Beyond Shaoxing: Red Qu, Millet and Sweet Rice

Shaoxing is the capital of Chinese rice wine, but it is not the whole map. Travel a few hundred kilometres in any direction and the colour, the grain and the sweetness change completely.

Fujian: the red wines

In Fujian, rice wine is made with red qu (红曲, hóngqū), a starter coloured deep red by a mould called Monascus. The wines are ruby red, sweet-sour and fragrant. The best known include Longyan Chengangjiu (沉缸酒), "the wine that sinks to the bottom of the jar", a rich, sweet wine from western Fujian, and Fujian Laojiu (福建老酒), an aged red-qu wine.

Red qu is also used in Fujian cooking, to colour and flavour meat, so the red wines and the local food grow from the same ingredient.

Shandong: the millet wine

In the north, huangjiu is traditionally made from millet rather than rice. Jimo Laojiu (即墨老酒), from Shandong, is dark, almost black, with notes of coffee, burnt caramel and dried fruit: a rice wine without rice. It shows how old the northern brewing tradition is, since millet was a staple grain in northern China long before rice.

Jiangsu: the sealed-jar wines

In Jiangsu, Danyang is famous for Fenggang wine (封缸酒), "sealed jar wine": a sweet huangjiu sealed in jars and aged. It is rich, golden and syrupy, and is served at festivals and weddings.

The Hakka: wine made at home

In the Hakka communities of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi, sweet glutinous rice wine, niangjiu (娘酒), is still brewed at home. It is traditionally given to new mothers, cooked with chicken and ginger, and served to guests at celebrations. Each family has its own recipe.

Shanghai: the modern style

Shanghai has its own lighter, sweeter huangjiu, made to be drunk young and often served cool. Modern brands with clean labels and new bottles are bringing huangjiu to younger drinkers in the city's bars and restaurants.

Jiuniang: the dessert

Across China, sweet fermented glutinous rice, jiuniang (酒酿) or laozao (醪糟) in Sichuan, is eaten with a spoon, often in sweet soups with glutinous rice balls or with a poached egg. Its alcohol is very low. It is not really a drink: it is the first step of rice wine, stopped while still sweet.

In the mountains

Many minority peoples in southern China brew their own rice wines: the Dong of Guizhou and Guangxi, the Li of Hainan, the Miao and the Yi. Many of them are on our Hidden roads, with their stories and rituals.

In one sentence

Beyond Shaoxing, China makes ruby red qu wines in Fujian, dark millet wine in Shandong, sweet sealed-jar wine in Jiangsu, home-brewed Hakka niangjiu and sweet jiuniang everywhere.