Author: Li Xiao
The three "quality transcendences" of Gujing Roasted Wheat Aroma (Guxiang Type) are not only the further essence of Gujing's quality of vintage pulp, but also reflect the continuous leadership of Chinese liquor quality. - Caption
In the world of distilled spirits, no wine pays more attention to aroma than Chinese liquor, because only liquor is subdivided by aroma, and as many as twelve aroma types are divided according to aroma. It can be seen that the soul of Chinese liquor lies in "incense".
As the old eight famous wines in China, Gujing Tribute Wine has always been a "model of wine aroma" in liquor, and in 1963, at the Second National Famous Wine Appraisal Meeting, experts evaluated Gujing Tribute Wine as "as clear as crystal, pure as youlan, luscious and mellow in the mouth, and the aftertaste lasts for a long time". Among them, "fragrant pure like youlan" is quite a high evaluation, because the orchid is like a gentleman, symbolizing high purity and tranquility, and the fragrance is not light and intriguing, so this comment is also known as the "most beautiful comment" of liquor in the industry.
Because of this, Gujing Tribute Wine pays special attention to the aroma and the flavor differentiation brought about by the aroma. At the beginning of 2021, Gujing Tribute Wine launched an ultra-high-end product "Gujing Vintage Pulp Chinese New Year's Eve", which is still based on "incense" to highlight the value, the original "ancient fragrance type", and even more, the packaging will focus on the three words of "roasted wheat aroma". It can be described as "the extreme of chasing incense, unparalleled".
And "Gujing · Chinese New Year's Eve" once launched, but also inside and outside the cause of a lot of waves, the major media have reported, the drinkers have been impatient with curiosity, within ten days, the first batch of 6,000 bottles sold out, the price is also set at 2099 yuan / bottle. At that time, some public opinion pointed out that The ancient well roasted wheat aroma (ancient aroma type) can be regarded as the "rare fragrance" of liquor.
So, where is the ancient fragrance of the ancient well? What is the meaning of the name roasted wheat aroma? Behind the price is the value, the author observed that Gujing roasted wheat aroma (ancient fragrance type) as the opening of the vintage pulp "year series", indeed in the wine quality research and development of greater efforts, to achieve the three major quality transcendence, and these three transcendence, beyond not only the vintage pulp, in fact, the entire Chinese liquor has enlightening value.
01
"Roasting": Extending the "human flavor gene" to Chinese liquor
"Ancient Chinese Diet" proposes that from the recognition of fire to the control and mastery of fire, it is a key step for human beings to maintain their own survival and development, because this invention has enabled mankind to bid farewell to the era of Ru Mao drinking blood, which is a great revolution in the history of human diet and opens the first page in the history of cooking.
The author consulted the data and found that in terms of archaeology, it was found in the ape man archaeological site near Zhoukoudian in Beijing, as far as 600,000 to 700,000 years ago, human beings have begun to use fire, and various fire remnants have been found in the ash layer of the site, such as charcoal, burning and cracked stones, antlers, bones and so on. In terms of records, the Li ji Nei Ze records that "the earth is coated with creatures and eaten by cannons", and the Shiben Zuo Chapter records that "the Yellow Emperor made fire food".
▲ Grilled food is the earliest cooked food that humans have come into contact with, and to this day, it is still one of the delicacies, and this flavor preference is deeply rooted in people's hearts. (Photo by Louis)
As "Diet" said, the use of fire and the popularity of roasting, on the one hand, provided impetus for the evolution of human civilization, on the other hand, it did open a chapter of cuisine, the so-called "drilling wood for fire, to dissolve the fishy", because of the fire roasting, and the food scorched flavor, stretching for thousands of years, so that in the field of cooking, roasting once again evolved into frying, frying, cooking, frying and many other "cooking skills", and roasting in this category, also gave birth to such as "Cantonese roast suckling pig", "Beijing roast duck" and other enduring famous dishes. The reason is that since the use of fire, human beings have a special preference for grilled flavor, which is often called "human taste gene".
In terms of the scope of world flavor products, this human "taste gene" always seems to be associated with top cuisine, such as dark beer, coffee, etc. Black beer uses roasted malt - "caramel malt", which further increases the flavor of beer, and the control of different temperatures, so that the change of malt caramelization degree, becomes a key factor in distinguishing the grade. The same is true of coffee, roasting is crucial for coffee beans, because coffee beans themselves have no aroma, only after roasting, can they emit different and diverse charming aromas.
▲ Top flavor drinks such as black beer (left) and coffee (right) highlight the flavor of roasting, and the degree and process of roasting have become the criteria for grading.
On the basis of research and development, Gujing Roasted Wheat Aroma (Guxiang Type), also contains the principle of the above "taste gene", on the one hand, it continues people's flavor preference for "roast", on the other hand, it draws on the flavor pursuit of "roast" from other top hobbys, and extends the "human taste gene" to Chinese liquor. However, unlike others, Furui Roasted Wheat Aroma (Guxiang type) seems to be more skilled, because although it is named after "roasting", the overall production process does not see the "roasting process", and "roasted incense" is "uncooked", which is the embodiment of The ancient well technology.
It is understood that Gujing roasted wheat aroma (ancient fragrance type) using the "three pickles and raw incense" way of brewing, which is a compound mash practice, with two functions, one, special wine brewing produces a special aroma, second, more sauce produces more fragrance, and then compounded into "roasted wheat aroma". It can be seen that this practice not only requires high technical content and low yield, but also inevitably increases artificial and material resources, thus determining the value of Gujing roasted wheat (ancient fragrance type).
02
"Mai": Shaping the "new milestone" of the development of Chinese wine music
"Qu is the bone of wine" and "Quding wine type", wine qu not only has a decisive role in Chinese liquor, but also becomes a watershed between Chinese liquor and world wine, because only the fermentation of Chinese liquor uses the special, complex and intelligent microbial carrier of "liquor qu".
Bird's eye view of the development process of Chinese wine qu, in the wine song, Mai Qu is the key. For example, the wine songs mentioned by Yang Xiong in the Han Dynasty in "Dialects" all have the word "wheat" next to them, and they are all made of wheat. The Four People's Moon Order records: "Composable ... It is a month but a day, and wheat can be mashed." Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Yao Shu" recorded in the ten kinds of wine ququ method, most of which are wheat qu, and the famous Hedong Shenqu Fang is mentioned, with special emphasis on "the beginning of July to cure wheat, seven days to compose", posterity analysis, the reason why Hedong wine has a considerable reputation, thanks to high-quality wheat qu.
▲ Glutinous wheat from The Ancient Well Tribute Wine vintage pulp at the Original Grain Base of Bengbu. (Photo by Li Xiao)
The reason why wheat koji is widely mentioned and used in history, plays a key role in the evolution and development of Chinese wine, the author believes that wheat is the best raw material for the propagation of aspergillus (microorganisms), it contains suitable starch and protein, as well as the looseness of the koji, creating good conditions for microbial reproduction, so from ancient times to the present, wheat koji is better. Therefore, at present, most of the famous liquors are brewed with wheat koji.
From the above records, it can also be seen that the Han Dynasty was a milestone in the development of Chinese wine qu, and the Han Dynasty achieved a leap from scattered qu to cake qu, and mai qu was widely used. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao's "ShangjiuJiuJiujiuJiujiuJiujiu
Gujing tribute wine inherited from the "Shangjiu Liquor Law Song", is at the beginning of the development of Han Dynasty wheat qu, so pay special attention to the function of wheat qu, coupled with the location in the Huanghuai production area, the unique main wheat production area, but also for the development of wine qu to provide convenient conditions, therefore, wine qu has always been one of the essence of the ancient Jing tribute wine, typical is "peach blossom spring song".
▲ The process of koji making koji of ancient well tribute wine. (Photo/Network)
However, the wine koji used by Gujing Niansan is different from the previous "Peach Blossom Spring Song", and the guxiang special song independently developed by Gujing is based on the research of koji in Gujing for many years, and has the uniqueness of three aspects, first, the composition and proportion of microbial species are special, and the types of composite bacteria are complex and diverse; third, the temperature control, moisture and curvature amount when used are more special; third, with the fermentation of four qu, the operation is more complex and the fermentation is more diverse.
Whether it is the production and research and development of special wine koji, or the use of a variety of wine koji, or the "special aroma (roasted wheat aroma)" obtained by the brewing method of "three mash and raw incense", it highlights the exploration and promotion of the development of Chinese wine ququ by ancient wine song, and has created a new milestone.
03
"Incense": technology becomes art, flavor becomes "symphony"
Brewing is a technology, but also an art, scientific is that brewing through rigorous processes and operations, relying on microbiology, fermentation engineering, food flavor and other disciplines of guidance; artistic lies in the fact that the extension of various processes, thousands of parameters of the change has unlimited possibilities, and each subtle change, you can produce "lead the whole body" flavor change, very innovative and magical.
From technology to art, this is the supreme realm of brewing, more innovative and integrated, which is also the technological value of Furui Chinese New Year's Eve.
In addition to the above-mentioned "three pickles of raw incense" and "guxiangqu fermentation", the brewing of furui roasted wheat (guxiang type) also adopts the unique techniques of "mud and stone two cellars" and "U-shaped accumulation". As we all know, the brewing of liquor relies on fermentation vessels such as cellar ponds, and different cellars also play an important role in the style of the wine body, dividing the types of cellars, mainly mud cellars and stone cellars, producing incense with different characteristics, gujing roasted wheat aroma (ancient fragrance type) based on the Ming Dynasty national treasure cellar pool, combined with the advantages of the two kinds of cellars, so that the aroma is more abundant and layered.
▲ Gujing Group is a corner of the Ming Dynasty cellar pond group, which has been listed as a key cultural relics protection unit since 1998. (Photo by Li Xiao)
Using a unique "U" type cellar fermentation process, "crispy" under the "vanilla" in the "U" type mash, which helps the ancient incense qu to play the greatest role, fermentation of Titian, so that the "crisp" grain fragrance is pleasant, fragrant and smooth, "fragrant" fragrance is elegant and plump.
Artistic brewing has achieved artistic flavor. It is often said that the symphony is the supreme level of musical art, because compared with the single voice and simple melody of popular music, the symphony is more complex and layered, more emotional and situational, and through the high-quality performance of instruments, the symphony reaches the peak of musical art. The same is true of Furui Chinese New Year's Eve, through high brewing conditions, combined with the art-class brewing process, so that Furui Chinese New Year's Eve wine flavor, like the formation of a "flavor symphony".
▲ The main hall of the Furui Group Wuji Wine Cellar. (Photo by Li Xiao)
Due to the compatibility and artistry of the ancient well roasted wheat aroma (ancient fragrance type) process, so that it is different from the fragrant, fragrant, sauce and other aromatic styles, the ancient aroma type (roasted wheat aroma) liquor is to inherit the essence of the ancient liquor brewing technology, innovative winemaking technology, with the water of the ancient well, with the ancient song, made into ancient jelly, fermented in the ancient cellar, brewing a unique ancient well characteristics, a new aromatic liquor - Gujing roasted wheat aroma (ancient fragrance type) liquor.
At the same time, the span of aroma and flavor is very large, the overall feeling is three-dimensional and diverse, but despite this, the balance between the aromas and the taste is very good, not noisy, nor is it unfinished, and finally forms "Chen Xiang elegant, fragrant and pleasant, mellow and round, coordinated and supple, smooth and long, with unique roasted wheat flavor style characteristics", on the one hand, thanks to the process of Gujing Roasted Wheat Aroma (Ancient Aroma Type), on the other hand, it also reflects the high level of design of the roasted wheat wine body, bringing the drinker rich coordination and full of reverie" Symphony of Flavors".
It is often said that only people with life experience will fall in love with the flavor of liquor, and the style of furui roasted wheat (guxiang type) has a flavor tension, which is in harmony with the world and the mood of life, and the rich style is only a rich life.
▲ The original pulp of The Ancient Well Tribute Wine is Chinese New Year's Eve (roasted wheat aroma), and the "roasted incense" is "unbaoked" and "roasted", which is the embodiment of the ancient well technology. (Photo by Li Xiao)
Therefore, from the perspective of the evolution of human flavor preferences, from the perspective of the development of Chinese liquor, and from the perspective of the innovation of Chinese liquor technology, the wine body of Gujing Roasted Wheat Aroma (Ancient Aroma Type) highlights the higher value and artistry of Chinese liquor, breaks through the triple quality transcendence, and achieves a kind of "rare fragrance", which makes us have a new target for the quality manufacturing of liquor and a new yearning for the good life that liquor gives people.
—— This article is one of the "Ancient Aroma Decoding: Ancient Well Chinese New Year's Eve Roasted Wheat Aroma Series Review"
About the Author:
Li Xiao, Master of Food Fermentation, Wine and Food Industry Review Writer, Planner, Engineer, Founder of Wine and Food Review, Founder of Li ® Xiao Planning Consulting.