How many kinds of wine are there? I mean, vodka, champagne, whisky, brandy, gin, rum and red wine, who can classify them in detail?

The world's eight largest spirits

Spirits are usually customarily divided into eight categories: gin, whisky, brandy, vodka, rum and tequila, China white wine and Japanese sake.

First of all, according to raw materials

According to the different raw materials used in brewing, it can be divided into three categories:

1. Grain wine is produced with grain as the main raw material. Such as sorghum wine, glutinous rice wine, corn wine and so on.

2. Fruit wine is wine produced with fruits, such as wine, cider, orange juice wine, pear wine, champagne, etc.

3. Grain-substitute wine is wine produced with raw materials other than grain and fruit, such as wild plant starch raw materials or sugar-containing raw materials, which is customarily called grain-substitute wine or wine-substitute. For example, wine produced with green sticks, dried potatoes, cassava, canna taro, molasses, etc. The raw material is grain substitute wine.

Second, according to the production process

At present, according to the characteristics of production technology, it can be divided into three categories:

1. Distilled liquor, that is, liquor that must be distilled in the production process to obtain the final product. Such as China white wine, foreign brandy, whisky, vodka, rum, arak, etc.

2. Fermented wine, also known as non-distilled wine, becomes the final product without distillation in the production process. Such as yellow wine, beer, wine and other fruit wines;

3. Blended wine (also known as reprocessed wine), as the name implies, is the final product wine based on distilled wine or fermented wine, and then artificially added with sweet auxiliary materials, spices and pigments, or soaked with medicinal materials, peels, fruits, animals and plants. , such as dew wine, champagne, sparkling wine, medicated wine, tonic wine, etc.

Thirdly, according to the fermentation characteristics

Classification by fermentation characteristics is also a common method. Can be divided into three types;

1. Liquor produced by liquid method, that is, liquor produced by alcohol process, is all ordinary liquor.

2. Semi-liquid liquor, mainly rice-flavored shochu and yellow wine from Guangdong and Guangxi.

3. Solid liquor, Daqu liquor and Xiaoqu liquor brewed by traditional solid-state fermentation process in China are all listed here.

Fourth, according to the alcohol content.

According to the alcohol content, it is customary to divide wine into two kinds: high-alcohol (that is, foreign wine) and low-alcohol wine. The former includes China liquor (shochu) and steam.

Wine produced by distillation. The latter includes fermented wine. Because there is no uniform standard at home and abroad to measure it, the alcohol content of fermented wine is generally below 20.

Make a distinction.

For example, high-alcohol liquor and low-alcohol liquor can be further divided into:

1. High-alcohol liquor can be divided into high-alcohol liquor (above 50), low-alcohol liquor (also called medium-alcohol liquor, 40-50) and low-alcohol liquor (below 40).

2. The distinction between low-alcohol wines, because there are many kinds of wines, the alcohol content between wines is very different, and no one has studied the method of division. But since 1980, there have been effective and clear methods to distinguish beer abroad. Generally, the alcohol content of beer is between 3.5% and 5%, so in foreign countries, beer with an alcohol content of 2.5% and 3.5% is called low-alcohol beer, beer with an alcohol content of 1 ~ 2.5% is called low-alcohol beer, and beer with an alcohol content below 1% is called alcohol-free beer.

Five, according to the characteristics of goods

According to the characteristics of commodities, wine can be divided into six categories: white wine, yellow wine, fruit wine, beer, medicated wine and mixed wine. These six kinds of wine can be divided into colored sprinkled wine and colorless wine according to the color of the wine. Yellow rice wine, fruit sprinkling, beer, medicated wine and mixed wine belong to colored wine, while white wine belongs to colorless wine. Generally, the alcohol content of colored wine is relatively low, and the alcohol content of colorless wine is high.

In colored wine, according to the degree of sweetness, it can be divided into sweet type, semi-sweet type, dry type and semi-dry type. Sweet is called sweet or semi-sweet; What is not sweet is called dry or semi-dry type. "Dry" comes from English dry. Taking wine as an example, the sugar paste content of "dry" wine is less than 0.5%, and the taste is not sweet; "Semi-dry" type, with sugar content of 0.5 1.2% and extremely weak sweetness; "semi-sweet" type, sugar content 1.25%, sweet taste; "Sweet" type, containing more than 5% sugar, with sweetness. Yellow rice wine in China is also classified according to the classification method of western wine. Beer is colored wine, which can be divided into yellow beer, dark beer and white beer (wheat brewing) according to the color depth.

Colorless liquor, such as Maotai, Dongjiu and xifeng liquor, is usually called liquor because it is colorless and transparent. Actually, liquor is not liquor. Colorless wine can be divided into low, medium and high alcohol content. The percentage of alcohol capacity is called the degree of alcohol, and the content per 1% is called the degree. Generally speaking, those below 40 degrees are called low-alcohol liquor, those below 40 ~ 50 degrees are called moderate liquor (also called degraded liquor), and those above 50 degrees are called high-alcohol liquor.

In liquor, there are different classifications.

According to different production methods, it can be divided into liquid liquor, semi-liquid liquor and solid liquor. Solid liquor can be divided into four categories according to the size of koji: Daqu liquor, Xiaoqu liquor, mixed liquor of Daqu and Xiaoqu liquor, and bran koji liquor. Daqu liquor refers to liquor brewed by Daqu, such as cellar liquor, Shuanggou Daqu, Guiyang Daqu and Yanghe Daqu. Xiaoqu liquor takes rice and wheat as raw materials, and some medicinal materials are often added in koji making, so it is also called "medicinal koji" or "medicinal liquor". The amount of Xiaoqu for brewing is small, accounting for only 1% or 2% of the raw materials. Bran koji is a kind of wine brewed from bran koji.

According to the flavor type of wine, it can be divided into five types.

1. Maotai-flavor liquor, the so-called Maotai-flavor, means that beans have a flavor similar to seed sauce when they are fermented. This wine is characterized by outstanding sauce flavor, elegance and delicacy, full-bodied and mellow body, long aftertaste, fragrant but not bright, low but not light. Maotai liquor is a typical representative of this kind of liquor, which has the characteristics of being swallowed overnight and the fragrance of an empty cup still remains after drinking.

2. Luzhou-flavor liquor, such as Luzhou Tequ and Wuliangye liquor, is the representative of this kind. Their main characteristics are: strong cellar fragrance, sweetness, harmonious aroma, clean tail and long tail. It takes ethyl caproate as the main fragrance. Very popular with consumers, this fragrant liquor is more in the market. Guiyang Daqu, Xishui Daqu and Yaxijiao Liquor all belong to Luzhou-flavor liquor.

3. Fen-flavor liquor is a mixture of ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate. Its main characteristics are: fragrance, mellow, harmonious, sweet and soft, refreshing aftertaste, sweet and refreshing, with the traditional style of tempting. Shanxi Xinghua Village Fenjiu is the representative of this fragrance. Others, such as Baofeng liquor and specially brewed Yellow Crane Tower liquor, are also fragrant liquor.

4. Rice-flavor liquor, such as Guilin Sanhua Liquor, Quanzhou Xiangshan Liquor and Guangdong Changle Shao, all belong to this category, and are famous for being clear, sweet, refreshing and clean. Its main characteristics are: elegant honey fragrance, soft entrance, refreshing entrance and pleasant aftertaste. Smell it, it's a bit like the honey fragrance composed of yellow rice wine and ethyl lactate.

5. Other flavor liquors that do not belong to the above four flavor types and have not been given the name of flavor type are temporarily classified as other flavor liquors. For example, Dongjiu, Pingba cellar wine, Tongyi wine, Zhuchang cellar wine, Bai Yunbian, Baisha wine and many other good wines belong to other flavor types, and all have their own special flavors and styles. Only by relying on researchers and winemakers can we constantly study, explore, confirm and finalize the flavor types suitable for these liquors.

Other classifications

As mentioned above, according to the classification of production technology, it can be divided into distilled wine, fermented wine and mixed wine. As far as distilled liquor is concerned, there are two classification methods in the world: one is based on raw materials and gives consideration to production technology, and the other is based on saccharified koji.

According to the classification of raw materials, it can be divided into starch and sugar.

According to saccharification starter, it can be divided into three categories.

1. koji was used as saccharifying starter. This kind of wine is brewed from starchy raw materials and is called Oriental traditional shochu. It is also used in Maotai and Shaozhong, Japan.

2. Use malt as saccharifying agent, and then add distiller's yeast to make wine. This production method is widely used in western countries. For example, English whisky is brewed in this way.

3. It is a kind of wine made by adding only starter in raw materials. For example, all kinds of brandy brewed with fruits, rum brewed with sugarcane, and the most famous French cognac are all produced by this process.

In addition, there are high-grade wine, intermediate wine, road wine (ordinary wine), sparkling wine (also called sparkling wine, such as beer and champagne), non-sparkling wine (also called sparkling wine) and so on.

In a word, there is no stereotyped law, unified standard or model for wine classification in China, and it can only be roughly classified according to traditional habits and experiences, mostly qualitative classification; Quantitative, accurate and scientific classification requires the further development of wine-making technology and the continuous discussion, summary and practice of scientific and technical personnel: to make the classification of wine more scientific, standardized and popular, and to meet the needs of consumers to know, choose and buy wine.