Shaoxing Rice Wine 绍兴 花雕酒
Johannes Schonherr
Today, China's most favored alcoholic drink is certainly beer, Tsingtao Beer is by far China's most internationally famous brew.
When looking however for a more traditional Chinese drink to go with your home-cooked Chinese meal in the liquor stores of New York, the Asian shops of Nuremberg or in the supermarkets of Tokyo, you will soon discover that other internationally popular Chinese drink: bottles filled with a reddish-brown liquid and labeled Shao Xing Hua Diao Wine, Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew or a similar name.
Those same names will also appear on the menus of good Chinese restaurants, regardless whether located in a Chinatown or not.
Different makers use their own Latin spelling of the product but they all mean what is commonly known as Shaoxing Rice Wine. Or rather, the internationally most commonly sold variation of Shaoxing Rice Wine, Huadiaojiu (花雕酒).
Huadiaojiu
Huadiaojiu is a semi-dry liquor with an alcohol percentage of about 15 - 19%, produced by fermenting rice, sometimes supplemented by other grains such as wheat or millet via a traditional starter culture called qu in Chinese.
Huadiaojiu is an aged drink, most commonly it is sold as having matured for 3, 5 or 8 years. The 5 year vintage variation is the widest available, specialized shops sell much older vintages, prices according.
Because of its color, density and alcohol content, huadiaojiu is sometimes compared to sherry. It has, however, an unmistakably Chinese taste.
History of the Drink
Huangjiu (yellow drink 黄酒), also often called Laojiu (aged drink 老酒), is an ancient Chinese liquor dating back thousands of years.
Up to the introduction of beer by the Germans via their brewery in Qingdao in the very beginning of the 20th century, Laojiu was China's most popular drink.
Laojiu (aged drink) refers to the fact that the liquor underwent a lengthy fermentation process before being served.
Though the drink was produced throughout China, the city of Shaoxing in today's Zhejiang Province, located on the coast of the East China Sea, became famous for their high quality product.
From the early days of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), Shaoxing Rice Wine was shipped and sold at markets all over China.
In the 20th century, beer took over as the most popular drink in China. Shaoxing Laojiu is, however, still going strong.
Since the early 2000s, Shaoxing is a protected designation of origin. Only rice wine produced in Shaoxing can be labeled as Shaoxing Rice Wine.
Taiwan however doesn't recognize that ruling. So, you might encounter Taiwanese-made "Shaoxing" wine when looking for the product outside of mainland China.
Laojiu is not a Wine
Now, of course, Laojiu is no wine at all, if you understand wine as a product made from grapes. The jiu in Laojiu simply translates as "alcoholic beverage".
"Rice wine" is simply an old-style western attempt to describe Asian beverages that have no counterpart in the West.
"Gimme more of that rice wine!" was easier for a British 19th century sailor to shout through a Shanghai bar than to ask for a Laojiu or Huangjiu with the Chinese intonation level intact.
Shaoxing Huadiaojiu
Many different types of Laojiu are produced in Shaoxing. They differ in terms of fermentation process and of course in terms of taste, smell and color.
The type most commonly available internationally is Huadiaojiu which translates to "wine with engraved flowers" if we let "wine" stand in here as a word for "alcoholic beverage".
The name comes from the Shaoxing tradition of having the ceramic flasks the liquor was sold in engraved with flower motifs.
The "flower" in the name may however also have a deeper meaning referring to an old Shaoxing custom. When a daughter was born, her parents buried a large ceramic jar with newly started Huadiaojiu in the ground.
At the wedding ceremony of the daughter about 20 years later, the jar was dug up and the "rice wine" served to the guests of the ceremony.
Unfortunately, the industrial mass production of Huadiaojiu meant an end to the custom, though, who knows, some families in Shaoxing might still practice it. You would be very lucky to be invited to a wedding when such a jar is opened today.
Drinking Customs
In winter Laojiu / Huadiaojiu is often served warmed up to about 35 to 40 °C, in summer it is drunk cold, sometimes with ice cubes added.
Because of its high content of amino acids (higher than in beer and grape wine) and because of its full flavor, the liquor is sometimes referred to as "liquid cake".
Laojiu in the Kitchen
Laojiu / Huadiaojiu are however not only served as drinks but are also an important part of Chinese cuisine, mostly in the form of a central marination agent. Many traditional meat, fish and seafood dishes require marination in a laojiu-based broth.
Those dishes include Mao Zedong's favorite dish of braised pork belly with scallion greens - a dish he called his "brain food" that helped him defeat his enemies.
Accordingly, Mao made sure the Shaoxing liquor factories kept running even during the most tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution.
Website on Shaoxing Rice Wine shaoxingwine.com.cn
The site is in Chinese but an English version seems be in the works. The photos alone give a good feel for the history and presence of laojiu in Shaoxing.
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