What kind of wine do you like?

New wine is a local wine brewed in rural areas of Shaoxing in the past. I'm afraid not many people know about new wine except Shaoxing people. But when it comes to similar Japanese sake, many people will know it. In fact, the two are quite similar, but the sake container is more exquisite and the taste is clearer.

The color of the new wine was milky white at first, and then it became clearer and clearer. It tastes pure and delicious, but it doesn't last long. Generally, it only takes two or three months from brewing to disappearing, which seems to be the kind of wine with shorter life. If it is necessary to prolong its life, it can be made into old (yellow) wine by decocting and adding some pyrogen. Compared with "old" wine, Gu called it "new" wine. The longer Shaoxing old (yellow) wine is, the more mellow it is, while the shorter Shaoxing new wine is, the fresher it is. One of them looks like a simple girl, and the other looks like a mature young woman. In my opinion, it is more appropriate to call this new wine rice wine, for one thing, because it is made of glutinous rice, and for another, because its color is like rice swill. However, it is not good to call out yellow wine, because Shaoxing yellow wine is also made of glutinous rice, and people outside Shaoxing are inevitably prone to ambiguity, and they really admire the "new wine" created by Shaoxing farmers.

Since new wine and yellow wine come down in one continuous line, their history is naturally as long as their origin. However, when the new wine really became popular, it only started in the early 1980s. At that time, every household had its own responsibility field. Besides filling their stomachs, they still have some leftover food, so they brew new wine. When I was a child in Shaoxing countryside, whenever late rice was harvested, when to brew "new wine" was put on the family agenda. At that time, brewing "new wine" was also an important thing for people during their leisure time. This means that people who have worked hard for half a year can finally enjoy drinking comfortably every day (Shaoxing people call drinking drinking, which is similar to drinking tea in ancient poems), even if it is only a few bowls of "new wine". "Old (yellow) wine made of glutinous rice becomes NIO-NIO"-the last word means Shaoxing dialect pig. Old wine is still like this, not to mention a new wine with more taste and charm than old wine.

This new wine tastes good, but it has a long stamina. So people who don't understand are often gullible. I remember a friend from other places drinking new wine for the first time, repeatedly calling: this is called wine, drink! An hour later, I shouted: I'm not drunk, I still want to drink. Generally, when a drinker says he is not drunk, you should be ready to be drunk immediately. Let him sleep if he wants to sleep, and let him vomit if he wants to vomit. When you meet a person who loves swearing or even hitting people with inferior wine, you have to blame yourself for being too hospitable. Even people who know the nature of new wine tend to get drunk easily. It is said that I grew up drinking new wine, and I should know its temperament very well, but in my limited drunkenness, people who eat new wine account for the majority.

But strangely, although this new wine was very popular at ordinary times, it was not allowed to be orthodox at that time. Where there is a wedding, there must be old wine on the table. I was quite puzzled at the time. I also asked my parents, but I can't remember the exact words. The general meaning is similar to going to a very orthodox party. You must wear a suit and tie to show respect for others, although what you crave in your heart is casual clothes. It seems that although the farmer is not very literate, he never dares to forget the rules of his ancestors. But then again, when guests smell new wine in your home, they will immediately ask you for new wine to drink. At this time, the host can't refuse. So the host took a bowl of new wine from the back room, put it in front of the guests with a simple and honest farmer's unique smile, and even said, "Try it, it will be better to eat old wine in the future." Where do you think of old wine after eating new wine? This new bowl of wine immediately filled everyone in the room. The guests are clean, so you basically eat this bottle of wine.

The new wine is delicious, so every family makes their own new wine. It's really hard to find one that doesn't have new wine by walking around the village. Even if no one in the family can eat wine, it is better to give it away. Of course, at that time, the back door and trust relationship were not deeply rooted in people's hearts, and they were usually given to relatives from other places, such as Hangzhou and Shanghai, who liked new wine very much. Then in return, Hangzhou and Shanghai give back beautifully packaged candy, which is extremely rare in rural areas. Naturally, the affection between them deepened further.

The method of making new wine is simple and complicated. It's very simple, because it is the same as many wines. It is nothing more than selecting materials (round-headed white glutinous rice), soaking rice, steaming rice, fermentation (harrowing), filter pressing and other procedures. It is complicated because when raking materials (from full fermentation to adding water), the temperature should be controlled well, when and how much water should be added. Rice is not fully fermented in the early stage, and it is contradictory to add water and wine in the later stage. Without water, wine has a bitter taste, and with more water, it will fade easily. At this time, most people feel that it is not easy to start. If it's not good, it means that your jar wine will be scrapped from now on, so I invited Shaoxing people, an experienced rake-opener in the village, to call it the wine head.

There are not many people in a village who can be called wine heads, and sometimes they even go to other villages to invite them. Because of the new wine, wine heads are usually quite popular in the village. Please don't spend money, just rely on each other's faces. How popular you are in the village is the easiest time to show it. People are good, and wine heads are on call. In the past, when I encountered some contradictions, I usually wandered around several times, but I still had to leave in the end. People who usually look up but don't look down can't pull down this old face. What's more, not going is tantamount to wasting so much food. Farmers' love for food is far above each other's festivals.

At that time, our children were curious about the wine head's every move and didn't see how much he had done. They just pricked up their ears, opened the cylinder head and tasted some distiller's grains with their fingers, then added water to it. After watching it for a while, they found that it was not as good as playing in the village occasionally, and the children lost interest. Looking back now, where is the wine head, it is obviously an expert in antique appraisal.

After the new wine is ready, it is natural to make a few side dishes and invite the person in charge of the wine to drink several times. Usually if you have a good relationship, you will be closer. It's not so good at ordinary times, and the holidays between us have since vanished. At this time, the wine head became the busiest and most delicious person in the village.

In my family, I usually do the task of inviting wine heads, and I only need to run once almost every time. According to my mother at that time, it was because I was smart and sweet-mouthed, so the masters arrived at once, and I was really complacent for a while. But now that I think about it, of course, I have a little credit for it, but I am afraid it is largely because of my parents' old faces.

When everything is ready, I'm waiting for the house to smell of wine. At that time, it means that a new bottle of wine has been brewed since then. The specific time varies greatly with temperature. Usually this time is about ten days. Since then, every time at the dinner table, there are more copies of parents' self-satisfaction. This new wine will not be like paying for old wine, and people who drink it will feel distressed. But it's more like vegetables and crops grown in your own field, relying on the gift of God. In fact, the cost of this new wine is not necessarily cheaper than that of yellow rice wine that needs to be paid. After all, what you drink is that you feel at ease, and you won't feel like a black sheep. Moreover, more importantly, this wine is not only drinkable, but also the by-product of wine-distiller's grains is very useful.

Take some newly brewed distiller's grains, add some starch, jiaozi and sugar, and cook on the fire to make a delicious "wine paste mix" or "wine jiaozi". It will be sweet and pleasant to eat at first, and you will feel drunk if you eat too much. I remember there were often guests who didn't know their rights at that time. After drinking a few bowls, they felt a little drunk and didn't even know why afterwards. Distiller's grains, for a long time, can be put into dried fish and put into the next summer. At that time, the taste of wine penetrated into the fish, and the meat was full of the taste of wine, like fish, like wine, or other unspeakable flavors, which were unique and unforgettable for a long time. More thrifty people steam the distiller's grains, and the steam condenses and falls, which becomes another kind of Shaoxing wine-badly burned and delicious. Even at this time, distiller's grains can still be delicious in the mouth of his own pigs, which is really a treasure.

For our children, the process of "steaming rice" in the process of new wine brewing is the most anticipated. After my parents were busy, while cooking and burning firewood, several of our good partners also played in the house at the same time. There are even people who follow Mi Xiang. If they are adults, they will help their parents. If they were children, they would stick to us. However, at this time, we are absent-minded when playing games, and our brains follow that vision and hang on the big steamer in the kitchen. Waiting for two or three adults to carry the steamer out of the kitchen and pour it on the big plaque on the table. At this time, the adults are in a hurry, and we are also in a hurry.

The new glutinous rice is very energetic, crystal clear as jade, fragrant and attractive. So I grabbed a handful and stuffed it in my mouth, only feeling warm, so I quickly retreated; Or sprinkle some sugar or dried vegetables on the rice, wrap it up and press it hard a few times, and a delicious dumpling will be ready. (Now there is a kind of "glutinous rice" on the market, which is done in this way, but it always feels far from when I was a child. As for the exquisite, they put the glutinous rice in a bowl, add a little lard, a little soy sauce, add some onions and stir it a few times. The taste is "only understandable, but unspeakable." But at this time, you have to be quick-eyed and quick-footed, and catch more glutinous rice before adults mix new wine and medicine. After the next cage of glutinous rice comes out, we all have more hearts and less stomachs, and naturally we have no appetite for lunch or dinner later. It's a game, because the energy transformed from glutinous rice is harder than before.

New wine is what adults want, so it is not what our children crave. When I was a child in the countryside, even snacks were extremely rare, let alone drinks. Because the new wine is sweet, many times our children eat it as a drink. Every time my parents eat new wine, they beg for it and stay. However, at this time, just eating is not enough. You can only eat in small bites, and look at your parents' faces while eating. When you have an appetite, your parents won't let you eat it. So if you want to have fun, you can only have fun when your parents are not at home. According to the Spring and Autumn Period of Ten Kingdoms, "wine is different from intestines, so it doesn't have to be long". This means that the amount of alcohol consumed is not necessarily proportional to body size. A strong man may not be able to drink, but a thin man may be able to suck whales. So, I really never got drunk at that time. The circle of friends unanimously recognized that I have a good capacity for drinking. It seems that, on the one hand, it is of course due to parents' inheritance, on the other hand, I am afraid it also plays a considerable role in the training of "somersaults in wine jars" (Shaoxing proverb) when I was a child.

After a new bottle of wine is finished, I will make another bottle again and again until next spring. At this time, the glutinous rice stored at home has been exhausted, and the newly brewed wine is particularly sensitive to temperature compared with people. When the temperature is high, it is easy to be sour, astringent and deteriorated. If you want to drink again, you have to wait for the season when glutinous rice is fragrant again.

Now farmers are well off, but they can't eat their own new wine anymore. Look at the place where rice was planted before, but now it has become a magnificent factory building and a regular road. Even if there are sporadic open spaces, I would rather be covered with grass than let the crops have a foothold. Naturally, there is no need to describe the reason. Occasionally, if you really want to have fun, you have to buy beautifully packaged and expensive new wine from the factory, but you always feel that it is far from the past and has long lost its simplicity and innocence.

So every time from late autumn to the next spring, the villagers always think about it from time to time: when can they eat new wine again!

It's just that they seem to forget that the "root" of new wine is gone, and there will be new wine.