首先说明一下，中国的白酒并不是wine。另外，wine翻译为“红酒”并不科学，虽然标题我还是写了红酒。这两点等我以后撰文详述。
In wine there is truth. When the wine is in, the wit is out.这与中国的古话很接近：酒后吐真言。但与国人不醉不休的做法大相径庭，红酒话语圈流行这样一句话：Drink less, drink better. 红酒是健康饮品，但再好的东西，也不能走极端。 著名西语歌唱家Julio Iglesias曾说：Love is like wine. To sip is fine, but to empty the bottle is a headache.
提到健康，许多人会想到French Paradox。法国人的饮食，高脂肪、高热量、高胆固醇。想想那美味的鹅肝，根本是赤裸裸地生吞胆固醇。然而，法国人罹患心血管疾病的几率，却低的令人意外。科学研究发现，红酒中的tannins(单宁)，对于预防心血管问题，极其有效。红酒入口时，口腔中感觉干涩，口腔黏膜会有褶皱感，那就是单宁。从这句法国谚语，可见那种真爱：In water one sees one’s own face; But in wine one beholds the heart of another.
喝红酒，需要那些理由呢。拉丁文中的一句谚语告诉我们，有五个理由：It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one’s present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason. 总结一下呢，就是根本不需要理由啊！
有人说，男人像红酒。不过，说这句话的时候，最好还是不要当着老婆的面，看看这位的遭遇，你就明白了：I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine; he gets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cellar (地窖). 看到某位彪悍女人的话，男人们都要哭了：Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it’s our job to stomp (踩、踏、跺、踹) on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you’d like to have dinner with. 哈哈哈！
岁月的力量，在好友和红酒身上，都有所体现：Old wine and friends improve with age. William Blake不是也说过吗：The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest. Francis Bacon觉得：Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
以Jean Herrick的诗句结尾：
Made, bitter-sweet,
from fruits of life –
there is a wine; it
quenches every human
thirst – we call it time.