Shaoxing 2016 - Yellow Rice Wine Museum

Since Shaoxing is the birthplace for Shaoxing Wine - no visit to the city would be complete without a taste of the famous wine. Conveniently there is a Yellow Rice Wine Museum in the city which opened in 2007. The museum is housed in a large purpose-built building, and there are exhibits showing the wine brewing process.

Shaoxing Wine is a type of yellow rice wine - produced in many regions of China. Most people think of it as a wine used for cooking - but here in Shaoxing there are many different grades of Shaoxing wine. Some of the top-grade wines can cost hundreds or even thousands - definitely not your common cooking wine.

Wine tasting sessions are conducted regularly at the museum. During our visit, we got to taste four different types of wine. Good Shaoxing wine has a complexity and earthiness that is missing from the common rice wine - and is said to promote good health and longevity.