In Taiwan, rice wine is essential for both home-cooked meals and banquets, a constant companion through life, from birth to death.
Rice wine isn’t exclusively produced in Taiwan, but the rice wine that is distilled here is the stuff of legend. In Taiwan rice wine tops eggs as representative of the people’s cuisine. Before liberalization opened the liquor market to greater competition, the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTLC) sold up to 22 million cases of its red label rice wine per year. At 12 bottles a case, that came to ten bottles per person of the population.
As you like it
TTLC has produced many different types of rice wine over the years. Cheng Ming-chung, director of the company’s Taichung Distillery, describes the product’s long history: Early on, the techniques for making Taiwan rice wine followed the traditional “zailai” process used by Han Chinese. After steaming the rice, you would stir in some koji-based starter. Then, after the mix fermented, the liquid would be distilled. In 1927, the Monopoly Bureau of the Japanese colonial government, which managed the industries that were subject to government monopolies, introduced the amylo process of fermentation, making use of pure strains of saccharifying bacteria and yeasts to increase the success rate. Blending alcohol was also used to facilitate industrial production and to overcome a lack of raw materials. The rice wine produced by this method has a pure sweetness, without the sourness of rice wine produced by the zailai method.
Faced with the many varieties of Taiwanese rice wine, how are consumers to choose? Cheng explains that inexpensive cooking wine that has been blended with neutral spirit has a clean flavor and won’t overpower a dish. On the other hand, wines with stronger aromas and higher alcohol content, such as pure rice wine, are typically enjoyed on their own or used to make medicinal liquors. However, thanks to the rich aroma of pure rice wines (such as the “rice wine head” produced at the first stage of distillation), many people still prefer to cook with them. On the other hand, since pure rice wine contains rice oil and is richer, it can create slightly bitter flavors when it combines with meat juices.
To meet demand from the restaurant industry, TTLC also markets six-liter jugs of red label rice wine, as well as non-alcoholic “red label rice wine water,” which is produced for postpartum mothers in their month-long recuperation period.
It’s worth mentioning that TTLC has been actively launching new products in recent years, including popular instant noodles featuring low-alcohol rice wine. Its sesame oil chicken instant noodles with red label rice wine have recorded annual sales of NT$200–300 million. Popular with foreigners, these noodles are also exported.
Not just for cooking
Making alcohol from rice is a common feature of nations with rice-growing cultures. Take Japanese sake, Korean makgeolli, or Vietnamese rượu cần (stem liquor). Yet the rice wines of these countries are brewed, as opposed to Taiwanese rice wine, which is distilled. The latter’s pure aromas make it a good match for many foods, and the high alcohol content allows it to penetrate meat better when used in marinades.
But Taiwanese people use rice wine not only for marinating and stir-frying but in many other ways as well—whether in common home-cooked food or in more complex specialty dishes. Rice wine is often included when stuffing sausages or when preparing teppanyaki, lamb stew, sesame oil chicken, and herbal pork rib soup. In place of millet wine, indigenous Taiwanese often directly imbibe pure rice wine, which is readily available at convenience stores. Bartenders also incorporate rice wine into cocktails to enhance flavors. They even ignite it to dramatic effect in flaming drinks.
Rice wine also plays a role in the life rituals and folk ceremonies of Taiwanese people, from birth to death. Su Heng-an, a professor at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism’s Graduate Institute of Food Culture and Innovation, has dedicated himself to researching Taiwanese rice wine. He explains that rice wine is one of the 12 essential gifts for a bride and is used in the sesame oil chicken and oil rice that are provided to women during their postpartum confinement and are offered to Chuangmu (the “bed mother,” a patron deity of children) in coming-of-age ceremonies. Rice wine is used in herbal medicines for funeral rites, and high-proof rice wine is used to assist in fire-breathing rituals to ward off evil spirits in Taoist exorcism rituals.
Some may find it puzzling that the people of hot and humid Taiwan have a particular fondness for rice wine, which is known in terms of traditional Chinese medicine for its ability to relax muscles, promote blood circulation, and dispel cold. But Su Heng-an emphasizes that this peculiarity highlights the essence of Taiwan’s unique culture.
One of the key contexts in which Taiwanese people use rice wine is when women “sit out a month” after childbirth. A popular Taiwanese proverb states, “If you survive childbirth, you’ll get chicken cooked in wine. If not, you’ll get four coffin boards.” The saying bears witness to how sesame oil chicken, which is cooked with rice wine, is an integral part of postpartum recovery in Taiwan.
The consumption of rice wine during postpartum confinement has a long history in Taiwan. But it wasn’t until the 1980s, however, that the practice gained wide recognition, thanks to Dr. Chuang Shu-chi, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She strongly advocated for boiling three bottles of rice wine to reduce them to one bottle, thus removing the alcohol, before using it in postpartum meals. The method has gradually grown in popularity, and in response TTLC launched “Red Label Rice Wine Water,” which contains less than 1% alcohol.
Masie Kao, R&D director at Zi Jin Tang (Taste For Life), a company specializing in postpartum meal products, recognizes the impact that Chuang’s theories have had on the practice of traditional postpartum recuperation in Taiwan. To avoid the effects of alcohol, Zi Jin Tang worked with vinegar makers Kong Yen Foods to develop a rice wine substitute they call “rice wine water.” Using glutinous rice from Chishang and water from Yilan, they adopted fermentation techniques similar to those used in making rice wine and miso. Glutinous rice is sprinkled with koji to spur fermentation. But the fermentation is halted at the saccharification stage, ensuring that the product contains no alcohol.
Used like a broth, it has become an ingredient in various postpartum food products. Nursing mothers need large amounts of liquids, and rice wine water can be either sweet or savory, making it highly versatile. It can serve as a base for stews, desserts, or even teas. Beyond its use among postpartum women, it is also well suited for elderly people with weaker constitutions or people with chronic illnesses.
Gourmets talk rice wine
The widespread popularity of rice wine in Taiwan is a result of cultural evolution over generations, making it difficult to attribute to a single person or event. However, if one wants to ask about why rice wine is so favored by Taiwanese people, the Taiwanese-cuisine chef Robin Lin certainly can offer some insights.
“When TTLC launched its rice-wine cooking competition in 2004, I was the first winner,” says Lin, revealing his long and close relationship with rice wine. Lin enjoys traveling and visiting places where culinary ingredients are produced, and he shows us a round table displaying a variety of rice wine products he has collected from different regions.
Classic Red Label is placed next to a small drinking bowl. Lin explains that the pairing was a fixture on the dining table of his grandfather, who loved to drink wine with his meals. Additionally, there is a bottle of one of Lin’s favorite rice wines—the premium Red Label Pure Rice Wine produced by TTLC’s Hualien Distillery, made with Hualien water and often enjoyed straight by indigenous Taiwanese. There’s also a bottle of artisanal rice wine made by Yi Yuan Farm in Tainan. Fermented from sun-dried rice, its refined taste rivals that of a good sake.
Lin notes that Taiwanese cuisine typically involves combining “aromatics” (such as scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili), “spices” (like pepper and star anise), and “seasonings” (such as salt, sugar, and rice wine). After sautéing the aromatics to release their fragrance, the next step is typically to add rice wine to deglaze the pan.
Lin also cites the 17 representative flavor profiles of Taiwanese cuisine as outlined by Yang Chao-ching, former dean of the College of Culinary Arts at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism. When old ginger and rice wine are paired together, they create the “basic flavor profile” of Taiwanese cuisine, which is salty and umami. When you add sesame oil, you get the classic “old ginger and sesame oil flavor profile,” such as that found in “three-cup chicken.” Thus, it’s impossible to talk about Taiwanese cuisine without mentioning rice wine.
Western cuisine makes ample use of wine made from grapes, and Zhejiang cuisine frequently features Shaoxing or Huadiao rice wines. Taiwan’s rice wine may lack the rich, aromatic complexity of these fermented wines. Yet it stands out for being light, pure, subtle, and versatile, lending itself to endless variations. Lin remarks that the flavor of rice wine actually mirrors the “second child” personality of Taiwanese—“not in the spotlight, not seeking attention, but indispensable in important moments.”
At the dining table, he serves us traditional dishes of salted Asian gold clams, abalone, and Asian hard clams. These shellfish have been marinated for days in a mixture of green onions, garlic, chili peppers, soy sauce and rice wine. The rice wine helps both to preserve the ingredients and to enhance the seasonings, allowing the flavors to penetrate more deeply.
The next dish is a whole milkfish with misua noodles (wheat vermicelli). Because the plump milkfish is so fresh, it only needs a hint of rice wine to bring out the umami flavor that Taiwanese people so love. Lin stresses that the rice wine was not used to mask any fishy smell.
The final dish, the highlight of the meal, is sesame oil chicken with rice wine. It has a slight bitterness from the high alcohol content, but the richness and balance of its flavors bring the dish together as a harmonious whole. “It’s a kind of bitterness I don’t want to avoid,” he says.
Whether marinating raw, boiling, or slow stewing, rice wine will demonstrate its utility—and even its subtle brilliance—through its sweetness and richness. Simple without being insipid, it produces a lingering bittersweetness that captivates—a truly profound aftertaste. It is no wonder that rice wine is so cherished and relied upon by the Taiwanese people.
