【美国电台节目】如何品酒，显得不那么做作？

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The holiday season is uponus, and people are gathering for dinner, celebrations and other merryoccasions. But what to bring? A bottle of wine as a gift for the host? And ifsome attendees don't drink alcohol, which is increasingly common, how do youinclude them in the fun?  And Andre Hueston Mack is with us now. Welcome.Thank you so much for joining us.

HUESTON MACK: Hi. How's itgoing?

MARTIN: Well, better now. Asyou've just told us, you've worked and served wine at places like the FrenchLaundry in California's famed Napa Valley. But as you say, you also enjoy aless expensive bottle of wine.

HUESTON MACK: This is true.This is true.

MARTIN: So as we dive intothe holiday season, I'm guessing that there are folks who don't usually drink alot of wine. And so they're going to be wandering around thinking, gee, how doI find a good gift? Or how do I kind of figure out what to buy? So let's just -can you just start with, like, do you have some rules for this or some words ofwisdom just to start us off?

HUESTON MACK: Yeah. I mean, I think in wine, you get what you pay for.The key is searching out a good wine shop. We all want to be able to bringsomething. I think you can't go wrong with bubbles. It doesn't always have tobe champagne. I feel like during the holiday season, that's pretty celebratory.But champagne can be pricey and expensive. But, you know, something like Cavaor Prosecco is always something fun. I always tell people, the larger thebottle, the better. It's a celebration, right? It's supposed to be fun andfestive. And I think you can't go wrong with that.

MARTIN: I want to share alittle bit on how you rate wines. You use emojis. All right. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW,"WORLD OF WINE")

HUESTON MACK: Generally, I juststick my nose in the glass. I just want to smell first, checking for the sameodors, if it's off, if it's bad, if it smells like my grandmother's basement,you know, those - you don't want those kind of qualities in wine. So this wine,you know, even though it's under $15, I feel like it has longevity. This wouldbe a big thumbs-up emoji. Maybe double one - emoji, emoji, cowboy hat, electricbolt and a strawberry.

MARTIN: I'm a littlefrightened to ask, but I want to know how a cowboy hat sums up the bouquet offlavors and aromas in a fermented beverage.

HUESTON MACK: It's so funny.Wine descriptions to me really don't do anything. They're kind of frivolous ina lot of ways. We don't have them on anything else. Like you think about acocktail, you know, there's not these fluffy descriptions about what you shouldtaste or what you should get. And I think it's emotional. So like an easier wayto convey, you know, what you should feel or what to expect, I felt like acommon way to communicate now is emojis. And so why not do that with wine?

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