26 minutes ago, Anna N said:Thank you very much.
I tried searching on Shaoxing but got no hits. I tried searching on China and got many results including bottles costing $600+! Most of them were out of stock or unavailable and did not seem to be rice wine but rather vodkas and Chinese red wine. Or undetermined
I have no idea what this is.
This is not a very useful website.We have a thriving community of Chinese and a well-known Chinatown so it’s quite surprising that one cannot find Shaoxing. And yet it isn’t! Our government run liquor store writes its own rules.
That is not wine, but a very strong spirit / liquor. China's most famous, served at state banquets. Disgusting stuff.
There is a huge translation problem with the Chinese character 酒 (jiǔ). It really means alcohol, but is often mistranslated as wine, although sometimes wine is correct! I do a lot of work with the wine and drinks press and we always tie ourselves in knots trying to translate some names.
The Moutai in that picture is a type of 白酒 (bái jiǔ), and is a strong white liquor from Guizhou province, made from sorgum but often described as 'white wine'. You don't want to be putting that in your dinner!
And, yes, 白酒 (bái jiǔ) can get very expensive, although the cheapest is almost free. I have one bottle which sells at $2,306 CAD, although it is a limited edition and contains 1.8 litres. No, I didn't buy it. It was a gift from a client. I can't stand the stuff!
The earlier picture you posted is rice wine but I have no knowledge of the quality.
Even beer is a 酒 (jiǔ) - 啤酒 (pí jiǔ) and grape wine is 葡萄酒 (pú tao jiǔ), literally grape alcohol. There are many more.
It's enough to drive anyone to drink!
