What is Chinese rice wine?
When most American’s hear the term “rice wine” they think of Sake, the rice wine based alcoholic ingredients and brewing processes of Sake, the taste, color and complexities of the two rice wines are as different as Champagne is to Cognac. Chinese rice wine, also known as “yellow wine” or “Shaoxing rice wine” is beige or reddish-brown, like whiskey or cognac. There are 4 categories of Chinese rice wine which are based on taste; Sweet, semi-Sweet, semi-dry and dry. The vast majority of Chinese rice wines are semi-dry (Hua Diao). Like grape wine, Chinese rice wine improves with age. Bottles aged 50 to 100 years can be purchased in liquor stores throughout China.
