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Gu Long said: "The best way for a person to get drunk quickly is to fill the wine with wine and dry it with yellow wine for nothing."
This sentence can be literally understood as: mixed drinking is easy to get drunk. But there is also a potential logic: yellow rice wine is used to "eat", not to "be eaten".
Just like porridge with pickles, rice noodles with fried dough sticks, steamed bread with mutton soup. The main body of "Xia" is often food with loose taste and light temperament, but it can't be the protagonist.
Yellow wine, of course.
Number: 1 one
The debate about who is the national wine of China has never stopped for a hundred years, but the four, eight and ten famous China wines selected by various institutions are all white wine. Its status is as unshakable as Japanese sake, German stout, French brandy, English whisky and Russian vodka.
Yellow rice wine, which really originated in China, has always followed the liquor. Although it was labeled as elegant literature and art, honest and peaceful, it was not elegant after all.
Just as the old literati in China are often used to window dressing or criticizing the current shortcomings, they have never dominated the development process of history.
Many articles have pushed the origin of yellow rice wine to China two or three thousand years ago. Du Kang, who solved his worries, Gou Jian, a worker who devoted himself to mash, Cao Mengde, a hero who cooked wine, Li Bai, who wrote hundreds of poems about fighting wine, and Su Shi, who asked the truth about wine, all belong to the category of yellow rice wine. This is actually extremely imprecise.
In the pedigree of western alcoholic beverages, the classification of yellow rice wine is not "yellow rice wine" but "rice wine". Generally speaking, distiller's yeast is used as fermentation medium, and it is brewed with grain without distillation. Tibetan highland barley wine and Japanese sake are close relatives.
However, in a long historical period, non-distilled rice wine has a major drawback: under the dual effects of saccharification and fermentation, starch will release a large number of suspended particles, which will make the wine turbid. In fact, before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was no decent yellow wine in China, and people drank "turbid wine". In ancient poems, "a glass of turbid wine is Wan Li's home" and "a pot of turbid wine makes us meet happily" all mean this.
Compared with turbid wine, it is naturally sake. Although it is said that as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, China people invented the squeezing filtration method, but the filtration technology really matured after the Tang and Song Dynasties. Li Bai's "How many years have you been a pure wine cost ranger, a golden cup, 10 thousand copper coins and a hip flask in Xianyang" may not be an exaggeration, but it is a true portrayal of the high cost of filtration technology in the early Tang Dynasty, and sake is not affordable for ordinary people.
Number: 2 er
A noteworthy detail is that while the wine filtration technology is rapidly evolving, another great event has happened: the Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty, represented by Anpei Zhongma Road, came to Chang 'an, the center of world civilization at that time.
In addition to tea ceremony, flower path and chess path, there are also techniques for making koji, brewing turbid wine and filtering sake.
Although they belong to the same school, due to the different national characters, Japanese wine has since embarked on a completely different development track from Chinese wine: the Japanese have interpreted "axis" and "dead brain" as "craftsman spirit" to the extreme, and through unremitting filtration, they have obtained clear Japanese sake without impurities. They also found that the outer layer of rice grains has a high content of protein and the inner layer has a high content of starch. By grinding, the outer layer of rice grains is removed, and only the core of rice grains is used as raw material, so the export feeling of brewing is comparable to that of "Yin Da Niang" of fruit wine.
In China, after the Yuan Dynasty, the distillation technology invented by Arabs was introduced into the Central Plains. Liquor, a kind of "sake" with high alcohol content and low acquisition cost, has become popular-yes, it is inconvenient for China people who are naturally good at it to distill it after repeated filtration.
But China's culture is conservative and diverse. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, at the beginning of the invention of liquor, China people regarded it as a "stinky liquor" only for the lower classes because of its high alcohol content. Scholars in position insist on drinking expensive filtered sake. In the early Qing dynasty, there were two schools of filtering wine, the North and the South.
Beijiu takes millet as the main raw material and is produced in Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other places. Both Cang wine and Yi wine in Hebei belong to the typical filtered wine of the North School. In the notes of scholars in the early Qing Dynasty, there is a saying that "Cang wine is famous before Shao wine". In addition, Taiyuan, Luzhou and Xiangling in Shanxi all produce excellent yellow rice wine.
Jiu Nan is mainly made of glutinous rice, produced in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially Shaoxing wine. Because of the high content of protein and starch in glutinous rice, during storage, the sugar and amino acids in the wine form Maillard reaction, which produces pigment, making the wine appear obvious yellow. This is the color that the Japanese have worked so hard to grind off the skin of rice, and it will never be brewed.
Essentially the same color as soy sauce.
This color is difficult to filter out, perhaps because of the psychological distress of "almost good", China people left this yellow-colored bartender behind and passed it down.
third place
In the mid-Qing Dynasty, the prosperity of Kang Gan and the great development of national transportation. It is inevitable that the north-south wine will meet in a narrow way. In this game, Huang defeated Beijiu with absolute advantage. The reason is not necessarily that the taste of southern wine is better than that of northern wine. An important reason is that southern wine will not change its taste after being transported to the north. Wine from the north is transported to the south and will deteriorate at high temperature.
Therefore, people call the filtered wine with long time, dark color and storage resistance in the south "Shaoxing old wine".
In order to be golden in color, the winemaker also consciously added caramel to the production process. The name of Shaoxing yellow rice wine is beneficial.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the children of the Eight Banners had a special interest in the sweet Shaoxing wine, and the government ordered that there was a saying that "shochu was forbidden and yellow rice wine could not be stopped". During the Republic of China, yellow rice wine was basically determined as a kind of filtered wine brewed with glutinous rice and colored with caramel.
| Jimo, Shandong |
Jimo wine
Jimo old wine is one of the few representatives of northern yellow rice wine that has been passed down to this day. This kind of yellow rice wine brewed with millet as the main raw material can maintain an independent posture among many southern yellow rice wines, which is almost an isolated case.
In addition to the good quality of Jimo old wine itself, the more important reason may be the strength of Shandong cuisine since the middle of Qing Dynasty. Whether as a seasoning in cooking or a fun drink on the table, local yellow rice wine has a strong existence significance.
Today, in the north, which is dominated by liquor, Jimo old wine is more regarded as a healthy drink. Shandong people use it to make eggs, brown sugar, black dates, walnuts and even stewed carp. The so-called efficacy is really secondary, but the taste is very special.
| Anyang, Henan |
Double-headed rice wine
The so-called "double-headed" refers to millet and millet, both of which are main ingredients, regardless of the front and back. It is a typical Zhongyuan yellow rice wine.
This compound grain wine is quite like Wuliangye. In fact, in Henan, double-headed wine is really Wuliangye in yellow rice wine.
What's even more amazing is that honey and raw eggs are added in the brewing process of double-headed yellow rice wine, and the added sweetness is really exquisite. Although since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the frequent yellow flooding has made the simple Central Plains culture step by step backward. But in the details of brewing, we can still see the shadow of the legacy of Tang and Song Dynasties.
| Jiujiang, Jiangxi |
Sealed rice wine
In Jiangxi, yellow wine brewing has always been a typical southern brewing technology. Glutinous rice is the main ingredient, mixed with a little millet, just to make the taste more compound.
The so-called sealed cylinder refers to sealed fermentation and sealed clarification brewing, which must be sealed twice before and after for up to five years.
Yellow rice wine is different from white wine, because its alcohol content is low, so it is not better with aging, and it may be rancid if it is left for too long. Therefore, the concept of "aged yellow wine" not only refers to the long brewing time, but also is directly related to the purity of yellow wine quality: without such purity, it is impossible to become aged wine.
| Xiangyang, Hubei |
Xiangyang ricewine
Xiangyang people's love for yellow rice wine is probably no less than Shaoxing people's. Three local specialties can be included in the yellow rice wine pedigree: Xiangyang yellow rice wine, Danhe thick wine and Di Feng yellow rice wine.
The latter two are not much different from the yellow rice wine in Wu dialect area, and Xiangyang yellow rice wine is worth mentioning. Although it is called "yellow rice wine", it is actually not yellow rice wine in a narrow sense, but an ancient turbid wine.
Because it has not been squeezed and filtered, the wine is milky white and tastes sweet and sour. It is said that this wine was invented by Zhuge Liang's wife Huang Yueying, so it is also called "Maolu wine". Although most of them are attached to the legends of guilds, the invention of turbid wine can indeed be traced back to the Three Kingdoms of Han Dynasty.
| Chenzhou, Hunan |
Inverted rice wine
Hunan wine does not take yellow rice wine as the mainstream, but produces a distinctive pour wine in Jiahe County, Chenzhou.
In the brewing process, in addition to glutinous rice and distiller's grains, shochu should be poured to improve the alcohol content and flavor. Therefore, it is named "inverted cylinder". Although the craft is rough, it tastes mellow and sweet, which is different from the orthodox Jiu Nan flavor.
Xiao Ke, a native of Jiahe, has a special liking for pouring wine in his hometown. He said: "The water in my hometown is sweet and the wine is easy to pour." A sweet word, a kind word, tells the homesickness of many wanderers.
| Wuxi, Jiangsu |
Huiquan ricewine
The authenticity of yellow rice wine is, of course, in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Wu-speaking areas. Shaoxing is the first wine in Zhejiang, and there are good wines in Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Shanghai in Jiangsu: Shazhou Huang You in Zhangjiagang, Taoyuan yellow wine in Wujiang, Shikumen old wine in Shanghai, Baipu yellow wine in Nantong and so on. But when it comes to historical accumulation, I'm afraid Wuxi Huiquan wine is better.
After Lu Yu named Wuxi Huishan Spring "the second spring in the world", Huishan became famous. It happens that water is the most important raw material for brewing yellow rice wine besides koji and grain. Since the Yuan Dynasty, people have used "the second spring in the world" as a gimmick to make wine here. Technology advances year by year, naturally brewing a good taste.
One of Cao Xueqin's father Jiangning Weaving's tributes to the emperor was "Spring Wine", which should be today's Hui Quan yellow rice wine. It can be seen that in the middle of Qing Dynasty, the quality of Huiquan wine had reached the level of tribute. Cao Xueqin conveniently wrote it into A Dream of Red Mansions.
| Shaoxing, Zhejiang |
Daughter wine
Overseas, Shaoxing wine has almost become synonymous with yellow rice wine. Daughter red is another name for high-quality Shaoxing wine. In fact, daughter red and rice wine are common names for carefully brewed carved wine.
In fact, the success of Shaoxing wine is not due to the excellent selection of materials, nor to the superb technological level. It is the first time to introduce a systematic standard similar to western wine evaluation in wine classification. According to the different sugar content, Shaoxing wine can be divided into Yuan red wine (dry wine), rice wine (semi-dry wine), good wine (semi-sweet wine), Xiangxue wine (sweet wine) and improved table-mixed wine (mixed wine) blended with good wine and Xiangxue wine.
This scientific and advanced wine classification makes Shaoxing wine stand out among China yellow rice wine, and also enables people with different tastes to find their favorite one in Shaoxing wine.
Chiang Kai-shek is from Zhejiang. It is said that after he went to Taiwan Province Province, he missed Shaoxing wine in his hometown very much. However, the water quality and temperature in Taiwan Province province are completely different from those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and the brewed yellow rice wine has a strange sour taste. Therefore, people in Taiwan Province Province invented the method of adding shredded ginger and preserved plum to yellow rice wine. After the reform and opening up, being sent back to the mainland has become a popular practice in the southeast coast.
In fact, the high-quality Shaoxing handmade yellow wine is not only rich in flavor, but also has the aroma of wheat and lotus leaves, which is not suitable for heating and is more suitable for cold drinks. It is best to put the wine bottle in an ice bucket for a period of time before drinking, and it is appropriate to drink it at around 6 degrees Celsius. Because its flavor component lipid can only be produced by yeast fermentation at low temperature for a long time, it is also necessary to activate its cool taste at low temperature.
| Meizhou, Guangdong |
Hakka mother liquor
Yellow rice wine is widely distributed in Hakka settlements, produced in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Huizhou, Guangdong and Longyan, Fujian. But only in Meizhou, yellow rice wine is called "Niang wine".
The reason is related to the unique contradictory status of Hakka women. On the one hand, the ancestors of Hakka people deeply realized the importance of population prosperity from the hard life of transplanting land. No matter how to resist foreign invasion or develop production at home, more people are advantages. Therefore, "Niangjiu" has the potential significance of praising women's wine-making skills and women leading the national diet.
On the other hand, the traditional patriarchal ideology in southern society discriminates against women. Women keep the house and make wine, and men are the real masters of the house.