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.

一个在葡萄酒零售业工作的朋友遭遇了该行业从业者能想象到的最糟糕的命运：他失去了嗅觉。有一天他得了重感冒。病情最终好转以后，他却再也分不清赤霞珠(Cabernet Sauvignon)和长相思(Sauvignon Blanc)，甚至连霞多丽(Chardonnay)和黑皮诺(Pinot Noir)都分不出来。酒的芳香闻不到了。一年多以后也没恢复。

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.

现在我的朋友能闻出几种比较重的味道──比如香水、染发剂和鱼──但他仍然闻不到酒香。这是他一直瞒着同事和客户的一个痛苦的秘密。工作中，在品酒会和晚宴上做演示时，他会避免谈到芳香或味道，而是重点介绍酒的历史和生产。目前为止似乎还没有人注意到。最近在某晚宴上介绍纳帕谷赤霞珠(Napa Cabernets)时，他准备的台词引起了热议。

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.

我问他，如果那些酒有问题或者有木塞味儿怎么办。我的朋友说，这点他做好了准备，他请人在每瓶酒上桌前进行了品尝。但他越来越绝望了。他试过针灸、草药和各种不同的药物治疗。他看过很多医生，包括神经科医生，但没有任何效果。这让他无法鉴别葡萄酒的几乎任何东西──也让他相当沮丧。

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.

作为专业葡萄酒记者，我在同情我朋友遭遇的同时，也感到害怕。假如我某天早晨醒来也出现同样的状况怎么办？虽然我们总是说葡萄酒或食物的“味道”，但我们尝到的几乎所有东西实际上都是我们闻到的气味。气味几乎是葡萄酒的全部。

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.'

我告诉朋友我会试着帮他。所以我做了些调查，找到了华盛顿特区的味觉与嗅觉诊所(Taste and Smell Clinic)，这家诊所擅长解决嗅觉和味觉方面的问题。我在网站上通过邮件进行了联系，不久就收到诊所主任罗伯特·亨金(Robert Henkin)的回复。我说明了朋友的情况后，亨金博士告诉我这叫做嗅觉减退症。他说嗅觉减退是一种“隐蔽的流行病”，超过2,100万人有“一定程度的嗅觉丧失”。

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.

已故的伟大酿酒师、波尔多大学(University of Bordeaux)教授埃米尔·佩诺(Emile Peynaud)对嗅觉的价值有发言权。事实上，在他1983年出版的颇具开创性的书籍《葡萄酒的味道》(The Taste of Wine)里，佩诺认为，嗅觉“可能比味觉要敏感数万倍”。佩诺在书中用整整一章的篇幅讲嗅觉和“酒香”，他甚至将它们分成了10种基本类型：动物性（也就是肉味），香脂（比如松脂），木香，化学品，辣，焦味（比如烟熏和烘烤），酯香（酒精发酵的副产品），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.)

佩诺还对芳香(aroma)和酒香(bouquet)的定义进行了区分──大多数葡萄酒饮用者这两个词都混着用。他写道，芳香适用于果香四溢的年轻葡萄酒。酒香最好用来形容成熟的葡萄酒，其果香比较微弱，泥土和矿物质等其他香味开始浮现出来。（为简单起见，本文中我会用芳香来笼统形容。）

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说明很多东西──首先就是葡萄品种。喝过充满辛辣和荔枝干果味的琼瑶浆(Gewurztraminer)的人都知道，这种葡萄的香气是独一无二的。有着令人愉悦的草药味的新西兰长相思也是一样，还有带肉味的西拉(Syrah)。嗅一嗅，就能知道这些是什么酒。

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).

芳香还能说明葡萄酒的年份、酸度、酒精度和橡木味。除了只有舌头能品尝到的五种味道（咸、酸、甜、苦和鲜），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.'

从气味可以闻出酒是不是有瑕疵。纳帕谷酿酒师亚伦·波特(Aaron Pott)说过：“气味是葡萄酒健康与否的关键。”波特酿酒时非常重视气味信息。他说：“难闻的气味是说明什么东西严重有问题的首要迹象。”有没有可能酿造一种气味不好的好葡萄酒？波特说，绝对不行。他说：“就像是打造一个没有头的超模。”

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，但是却很形象：没有气味的葡萄酒是不完整的，尽管有些酒并不是很依赖于气味。比如，我觉得赤霞珠只要结构和质地上可以就行了，而黑皮诺则是完全由气味所主宰──一种以水果、草药和泥土味为标志的生动的芳香。

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.

最近聊到气味的时候，Jean-Georges Restaurants 集团企业餐饮总监伯纳德·孙(Bernard Sun)首先就想到了黑皮诺。他说，顾客不会真正注意到一款酒的气味，除非是真正的品酒行家。对他来说，气味非常重要──事实上，他总是会以气味来记住那些酒。他提到了两种让他记忆特别深刻的勃艮第红酒(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.

后者是他最爱的红酒之一。孙说，简单、酒体轻盈的Chorey-les-Beaune红葡萄酒比不上邻近的勃艮第科尔顿(Corton)和波玛村(Pommard)酒庄所产的酒，但它因为气味而特别受青睐。他说：“Chorey-les-Beaune没有科尔顿那样的质地或酒体，但气味非常美。气味是这款酒真正吸引你的地方。”他说气味是最性感的部分。

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.

我觉得我那位嗅觉有问题的朋友不会在乎气味是否性感；我觉得他根本不会满足于任何气味。我的朋友真心爱葡萄酒。它不仅仅是他的职业，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.

我来到味觉与嗅觉诊所见亨金博士。他带我去了一个像是装满马尼拉文件夹的大文件柜的办公室。亨金博士说，我朋友那样的病毒性感染特别常见。其他的引发因素包括过敏、头部受伤和痴呆症等。人们往往会相当快就注意到问题，但却不肯马上寻求帮助。亨金博士估计普通人会在失去嗅觉后两年半才会去找他看病。他们总是抱有嗅觉会自己回来的希望。

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.

亨金博士会给每位新病人进行基本测试，以判定病人失去了多少嗅觉。他提出让我做同样的测试。我紧张地说，我得了轻微感冒。我突然很害怕我的鼻子会有问题。

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.

他保证说感冒不会妨碍测试，然后带我进了另外一个塞满文件的房间。这个房间有很多棕色玻璃药瓶。亨金博士让我对着三个瓶子快速吸气，然后按百分制为瓶内物质气味的强度进行打分；说出气味是冷、难闻还是中性气味；还要描述物质的特征（是否薄荷味太浓？是花香味还是甜味？）；最后他让我选出一种不同于另外两种的气味。他用另外几组气味重复了这个过程。

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，每个瓶子也不能闻两次以上。不像品酒的时候，你可以随便闻某一种酒。我跟亨金博士提到了这点，希望他能为我破例，但他并不为之所动。测试几分钟就结束了。

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.

亨金博士看着他在纸上写下的各种计算结果，宣布我“处于正常范围”。他说，如果我没通过，他就会给我进行更多检验，也许还会让我口服茶 (Theophylline)治疗，这种药通常是用来治疗哮喘患者的。这是亨金博士的主要治疗方法，但往往只对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几率的一种方法：茶 鼻喷剂，他说可以治愈“高达80%”的病人。但目前依然在开发阶段，只做了小规模的临床试验。83岁的亨金博士说，如果他能“再活10年”，我们可以看到数百万人被治愈。他以一个40年研究可能很快就会获得瞩目成就的人的兴奋语调说道：“想想多让人激动！”

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.'

我给了我朋友亨金博士的联系方式。我不知道他有没有打电话，但为了我的朋友，以及数百万和他同病相怜的人，我希望亨金博士研究的治疗方法能够早日取得成功。毕竟，再次借用佩诺的话来说，“和吃的艺术一样，饮酒的艺术也是生活的艺术”。