筆觸藏不住她怒氣未消，她直言對母親自怨自艾的氣惱：「到現在我還能感受當時的憤怒。」萊辛常抱怨她被誤解或狹隘界 定為女性主義作家，《艾佛烈與愛蜜莉》隱然可見女人要投入工作、不要窒息在婚姻裡的主張，但更深入鑽探切割自我認同與家庭、國族及歷史認同的掙扎，「我想 要逃離那段可怕的過往，想要自由」。 萊辛曾說，寫小說比回憶錄「更能彰顯真實」，她長篇虛構女英雄愛蜜莉為慈善獻身，給母親設想不同的人生，原宥並榮耀一個苦命的女性。在虛構的小說世界，她讓父母完成無法觸及的夢想，兩個失敗的人卻仍值得看重與尊敬，見證了文學重塑歷史的無限能量。 |
adjective 過氣的
