A brief history of rice wine, when did Chinese rice wine originate?

Rice wine is a national specialty of our country, also known as rice wine (ricewine), which belongs to brewed wine and occupies an important place in the world's three major brewed wines (rice wine, wine and beer). The winemaking technology is unique and has become a typical representative and model of the oriental brewing industry. Among them, wheat koji rice wine, represented by Zhejiang Shaoxing rice wine, is the oldest and most representative product of rice wine; Shandong Jimo old wine is a typical representative of corn rice wine in the north; Fujian Longyan Sinking Liquor and Fujian Old Liquor are typical representatives of red yeast rice rice wine.

Rice wine is one of the oldest liquors in the world, originating from China, and only in China, and is known as the world's three ancient liquors along with beer and wine. About 3,000 years ago, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Chinese created the original double fermentation method of koji and began to make rice wine in large quantities. Rice wine has a wide range of origins and many varieties, including Zhejiang Huadiao Wine, Zhuangyuan Hong, Shanghai Old Wine, Shaoxing Jiafan Wine, Fujian Old Wine, Jiangxi Jiujiang Sealed Jar Wine, Jiangsu Danyang Sealed Jar Liquor, Wuxi Huiquan Liquor, Guangdong Pearl Red Wine, Shandong Jimo Old Liquor, etc.

However, Shaoxing liquor, which is recognized by the Chinese brewing industry, is the most popular in the international and domestic markets, and has the most Chinese characteristics.

Rice wine is made of rice and millet rice, and the general alcohol content is 14%-20%, which is a low-degree brewed liquor. Rice wine is rich in nutrients, containing 21 kinds of amino acids, including special unknown amino acids, and the human body cannot synthesize it itself, and must rely on food to ingest 8 kinds of essential ammonia, and its sour rice wine is available, so it is known as "liquid cake".

1. Chinese rice wine originated in the Xia Dynasty.

2. According to the "Historical Records of Xia Benji" and other historical documents, during the reign of the fourth king of the Xia Dynasty, there was a coup d'état, and the emperor was killed. The young Du Kang made a living by herding, and the food he brought hung on the trees, and he often forgot to eat it. After a period of time, Shaokang found that the leftovers hanging on the tree had changed its taste, and the juice produced was unusually sweet, which aroused his interest, so he repeatedly studied and pondered, and finally discovered the principle of natural fermentation, so he consciously followed suit, and continued to improve, and finally formed a complete set of wine-making technology, thus establishing the position of the originator of Du Kang's Chinese wine-making industry, and the wine he made was also named "Du Kang Wine" ("Shuo Wen Jie Zi" note:

Du, Gantang also").

3. In the "Baishui County Chronicles" of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it is recorded that "Du Kang, the word Zhongyu, is a member of Kangjiawei in our county, and is good at making wine". The spring water in the ditch of Du Kang "faintly spews out, is inexhaustible in winter, flows four miles into the Baishui River, and the villagers say that this water still has the smell of wine."

Legend has it that Du Kang made wine from this water, and there is a text as proof: "He Yi wine, enough wine; White wine is a solitary cure. Therefore, drink all day long, and there is no danger of indulgence; Serve it for life and get the sum of qi and blood.

The neighborhood is a hundred miles, and more wine is sold in white. The legacy of Xianze, the local uniqueness, so far the ruins of the trough survive, this is also clear. ”

Xia Dynasty period. In the ancient book "Shiben", there is a saying that "Yi Di began to make wine and became five flavors"; In "The Origin of Things", there is "Shaokang as a wine." ".

Yi Di was an official under Xia Yu, and later made wine because he fell out of favor with the imperial court; Shaokang is Du Kang, the sixth emperor of Xia, when Han Xun usurped the government, fled to another country to live an incognito life, and worked as a chef of the Yu family, so he is good at making wine. However, Jiang Tong, a scholar of the Jin Dynasty, doubted the claim that Yi Di and Du Kang were the inventors of rice wine, and put forward the view that rice wine was naturally fermented. He wrote in the "Wine Message":

The rise of wine comes from the emperor, or Yun Yidi, and Du Kang. There is no end to the meal, the surplus is empty, the accumulation is flavorful, and the gas is fragrant for a long time. "Judging from the entire history of rice wine, before Yidi and Du Kang, there was a rice wine brewing technology, which shows that during the Xia Dynasty, rice wine already existed.

When did Chinese rice wine originate China has a long history of winemaking. With the development of archaeological science, a large number of ancient records of winemaking, wine-making containers, wine utensils and drinking utensils have been unearthed, which proves that Guya wine appeared as early as the Yangshao culture period in the north. In the Hemudu cultural site in the Qiantang River basin of Zhejiang, the original koji liquor fermented by Rhizopus cake koji began; The koji liquor brewed from Aspergillus oryzae was born at the Dawenkou site in northern Shandong, and the appearance of a large number of symbols on the Dawenkou brewing vessel indicates that the liquor appeared on the eve of human beings entering the civilized society.

China has a long history of winemaking. With the development of archaeological science, a large number of ancient records of winemaking, wine-making containers, wine utensils and drinking utensils have been unearthed, which proves that Guya wine appeared as early as the Yangshao culture period in the north. In the Hemudu cultural site in the Qiantang River basin of Zhejiang, the original koji liquor fermented by Rhizopus cake koji began; The koji liquor brewed from Aspergillus oryzae was born at the Dawenkou site in northern Shandong, and the appearance of a large number of symbols on the Dawenkou brewing vessel indicates that the liquor appeared on the eve of human beings entering the civilized society.

Rice wine is a traditional Chinese liquor with rich connotations of Chinese culture. The wheat koji rice wine, represented by the Chinese Shaoxing rice wine, is the oldest and most representative product of rice wine. It is a grain liquor made from rice.

Unlike baijiu, rice wine is not distilled and has an alcohol content of less than 20%.Different types of rice wine also show different colors of beige, yellow-brown or reddish-brown. Shandong Jimo old wine is a typical representative of corn rice wine in the north; Fujian Longyan Sinking Liquor and Fujian Old Liquor are typical representatives of red yeast rice rice wine.

It is a brewed liquor and occupies an important place in the world's three major brewed liquor (rice wine, wine and beer). The winemaking technology is unique and has become a typical representative and model of the oriental brewing industry. Rice wine is fermented wine, also known as rice wine, wine made from grains, with a history of more than 5,000 years.

Its function is more, the alcohol is low, the nutritional value is high, the amino acid content is more than that of beer and wine, selenium, peptides and other elements are rich, more than 70 ancient Chinese medicine recipes are used in rice wine, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" is recorded.

Medicine", medicine originates from wine.

Drinking rice wine in moderation is good for health, * From the hometown of Sichuan liquor, he always drank a glass of rice wine every day in his later years, which is not unreasonable.

Rice wine production process.

Rice wine is one of the three oldest liquor species in the world, and it is a national specialty of our country, and its brewing method of making wine with koji and compound fermentation is obviously different from other brewed liquor in the world.

1) Characteristics of rice wine brewing:

The saccharification starter culture used is naturally cultivated barley malt and liquor, or barley malt, rice koji, bran koji and sake mother cultivated by pure culture.

It is a combination of various molds, yeasts, and bacteria.

These various saccharification starter cultures, complex enzyme systems, metabolites of various microorganisms and their various roles in the brewing process give rice wine a special color, aroma and taste.

Rice wine fermentation is an open, high-concentration, low-temperature, long-term saccharification fermentation parallel type, so the fermented mash is not easy to rancidity, and can obtain a fairly high alcohol degree and unique flavor liquor.

The new wine must be sterilized and the sediment in the wine must be solidified and further clarified, and the composition of the wine must be fixed.

After the rice wine is clarified, it can be sealed in a bottle or jar and aged for 1 year.

in order to turn it into an aromatic and mellow aged wine.

Rice wine is a unique traditional drinking wine in China, which has a history of more than 3,000 years, and is named rice wine because of its yellow color.

Rice wine is a treasure of the Chinese nation, with a long history and a wide variety. Historically, there have been countless famous rice wines. Due to the development of distilled liquor, the production area of rice liquor has gradually shrunk to the south of the Yangtze River, and the output is much lower than that of liquor.

However, far from being abandoned, the essence of winemaking technology has been greatly developed in the new historical period. The charm of rice wine is still the same, the famous products in rice wine are still household names, and the best in rice wine are still like bright oriental pearls, shining.

Rice wine is made from rice or millet as the main raw material, which is steamed, saccharified, fermented and pressed. Rice wine is a low-degree (15-18 degrees) original juice wine, golden or brown red in color, containing sugar, amino acids, vitamins and other extracts, high nutritional value, has the function of increasing appetite, and can also be used as a seasoning for cooking dishes and pharmaceutical adjuvants.

The finished rice wine is sterilized by decoction and served in a pottery jar. The wine jar is sealed with sterile lotus leaves and bamboo shoot shells, and sealed with a mixture of sugar and clay, which is both tight and easy to open. The liquor is in the pottery jar, the older it is, the more fragrant it is, so it is also called the old wine.

In recent years, in Shaoxing, the main rice wine producing area, a large-scale distillery and wine warehouse have been built, and the traditional production experience has been systematically summed up, the process has been improved, the output has increased rapidly, and many ancient famous wines have been reborn. In addition to satisfying domestic needs, the variety and quantity of rice wine exports have also increased significantly.

Due to the long history of rice wine, there are many varieties of rice wine across the country, and the names are also very inconsistent. In terms of the name of the wine, some are named after the color of the wine, such as Yuan red wine (amber), black wine (black), etc.; Some are named after the place of origin, such as Zhejiang Shaoxing Liquor and Shandong Jimo Old Liquor, one of the country's famous liquors; Some are named after tastes, such as Danyang sweet wine and Sandong honey wine; Some are named after the brewing method, such as rice wine, sinking wine, etc.

The origin of the name of rice wine: because the color is yellow, so it is called.

Unlike white wine, which is clear and transparent, the color of rice wine is mostly brown, yellow, brown, etc., and some rice wine is colorless. According to the brewing process, rice wine is divided into traditional boiling and modern steaming methods.

The former raw material in the cooking process due to the lack of water, high temperature, after the cooking process, the color deepens, which in the later fermentation process will act as a natural colorant, in the process of boiling wine by grasping the temperature and time can be this Qingyuan to adjust the depth of the color of the wine.

However, there are certain limitations in the traditional process of rice wine in industrial production, and the mass production process of rice wine in modern times has been improved to fermentation after steaming, compared with the traditional brewing process, the modern process is more efficient, safe and hygienic, and the wine quality is more uniform.

However, the color of rice wine in the later stage needs to be formed with the addition of caramel color, which is a natural colorant that plays an important role in the production of rice wine.

How to buy rice wine

(1) Color

Generally, good quality rice wine should be amber, orange, and brown, and the wine should be transparent and clear, without turbidity. The stock solution is turbid, impurities, etc., and it is an inferior product.

(2) Smell

The hand-brewed rice wine is fragrant and fragrant, with a refreshing and mellow taste and no peculiar smell. However, due to the addition of alcohol, flavor and other additives, the blended rice wine will smell a pungent alcohol smell, and it does not have the fragrance of rice wine and is sweet.

(3) Taste

Good rice wine has a strong taste, with a sweet and sticky feeling; The fake and inferior rice wine generally tastes lighter, because it is blended, the alcohol flavor is relatively large, easy to get on the head, and it tastes more greasy to drink.

(4) Hand feel

Generally, good rice wine sticks to your hands and is more sticky after drying, but blended rice wine is like water.

(5) Year

Don't think that the older the rice wine, the better, the bottled rice wine can not be stored for a long time due to special reasons, so you should see the year clearly when purchasing, and you can't buy expired products.