"There is old wine for our cups."

[muckefuck]

For a day which began under a cloud, this one sure ended with a rainbow. We met Nuphy at Phoenix for dim sum. Although we enjoyed it and appreciated some of the unusual offerings--like tempura-fried laver-wrapped shrimp and some sort of pan-fried root vegetable (water chestnut?) cake with sweet corn--we did miss some of the offerings we've come to consider standard issue, notably the sweet cucumber pickles. These are the perfect palate-cleanser between rich and oily courses and they were nowhere to be seen. At some point, the funny little man mentioned that Richwell Market on Canal St. has obtained a liquor license and is opnely selling premium Chinese wine.

monshu and I couldn't believe our ears. We decided then and there that we must check out the selection. Of course, there were all matter of errands to attend to first. He wanted to find Chinese-style hangers for the splendid window he'd given me for (Western) New Year's. After the third shop in South Chinatown (we'd exhausted North Chinatown on a previous weekend), we were beginning to give up hope--the dealers seemed only to buy and sell them attached to frames, not separately--but we thought we'd try the second-story furniture shop on Wentworth. (Ching Wei, if memory serves.) To our amazement, they had some. Leftovers from a previous customer's order, they were quite attractive, too; shiny brass in a double happiness-type design. We counted ourselves blessed and bought them on the spot.

After a couple more shops, monshu had found his vase and my screaming shoulder was crying out for a place to rest my bag full of lucky candies from Aji no Ichiban, spring crop tea from Ten Ren, and other new acquisitions. At Mountain View, monshu sipped "green apple snow" while I had a "tapioca milk tea" that showed up on the menu as "taro milk tea", snacked on green tea coconut cake (a bit like non-dairy panna cotta), and decoded the specials menu for fun with my copy of McCawley's. (I was sorely disappointed not to be able to try the thrice-cooked pork, but we were still far too full from brunch.)

At this point, the sun was still shining and the ice snow on the sidewalk was mostly melted, so I convinced my better half to walk the few blocks to Richwell. Unbelievable! They had at least a dozen brands of Chinese wine/liquor in stock. everything from Taiwanese sorghum-based hooch to mainland grape wine. (We dismissed the latter out of hand, but perhaps we were wrong to, since we found a site claiming that at least Huadong brand is perfectly drinkable. Do they sell it? We'll have to go back and check.) At the pricier end were Moutai and Wuliangye, both of which my parents brought back for us from China. Also, a $52 bottle of "wine ghost wine" that sounded as intriguing as it did prohibitive.

We settled on three bottles: An $8 ordinary Shaoxing (which we wanted to compare to the cheaper bottles sold as cooking wine in most markets), a $15 Shaoxing herbal called Shiquandabujiu (literally "ten complete big tonic wine"), and a $22 "Luzhou old cellar" (Luzhou laojiao) wine from Sichuan.

• The "yellow wine" from Shaoxing was definitely a cut above ordinary cooking wine, but still not really what I consider in the realm of the drinkable. We've got pork marinating with chenpi and raisins in it right now. I'll be curious to see whether the result is more flavourful than what you get with $3 or $4 Shaoxing. If so, it would definitely be worth picking up some more, at least for those dishes where it would matter.>/li>
• The "Iron Boat" brand Shiquandabujiu knocked our socks off. It has the rich, dark colour of an oloroso but the drier fruitiness of...hmmm...an amontillado? The infusions give it a real depth of flavour. Probably too strong to drink with food, but it'll be outstanding drunk after dinner like a fine sherry.
• Of all the picks, I was most intrigued by the Luzhou, thanks to this article (which I may already have linked to a year or more ago) describing the ancient tradition of aging it in earthen cellars. So, naturally, this ended up being the one I was most disappointed by. The first shock was discovering it was an eye-popping 104 proof, something I wish we'd noticed in the store. The aroma was almost exactly like Moutai, but the finish as quite different. We were perplexed at how to describe its odd fruitiness, but monshu eventually settled on "licorice" (as opposed to anise, as in the taste of most Mediterranean liqueurs). It's not bad, but I have a feeling it will disappear even more slowly than its Kweichowese cousin.

Of course we easily could've blown twice as much on varieties, but we reassured ourselves that there would be ample chances to sample the range in the future. The online description of "Bamboo Leaf Green Wine" makes it seem a likely purchase for our next visit, since we've had the best luck with herbals like Baeksaeju. The North Chinese Erguotou was also available, along with "Rose Mist"--another liquor I've been only reading about for years--from Tianjin. And who could resist the aforementioned Hunanese jiuguijiu?

Alas, still no snake wine! But, at least, I'm closer to filling the footprints (or at least drinking cups) or Li Bai and Du Fu than ever before!

Comments

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Wow, at some point I've got to scrape up the cash to send you for some ghost wine.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I have since discovered through my amazing powers of research that "wine ghost" (jiu3gui3) means "drunkard" or "tippler". So the jiu3gui3jiu3 is really "drunkard's wine". I'm not sure what that says about the quality, but perhaps you should let us taste it first before you requisition any bottles.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Uh, yeah. That sounds less intriguing.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious about the "Iron Boat" brand Shiquandabujiu.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Stop by sometime and we'll treat you to some!

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Let me know a good day! Friday and Saturday evenings are best, rather than "school nights". This coming Saturday, however, I'm going to the Lyric to see Fidelio, and taking myself to Trattoria #10 for dinner beforehand.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

The next too weekends are no go for me, too. Let's bring our heads together mid-Feb. and see what we can come up with.