The brewing technique of Shaoxing rice wine is an important intangible cultural heritage of Shaoxing China. Its unique "low temperature slow fermentation method" and "distiller's yeast double fermentation method" are the summaries of practical experience and the crystallisation of wisdom for thousands of years.
The brewing of traditional Shaoxing rice wine pays attention to "timely weather, natural atmosphere, beautiful materials, and ingenious workmanship", and its quality is closely related to the brewing season, region, raw materials, and craftsmanship.
Why focus on the traditional wine-making skills
In modern times, food lost its warmth and the tip of our tongue lost its happiness. Together with the taste of childhood, and nostalgia, they are all gone. It is undeniable that modern food processing technology, mechanisation and standardised production of food have freed us from hunger and filled our stomachs. But at the same time, the increase in the proportion of machinery used in production, the lack of research on "why it is good" for food, and the arbitrary and brutal interference of innovative thinking on food production skills have also destroyed the inheritance of traditional craftsmanship, causing food to lose its original flavour.
The cultural connotation of “Heaven’s Time - 天时" and the brewing of Shaoxing Rice Wine
From the production of wine and yeast starter after the great summer heat, to the cultivation of barley koji during the white dew season, the brewing of distiller's starter batch after the frost, the process begins in winter, finishes in the spring, each process corresponds to a different season of the lunar calendar, and each process follows nature and is just right.
The process of "winter brewing" is the best embodiment. The cold weather naturally prolongs the fermentation time. The entire fermentation process, 98% of the time, is carried out in the open air without any human intervention. Long-term low-temperature fermentation will produce many flavour substances, making rice wine more mellow, soft, clear and rich, and this is the vitality of nature and a gift of time.
