第2名 蒙特（非古）1935周年尼加拉瓜2號（Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua No. 2）

雪茄世界里，紀念日一直都備受重視，尤其是對于蒙特這樣具有傳奇色彩和意義的品牌而言。2020年是蒙特品牌創立85周年，美國阿塔迪斯公司和雪茄制造商 A.J. 合作費爾南德斯合作發布了這款蒙特1935周年尼加拉瓜2號，這是我們雜志社品嘗過的最好的非古蒙特雪茄。

和蒙特這樣的傳統品牌打交道是一項艱巨的任務。一方面必須保持品牌的某些原則。另一方面必須有一些創新。這就是拉斐爾·諾達爾（Rafael Nodal）擅長的地方，他是阿塔迪斯公司的產品能力負責人，和費爾南德斯合作了這款神圣而口味飽滿的蒙特。

雪茄52環徑粗，6.125英寸長。盲評得分95分。每支售價16.43美元。所有煙葉都產自尼加拉瓜，是費爾南德斯的農場培育出來的。確切的煙葉品種和農場具體位置，阿塔迪斯公司沒有透露，這是一個秘密。眾所周知，費爾南德斯喜歡制作大膽濃烈的雪茄，這個主題在這款雪茄完美的體現出來。主基調是辛辣泥土味，隨后混合了皮革、椰子和麥芽牛奶的味道。

2號是蒙特產品線里最具有標志性的尺寸，不僅是整個品牌里表現最好的，也是今年表現最好的雪茄之一。

附參考原文：

Anniversaries aren’t taken lightly in the cigar world, especially when it comes to brands as storied and significant as Montecristo. So when it turned 85 in 2020, Altadis U.S.A. collaborated with cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua to do something quite special. The result was the Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua—the finest non-Cuban Montecristo we’ve ever tasted.

Handling a heritage brand such as Montecristo can be a daunting task. On the one hand, certain tenets of the brand must be maintained, but on the other, there has to be some innovation. This is where Rafael Nodal has excelled. He’s the head of product capability for Altadis and collaborated with Fernandez to produce this divinely rich expression of Montecristo.

All the tobacco is from Nicaragua, grown on Fernandez’s farms, but Altadis is not divulging much else. Exact varietals and farm locations are a secret, which is uncharacteristic for the company. It’s no secret, however, that Fernandez likes to make bold, strong cigars, and that theme plays out beautifully here with a spicy, earthy backbone refined by notes of leather, coconut and malted milk.

Consider it a stroke of poetic justice that the No. 2, which is the most iconic Montecristo size, was the best performer of not only the entire brand, but one of the finest cigars of the year.

第3名 圣克里斯托瓦爾精髓丘吉爾（San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill）

圣克里斯托瓦爾品牌有五個不同的產品線，每個產品線都有不同的外包裝和風味特征。今年脫穎而出的是精髓丘吉爾，這個產品線的茄衣選用了煙草植株頂部的第五片煙葉，這意味著茄衣煙葉不但要長得高，煙葉強度也很高。這個產品線比啟示（Revelation）系列的口味要濃郁，但是不如圣克里斯托瓦爾的核心產品線。精髓產品線被定義為中等到濃郁強度。

所有的 圣克里斯托瓦爾都是阿什頓雪茄公司出品的，所有人是萊文家族，是老爹雪茄公司在尼加拉瓜代工卷制。阿什頓雪茄創建于2007年，那時公司追求風味多元化，發布了第一款尼加拉瓜雪茄。此后每隔幾年，公司就會發布不同版本的圣克里斯托瓦爾雪茄。雖然也有很多雪茄是用厄瓜多爾哈瓦那茄衣和尼加拉瓜煙草卷制，但是很少有像圣克里斯托瓦爾精髓丘吉爾這款成功、活力、有趣的雪茄。這里的大部分功勞要歸于老爹雪茄的加西亞家族，以及他們對尼加拉瓜煙草的深刻理解。

雪茄是49環徑粗，7英寸長，盲評得分95分，每支售價9美元。一切都與這款粗大的丘吉爾相得益彰。口味濃郁，充滿堅果味，燃燒中傳遞出充滿咖啡豆味的泥土氣息，中段有一些烘焙香料的味道，尾端是迷人的卡布奇諾的味道。

附參考原文：

There are five different lines in the San Cristobal series, all with different wrappers and flavor profiles, but the one that stood out this year was the San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill. The Quintessence is made with a fifth-priming wrapper from Ecuador, meaning that the leaf grows fairly high on the plant. In terms of strength, it’s more powerful than the San Cristobal Revelation line, but not quite as strong as core San Cristobal cigars. Quintessence was blended to register as medium-to-full and does so splendidly with the Churchill.

All San Cristobals are made in Nicaragua by My Father Cigars for Ashton Distributors, owned by the Levin family. The brand started in 2007 when Ashton diversified and released its first Nicaraguan cigar. Since then, Ashton has been bringing different versions of San Cristobal to the market every few years. While plenty of cigars are made with Ecuador Havana wrapper and Nicaraguan tobacco, few are as successful, dynamic or interesting as the San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill. Much of the credit goes to the Garcia family of My Father Cigars and their profound understanding of Nicaraguan tobacco.

Everything came together quite harmoniously with the large Churchill. It’s rich, nutty and complex conveying an earthy foundation of coffee bean character, a mid-palate of baking spices and a charming, cappuccino finish.