The 1959 Hong Kong Economic Yearbook records Zhang Yu Xie Bai Na Gan Hong

In the 1959 Hong Kong Economic Yearbook, edited and issued by the Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao, a new product of Zhangyu Factory once mentioned: "In order to meet foreign requirements, Zhangyu Distillery has recently produced a dry wine, that is, sugar-free wine, such as Xiebana red dry wine and Riesling white dry wine." In the field of wine, "dry" means "not sweet", "red dry" and "white dry" are "dry red" and "dry white" are other names. This record in the Hong Kong Economic Yearbook is a strong proof that Zhang Yu Xie Bai Na Gan Hong and Riesling Gan Bai were exported overseas in the 1950s.

In fact, Zhangyu Company's Xiebaina dry red and Riesling dry white were exported as early as the 1930s, but since 1949 with the changes in the main domestic consumer groups, they have stopped production for a time, but according to the needs of exports, they resumed production, and in 1958, they compiled and printed "Xiebaina Wine Production Method" and "Riesling Wine Production Method". Regarding this history, Mr. Zhu Mei, who was a winemaker and deputy manager of Zhangyu Company, pointed out in the 1959 publication of "WineMaking" that before 1949, "Yantai Zhangyu Company made the best grapes into non-sweet wines (such as Xie Baina and Riesling)"; since 1949, "the habit of the working people of China is to like sweetness, so the wine that Zhangyu Company used to be not sweet cannot be eaten." In everyone's concept, not only the wine should be sweet, but also red, so although the white wine is sweet, it is not noticed by everyone. As a result, non-sweet wines were discontinued for a period of time. This example shows how people's habits (or interests, or hobbies) affect production and at the same time change production."

Different groups, different ethnic groups, have different eating habits. Moreover, with the development of society, the market environment and changes in living standards, people's eating habits are also constantly changing. In 1983, Zhangyu Company submitted the "Research Technology Report on the New Process of Dry and White Wine" submitted to the National Fruit Wine Production Process Symposium, which wrote: "In the production and sales of wine in various countries in the world in the 1970s, it gradually tended to be dominated by dry wine, accounting for about 70 to 80% of the total wine, and dry and white wine was the main type of dry wine. ”

However, dry white wines ultimately failed to become the main type of production and sale in China. Chinese consumers jumped over dry white and suddenly set off a "dry red fever" in the mid-1990s, which was called the "third wave of Chinese tables" after the "beer fever" of the 1980s and the "XO fever" of the early 1990s.

Statistics show that in 1996, Zhangyu's dry red wine production soared to 2,000 tons, more than three times that of 1995. However, many consumers who are new to wine are still not accustomed to the astringency and acidity of dry red, so there is a consumption habit of mixing dry red with Sprite or cola in order to increase sweetness, dilute tannins, and neutralize acidity. To this day, whenever people talk about "dry red to sprite", there will always be people who have a good word: the British still add sugar and milk to the tea! (Chen Yaoming)

Source: China News Network