What is white wine?
Liquor, commonly known as shochu, is a high-concentration alcoholic beverage, generally 50-65 degrees. According to the different saccharification, fermentation strains and brewing technology, it can be divided into three categories: Daqu liquor, Xiaoqu liquor and bran koji liquor, among which bran koji liquor can be divided into solid fermented liquor and liquid fermented liquor. The traditional Chinese liquor brewing technology is solid-state fermentation. During the fermentation process, some auxiliary materials need to be added to adjust the starch concentration, keep the softness of fermented grains and keep the slurry water. Commonly used accessories are rice husk, chaff, corncob, sorghum husk, peanut skin and so on.
Imported wine and spirits
Foreign wine refers to the general name of imported liquor. It includes spirits, beer, wine, liqueur, etc ... and drinks with different alcohol contents. There are tens of thousands of kinds of wines all over the world, and the raw materials used in brewing and the alcohol content of wines are also very different.
If wine is classified according to raw materials, it can be roughly divided into:
There are seven categories: grain wine, spice and herbal wine, fruit wine, milk and egg wine, plant pulp wine, honey wine and mixed wine;
If wine is divided by drinking time:
There are also differences in aperitif, table wine, after-dinner wine and special drink; If the alcohol content is different, there are low, medium and high alcohol categories.
There are many kinds of wine, and no one can tell how many kinds of wine there are in the world, forming a colorful "wine" family. Now, the liquor market in China is very open, and we can easily buy all kinds of liquor products from abroad, such as liquor, beer, wine, brandy, whisky and vodka. These wines have their own characteristics. But in China, many people are still happy to choose white wine for daily parties and wedding banquets. So what's the difference between white wine and foreign wine?
Different saccharification pathways
Although China liquor is distilled liquor, it is different from whisky, brandy and other distilled liquors in saccharification process. The latter is brewed barley malt and saccharified with its own amylase, while China liquor is saccharified with the amylase of distiller's yeast. Many by-products produced in this process are the sources of rich koji flavor in liquor.
Specifically, China liquor is fermented by distiller's yeast. Wine shell, generally writing wine yeast. After intense cooking, the conidia of Aspergillus were transplanted into white rice, and then kept warm, and hyphae flourished on rice grains, which was called koji. Liquor-making with distiller's yeast is the essence of China's liquor-making. The microorganisms growing in koji are mainly molds. The use of molds is a great invention of China people. Professor Kenichiro Sakaguchi, a famous Japanese microbiologist, thinks that this is even comparable to four great inventions of ancient china.
However, single malt whisky is fermented with germinated and saccharified barley and 1- 10 kinds of yeast in a closed fermentor, even as many as 50 kinds, which the winery keeps secret.
Different brewing techniques
From the perspective of brewing technology, influenced by the long-term farming civilization, China liquor is produced in solid state with pure grain, and there are many microorganisms involved in the brewing process. The brewing raw materials and technology are diversified, which requires retort distillation and clay pot storage. It is the most complicated distilled liquor in the world. Its flavor formation is the most complicated, and it is also the distilled liquor with the longest production cycle and the highest cost. Compared with liquor, foreign wine is distilled from wine, fermented and distilled from grain, sugarcane molasses and diluted with high-purity alcohol. Some foreign wines had to be stored in later oak barrels or added with other flavor substances.
Different flavor determinants
The flavor and taste of liquor depend more on fermented koji. There is a saying in China's wine-making industry: "Qu sets the fragrance of wine". After Guo Huaiyu invented Daqu in Luzhou in AD 1324, the flavor of China liquor was greatly improved. Subsequently, the production technology of Daqu was quickly popularized throughout the country and widely adopted by brewing workshops all over the country. On the basis of it, different places have made different improvements, thus forming different flavors and tastes. Liquor produced by these different fermentation processes can be mainly divided into five flavor types. Namely: Maotai-flavor (fermentation temperature above 60), Luzhou-flavor (fermentation temperature around 55), Fen-flavor (fermentation temperature in the early 50s), Rice-flavor and mixed type.
And foreign wine, taking western whisky as an example, 70% of its flavor depends on oak barrels. The oak barrels of aged whisky mainly include American second-hand bourbon barrels and Spanish second-hand Sydney barrels. Bourbon oak barrels will give whiskey the aroma of honey, caramel, vanilla ice cream and sponge cake. Most bourbon barrels on the inner edge of oak barrels will also have some faint smoky smell. If whisky has the fruity aroma and taste of peach, pear, apple and pineapple, the fruity aroma cooked in bourbon barrel will be presented in the form of fresh fruit.
Shirley brought Chen Fang wine in the oak barrel before, so the taste of raisins will be very clear, and even some toffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee and various spices, such as pepper, ginger and cinnamon, will be added. If you feel the taste of fruit, Shirley oak barrel aging mainly appears in the form of mature fruit, dried fruit or jam.
Aging storage time is different
Time is the lifeline of liquor. As the saying goes, the wine in China is more fragrant as it ages, because the aldehyde acid of the new wine not only has no fragrance, but also has a feeling of spicy throat. With the passage of time, aldehydes and carboxylic acids in new wine will gradually be converted into ethyl acetate, which is the biggest contributor to the flavor of wine. Modern liquor retains the ancient way of brewing and aging, so it is also like daughter red. The longer it gets, the more fragrant it becomes, and the color gradually turns yellow.
Except whisky and brandy, other wines have no aging process, such as gin, vodka, tequila and rum. It takes several months at most from feeding to production, while it takes more than three years for liquor to be stored separately.
Cultural differences between China and the West
1. Westerners will use different cups according to different wines. For example, the favorite of many Scotch whisky lovers-Glencayne Sniffing Cup, as a professional sniffer of single malt whisky; Tulip cups are especially suitable for strong whisky; Classical glasses, also called old-fashioned wine glasses, rock glasses and tumbler glasses, are used for whisky with ice.
China people have no such habit. People in China always "eat meat with a big mouth and drink in a big bowl", and one bowl is enough. Of course, with the progress of civilization, liquor has also used cups, at least not the same as wine glasses.
2. Westerners' wine culture focuses on "quality" ... which reflects the leisurely gentlemanly demeanor.
China people's wine culture focuses on "drinking it all at once" ... "Deep feelings, one mouthful boring". A sigh after a gulp is also full of articles: it is not because the liquor stings the throat, but to spit out the aroma in the wine.
Westerners can use gin, vodka, rum, etc. As the base wine, single malt whisky and various fruit juices are added to make a strange, colorful and infinite cocktail, which not only enjoys the taste buds, but also meets the needs of eyeballs.
China people rarely mix different wines to drink ... On the one hand, they don't have this habit; On the other hand, more importantly, they get drunk easily.
Is white wine really worse than foreign wine?
In fact, China liquor is far superior to foreign spirits in taste richness, brewing technology and cultural heritage.
Many young people don't drink China white wine. They always think that liquor is old-fashioned and ordinary, but they never think about every craft and skill behind it, which embodies the lifelong efforts of countless winemakers. Minor changes in raw materials, temperature, geography, proportion, etc. It may be a world of difference. Just like the evolutionary history of Chinese character culture, there may be only a few strokes in front of us, but it has gone through a long Millennium.
China's wine culture needs us to correct it slowly, awaken it imperceptibly, learn to get rid of other thoughts and examine it carefully. At the same time, it is also inseparable from the correct attitude of wine companies to purify this slightly chaotic market. It is also inseparable from our own attitude of regaining confidence in our own culture.
Similarities: they are all distilled spirits. Difference: one is imported and the other is made of earth; One is colored and the other is colorless; One is made of fruit and the other is made of grain.
Culture can be improved, don't be arrogant! Liquor should be said to be good, but in today's era of quick success and instant benefit, it is really rare, lacking legal and industry supervision, and the label of liquor is vague and untrue at will. For example, 30-year-old liquor refers to 30-year-old wine, while 30-year-old whisky is blended with Tibetan wine of not less than 30 years. There is a big difference here, and the certification of whisky is quite strict, from single malt to single barrel. You can read a lot of information from the wine label. Make wine with your heart!
China liquor is mostly brewed from pure grain, and sorghum is the most representative. The brewing process is complicated, and the foreign wine is thrown away by artificial koji making, which is worthless in front of China pure grain liquor!
Simply put, vodka, a strong liquor, is distilled from potatoes many times, so it has no edible taste!
Wine is just ordinary fermentation, and the color is due to the use of oak barrels, which is not comparable to ordinary fermented wine such as China yellow rice wine and yellow rice wine!
Beer is fermented from ordinary malt, and whiskey is distilled. Do you still think foreign wine is worth that price?
To put it simply, Japanese sake is distilled after learning the brewing technology of China ancient yellow rice wine!
Therefore, pure grain-based wine will not go to the top and will not have a headache! ! Drinking white wine that can make people have a headache is blended with edible alcohol (national laws and regulations allow blending wine), because edible alcohol is also fermented and distilled from potatoes, sugar cane, sweet potatoes and so on. Most of the edible alcohol is fermented and distilled from bagasse (pressed sugarcane).
The acidity of China liquor is higher than that of foreign liquor, and its composition is complex. There are more aroma substances in liquor than in foreign wine, and the main aroma substance in foreign wine is ethanol (alcohol). Drinking too much high-acidity liquor brewed by sorghum will damage the liver, kidney and stomach, and make osteoporosis, renal function and liver function decline, but not everyone will do this. Only long-term drinking will be harmful! Quantitative change produces qualitative change.