“Miss Vicky, 薇琪小姐” #2: The most creative angel from Beaujolais (English & Chinese version, 中英對照版)

Yiting: What’s your imagination about Asia?

亭：你對亞洲的印象是甚麼？

Vicky: “I've never been to Asia, can you IMAGINE? For me Asia is a mystery, I've filled it in with my friends’ memories and knowledge”, Vicky said. Many of her friends travel a lot to represent their wines or to share food recipes, and often those fascinating stories amazed Vicky. “When you get lost cultural gaps have downturns, but they can also make your heart do big jumps I believe.”

薇琪（後簡稱琪）：我 從來沒去過亞洲，你們可以想像嗎？對我來說亞洲相當神秘，幾乎所有的知識都是我從我朋友那裏我得知的，她許多朋友因為推廣酒或是歐洲美食的關係常常旅遊， 而從這些朋友身上我常常聽到很多驚奇的故事。「你可能因為文化距離的關係而震驚，但也正因為如此我們才更能夠勇敢作夢！」薇琪的朋友說著。

Vicky: How can I tell you about food pairings when you consider the huge difference in cultures and Asian food along the continent? Besides this, pairings are not only about the ingredients but also about the culture! How many dishes do you have in Asian cuisine!? A light and fruity red like Beaujolais goes probably better with Taiwanese food than a tannic Bordeaux... which has no importance after all if you consider that pairings are also cultural. Here in France we keep on drinking heavy reds with cheese while the rational will say it's usually much better with a white. 

琪：亞洲食物到底有多少種類呢？！我 很想知道如何去搭配亞洲的食物和酒，我知道這不只是攸關食物本身的料理，也一併要將文化給考慮進去（而這也是困難的地方），一瓶清爽富含果香味的薄酒萊可 能比充滿單寧澀度且強壯的波爾多酒來的與台灣食物搭配，但若將酒標文化擺放在前，可能搭配就不是那的重要了，這也就是我說的飲食搭配還要將文化搭配給考慮 進去。在法國，我們還是繼續依循傳統用口味重的紅酒搭配乳酪，就算一般來說應該配白酒比較合適。

Yiting: The complexity of Asian cuisine might make wine makers fear and be cautious about what type of  wines they are going to produce. However, in my opinion, due to the huge population of Asia, there will always be someone out there who will appreciate your product. The first point for me is about the education and the trend you are going to build in the Asian market. The brand can make your voice louder, and not all of the people purchasing wine really understand what is inside. Well, of course it has to be wine. What I want to say is, there is always something more than the wine itself when you are going to enter a non-wine history country, especially if you are targeting the new wine-consuming generation.

亭：亞 洲食物的複雜度可能影響到釀酒師一開始想要釀酒的方式（為了搭配亞洲食物），但我認為無論釀造出何種風格的酒總還是會有人享用的，因為亞洲人口實在太多 了！所以第一點應該要關心的是酒知識水平的教育與何種你想要帶入亞洲市場裡的流行趨勢，品牌可以讓你發聲，況且亞洲市場裡並不是所有買酒的人都是為了品酒 而購買（而是為了一種身分地位的象徵），不過開玩笑地說，至少裏頭一定要是酒．．．當你想要進入一個非擁有酒的歷史背景的市場時，一定要脫離釀酒國家的思 考模式，並且用另外一種方式來思考。

Yiting: Do you design the labels all by yourself or do you have a team brainstorming for you?

亭：你的創意酒標都是自己設計的嗎？還是你有自己的小組團隊幫你一起腦力激盪？

Vicky: The Miss Vicky Wine's labels are really telling the story of Vicky's Wines, so they are very important to me. As I had my blog before the wines, my logo came first. The wine label had to look like it so that people would recognize the brand. I have a good friend from high school who draws books for kids, she helped me out with the very first one. Then one of my cousins, a designer, put his hand together with my sister who loves playing with her camera and Photoshop, she did most of the posters. Very recently for the Beaujolais nouveau, a fan that is also an industrial designer jumped in the adventure, we met on Twitter. I have an idea of what I want on it, I give the main guidelines but couldn't do it without them. So it's a family and friends story but also  one I have with my community... As important, it’s never only me who takes a decision, there is always a vote on my blog to ask my community which label they prefer in between the 3 last choices. It's the same when I choose to add a wine to my range. It's very useful and a way to say thank you to all my followers for being still there day after day. Miss Vicky Wine is born thanks to social media, grows on social media and it is something I will never forget. 

琪："Miss Vicky Wine"品牌的確闡述著薇琪酒一路走來的故事，所以這個品牌對我來說非常地重要，如同我的部落格一樣，我的Logo比品牌先出現，接著我將酒標和我的logo一 致化，這樣一來大家對我的酒印象才會深刻。我有個從高中開始就認識的知心好友熱愛幼兒插畫，首先由她開始幫我設計商標，接著我的設計師表哥（或表弟）開始 加入計畫，幸運的是我還有個熱愛攝影的姊姊，所有的海報等等都產於她手，最近她也開始把重心放在攝影薄酒萊新酒上，最後，我有的網路（Twitter）上的忠實粉絲，他也是個工業設計師，最後也加入了我們這個大家庭的行列。最重要的是，我從不自己決定所有的事情，在我的部落格上我總會用投票的方式讓我的社群參與我的活動，例如票選酒標這件事情，當我選擇增加我的酒款時我也會用網路票選的方式讓大家一起參與討論，這也是一種對我忠實支持者表達感謝的方式。Miss Vicky Wine 的誕生來自於社會媒體，而這也是我永遠不會忘記的事情！

Vicky: Is it true that the popularity of a label, its name, is something really important in Chinese society（sometimes that would go before the actual wine ? ) So much that fakes circulate everywhere?

琪：酒標在中國社會裡是否真的是一件非常重要的事情呢？（甚至重要過酒？）

Yiting: The fake wine label, the fake bottle with the label or even the fake wine exist everywhere in Asia, this is only a question of percentage. It is such a shame to say that this exists also in Taiwan, but the number of cases are relatively not as high. In my opinion, the label culture could derive from the lack of wine knowledge or the “non-winetasting ” drinking habit In the end, the purpose is often to just show off ones wealth.

亭：假酒標、假酒瓶與酒標、假酒等等的現象其實遍布亞洲市場，只是每個國家的嚴重程度不同，在台灣我也曾聽到過這個例子，但是比例並不高。（酒標文化可能來自於酒類相關知識水準的不足，抑或者是＂醉翁之意不再酒＂，再者就是為了炫耀財富了）

Vicky: The label before the wine, something a winelover would have a hard time to understand here even though we have our own drinkers of etiquettes. I also know how crazy Beaujolais nouveau is in Japan. 

琪：酒標走在葡萄酒之前的文化的確有時候讓愛酒的人無法理解，就算在法國其實我們也有以挑選酒標購買酒的習慣的消費者，此外，我對日本人薄酒萊的瘋狂途徑也略知一二！

Yiting: I’ve seen some pictures of Japanese using Beaujolais nouveau wines to bath or have hot spring with…Well, I guess it was during a huge festival, and I can tell from the pictures that people really enjoyed the moment! Maybe this is one of the Beaujolais nouveau’s magical appeal and power? (Smile)

亭：我曾經看過幾張日本人用薄酒萊新酒來洗澡或泡溫泉的照片，不過我猜那是再一個相當盛大的慶典禮吧？！照片上每個人開心得不得了，我想或許這也是薄酒萊的慶典神奇力量之一？？（笑）

To be continued.... 
未完待續....