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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China

Shanniang jiu (semi-sweet Shaoxing wine)善酿酒

Shanniang is the semi-sweet Shaoxing rice wine. It is brewed like dry yuanhong wine, except that finished yuanhong wine and the sour rice-soak water go into the vat instead of plain water. The added alcohol holds the yeast back, so 40.1–100.0 g/L of sugar is left in the wine. Made in 6 steps over 33 days – 48 days. The longest step, slow ferment in clay jars, takes at least 30 days (Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association 2025) and runs at up to 20 °C (Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association 2025). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[sx-spec]Slow ferment in clay jars
Temperatureup to 20 °CSet[sx-spec]Slow ferment in clay jars
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks33 days – 48 daysShaoxing wine geographical-indication product (GB/T 17946-2008)Family: Shaoxing huangjiu, Yuanhong (dry); base flow for Shaoxing winesMore alcoholic drinksMore from China

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe production rules list the ingredients and say they go in by the recipe standard, but give no ratios, so no amounts are shown.
Glutinous rice · Soaked, then steamed[sx-spec]
Shaoxing yuanhong wine · Replaces the brewing water, with the rice-soak water[sx-spec]
Rice-soak water (mijiang shui) · The sour water left from soaking the rice[sx-spec]
Wheat qu (maiqu)[sx-spec]
Yeast mother (linfan jiumu)[sx-spec]
Starter: koji/qu/mold-starter (wheat qu plus a jiuyao-based yeast mother)

Total time across the recorded steps: 33 days – 48 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a grainshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: The rice soaks under water for days to weeks and the water turns sour

Step 1 of 6
Soak the glutinous rice and keep the soak water
Time
3–18 days
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: soaked rice and sour rice-soak water.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the soak water, which shanniang reuses

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Yuanhong, the dry Shaoxing wine, is brewed with water and keeps 15.0 g/L of sugar or less. Shanniang uses finished yuanhong wine and rice-soak water instead of water and a warmer pitch of 30–33 °C. The added alcohol slows the yeast, so the wine stays semi-sweet.

Pitching temperature
Pitched at 30–33 °C; maximum 33 °C
Total sugar
40.1–100.0 g/L (semi-sweet)

Related ferments

Safety

As for other Shaoxing wine, heating the wine before it is sealed kills the yeast and bacteria.

Hazards the sources name: Lactic bacteria that form biogenic amines such as histamine (in Chinese rice wine generally).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Shaoxing wine is classed by sugar into dry yuanhong, semi-dry jiafan, semi-sweet shanniang and sweet xiangxue, the four types of the national geographical-indication standard.

  1. [sx-spec] Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association 2025, group standard draft 绍兴酒(绍兴黄酒)酿造工艺技术规范 (revision of DB330624/T 09—2004), sections 3.8, 6.4 and 6.6spec
  2. [gbt17946-note] Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association 2025, explanatory note (编制说明) to the Shaoxing wine brewing group standard, Table 1, with the GB/T 17946-2008 top-grade limits and measurements of 8 shanniang samples from Shaoxing makersspec
  3. [tian2022] Tian S., Zeng W., Fang F., Zhou J., Du G. 2022, The microbiome of Chinese rice wine (huangjiu), Current Research in Food Science 5:325–335paper
  4. [zhwp-huangjiu] Wikipedia (zh), 黄酒 (outline only)wiki