During the New Year, we sent some Shaoxing wine to some Japanese friends.
Why do you give Shaoxing wine?
Because I am from Zhejiang and I like Shaoxing wine. The same goes for the Japanese. Speaking of Chinese wine, it is not Moutai or Shaoxing.
The main reason why Japanese people like Shaoxing wine is that the raw materials of Shaoxing wine are the same as Japanese sake. They are mainly rice, and the brewing principle is similar. The alcohol content is also the same, the taste is soft, sweet, mellow and nutritious. The degree of white wine is a bit high. The Japanese drink Moutai with ice cubes and water, just like when we added ice cubes to red wine, it is always a joke of the times.
I have a good friend named "Fu Jianwei" who has served as the chairman of Zhejiang Guyue Longshan Shaoxing Wine Co., Ltd. for a long time. He is a rice wine brewing expert who enjoys subsidies from the State Council. When I visited Shaoxing once, he said to me: "If wine is the representative of European and American wines, then rice wine is the wine of the East and the national wine of China."
I think this is very important. It makes sense that when Japanese people go to a Chinese restaurant to eat, they will never ask for wine, but only think of drinking Shaoxing wine. This is not a cognitive problem, but a kind of dining culture. What food goes with what wine is determined by the taste buds.
Although there are many places in the south of the Yangtze River that produce rice wine, there is only Shaoxing wine that can be made only in Shaoxing. When you walk into Shaoxing and see the black and gray markings like ink paintings on the white walls, you will know that the air of this oriental city of Venice is filled with the smell of yeast.
Shaoxing has three major rice wine brands, namely "Kuiji Mountain", "Guyue Longshan" and "Tower".
In 1743, a generation of winemaker Zhou Jiamu founded a wine shop in Shaoxing, named "Yunji", and "Kuiji Mountain" was born.
In 1951, when it was a public-private partnership, it was renamed "State-owned Yunji Winery", and in 1969 it was renamed "Shaoxing Dongfeng Winery". As the Kuaijishan trademark was rated as "China's Well-known Trademark", the company changed its name to "Kuijishan Shaoxing Wine Co., Ltd." from December 2005. "Kuiji Mountain" has been the same for three hundred years, making wine with heart, and successfully interpreting the myth of "continuous production, continuous operation, and continuous profitability" for three centuries.Become a "hundred-year-old brand" in China's rice wine industry.
As early as 1915 at the "Panama Pacific World Exposition" held in San Francisco, the United States, "Yunji" wine, the predecessor of "Kuiji Mountain", won the first international gold award for Shaoxing wine, and has won 15 domestic and foreign gold awards so far. , The product has been hailed as "the crown of Oriental wine."
In the past few years, with the support of Zhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Liquor Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Guyue Longshan Shaoxing Liquor Co., Ltd., we will give Japanese friends some Tapai and Gu Yue Longshan wine every Chinese New Year. I think what we send is not just a bottle of Shaoxing wine, but a Chinese "national wine", but a kind of Chinese culture. Let Japanese friends realize from Shaoxing wine, the profoundness of Chinese rice wine culture for thousands of years, from loving Shaoxing wine to China.
Last year, I discussed with Mr. Yu Weiqiang, Chairman of Kuaijishan Shaoxing Liquor Co., Ltd. We want to give "Kaiji Mountain Liquor" this time. Can you support me?
Chairman Weiqiang is also a good friend who has known each other for many years, and he agreed.
So, Kuaijishan Shaoxing Wine Co., Ltd. paid out the wine money, and our Asia News Agency sent out the wine money, and jointly promoted Shaoxing wine to people from all walks of life in Japan, so that everyone can feel the strong taste of China in Japan and the taste of Shaoxing wine. charm.
The day before yesterday, I received a call from Mr. Tomiichi Murayama, the former Prime Minister of Japan. The old man is 96 years old and is living in his hometown in Oita Prefecture. He said: "I haven't been drinking for many years. This time I received the Shaoxing wine from you, and it is also a commemorative wine for the Hangzhou G20 summit. I opened a drink. The wine is very good and delicious. I have been to Zhejiang before. I miss every trip to China very much.”
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wrote a letter specifically, saying, “I am very grateful for the Shaoxing wine sent by Mr. Xu. Drinking Shaoxing wine every New Year seems to be a habit. . Don’t forget what you’re looking forward to next year.”
A Japanese company president who accompanied Prime Minister Abe to the Hangzhou G20 Summit sent an email saying that he would like to have another bottle as a souvenir. He said that it is said that Shaoxing people have a habit of burying new wine after a girl is born, and then drinking it when her daughter gets married.My little granddaughter was just born, and I had to prepare a bottle of wine for her, and then drink it when she got married, and told her that this was the wine that my grandfather drank when he was in Hangzhou.
Presented to Mr. Ichiro Sugae, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives and former Deputy Minister of Reconstruction
When giving wine to friends, we all specially asked: "Don't talk about plums."
There are also Japanese people who are curious and ask "Why don't you drink Shaoxing wine with plums?"
This question is an incredible question for us Chinese: Why do Japanese drink Shaoxing wine with plums? And what about a piece of rock candy besides Huamei?
In response to this problem, I consulted Mr. Otake who runs a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo. He told me that adding plum and rock sugar to Shaoxing wine is the traditional way of drinking Shaoxing wine in Japan. The reason is very simple, because Shaoxing wine is too sour.
I'm not right, Shaoxing wine is very sweet and soft, how can it be sour?
The old man told me the reason.
The earliest Shaoxing wine in Japan was imported from Taiwan. It was in the 1960s. The normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan has not been restored, and authentic Shaoxing wine is not available in Chinese restaurants in Japan.
So, where did Taiwan’s Shaoxing wine come from? It is brewed in Taiwan.
Why did Taiwan think of brewing Shaoxing wine? Because Mr. Chiang Kai-shek was from Ningbo next door to Shaoxing. He grew up drinking Shaoxing wine and came to Taiwan. He missed the rice wine in his hometown very much, so he ordered a Shaoxing winery to be built in Taiwan. However, no matter how it is brewed, the Shaoxing wine produced in Taiwan has a sour taste. It seems that Mr. Jiang frowned and drank sour wine for so many years.
I asked Chairman Yu Weiqiang about this matter. He said that the main reason is that the water quality is different. The water of Jianhu Lake is used for Shaoxing wine. The water of Jianhu Lake contains a variety of special bacteria. During the brewing and storage of rice wine, these bacteria The group can generate more than 20 kinds of amino acids, making the rice wine more fragrant and sweeter as it ages. Taiwan does not have such water quality, nor does other places in China, so the world can only brew "Shaoxing wine" in Shaoxing.
As the saying goes: "A glass of wine,Life love. _P1p
A bottle of Shaoxing wine, using rice from the southern waters of the Yangtze River, and using the water of the Jianhu Lake in Shaoxing, carefully brewed and stored for so many years, and then transported to Japan by thousands of rivers, and then sent to Japanese friends with a greeting letter. This friendship, It’s called “precious.”
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The best way to understand Japan’s daily news is to follow the “Asia News Agency Express”.
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On the day of Mr. Takakura’s 90th birthday, I lit a piece of incense for him in his office before his death.
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