作為一個山東人，略略知道山東是產(chǎn)酒的地方，有關(guān)飲酒的故事也多。白酒不必說;說到啤酒，青島啤酒的名氣誰不知曉？紅酒，有煙臺的張裕;就是黃酒，也有一種即墨老酒很是知名，我在山東時也品嘗過，有一種焦糊的甜香味。

紹興黃酒，其實也是在山東就知道的，我大學(xué)時期有位老師是浙江蕭山人，我去他家，常見他喝一種加飯酒，那就是紹興產(chǎn)的，彼時山東的副食品店里也有出售。我于新世紀(jì)初年入浙后，回山東時也曾經(jīng)給他帶去兩瓶?？上С鮼?，對紹興黃酒缺乏了解，以為加飯酒就代表了所有的黃酒，其實哪里是這樣呢！

后來去紹興機(jī)會多了，再說杭州也有很多專賣紹酒的店鋪，就增加了不少對紹興黃酒的了解。加飯之外，漸漸知道了花雕、太雕、女兒紅以及會稽山、古越龍山、塔牌這些概念，不過對于它們之間的關(guān)系，還是說不太清楚。

這次又去紹興，先在古越龍山酒樓用了午餐，品嘗了三年陳、五年陳兩種古越龍山黃酒，餐后就到附近紹興黃酒城的中國黃酒博物館以及地下酒窖、手工作坊參觀。一位接待我們的主人——畢業(yè)于浙江工業(yè)大學(xué)的年輕專家詳細(xì)講解，讓我又增加了不少關(guān)于黃酒和紹興黃酒的知識。比如說黃酒以含糖量高低分了四類：干型黃酒叫元紅酒，半干型黃酒叫加飯酒，半甜型黃酒叫善釀酒，甜型黃酒則叫香雪酒。太雕，不過是將這四種酒根據(jù)需要重新按比例調(diào)配的黃酒，相當(dāng)于黃酒中的雞尾酒;花雕呢，則是指包裝用的瓷壇上面雕鏤有彩色圖案。

上面這段參觀紹興古越龍山黃酒城的文字，引來兩位老先生的熱情回應(yīng)，他們一個是研究江南美食的專家宋憲章，一個是出生于紹興的劇作家章勝利。他們的回應(yīng)實乃對紹興黃酒知識作了不同角度的延伸，我讀了實在不忍舍棄，謹(jǐn)錄于此，以饗與我一樣對紹酒感興趣的朋友。

宋先生跟我說，黃酒在紹興有二千五百年歷史。紹興城南面有一條投醪（láo）河，傳說越王句踐要出征吳國，將酒倒在城南一條小河里，讓所有士兵都能喝上酒去征戰(zhàn)，故名。紹興酒用會稽群山山泉水匯成的鑒湖水釀制，因含多種微量元素與酶，風(fēng)味獨特。杭州、上海等地及海外的日本都制作黃酒，但做不出紹興的那種風(fēng)味，因為只有用鑒湖水釀制，黃酒風(fēng)味才有特色。

當(dāng)我問及鑒湖水有何特殊成分時，宋先生又補(bǔ)充說：“有成份化驗詳單，可以到大的名酒廠去找?！?/p>

宋先生說，古越龍山、會稽山等酒在國內(nèi)銷售量較大，所以相對名氣大，而塔牌黃酒主要供外貿(mào)出口，在國內(nèi)名氣反倒不如前兩個。鑒湖集紹興七十二源之水，綿長百里，所有紹興水源均入鑒湖。鑒湖有三曲，以頭曲水質(zhì)最好，塔牌酒廠所在地為鑒湖頭曲之地，獨得其善，加之名師釀造，所以他認(rèn)為，品質(zhì)應(yīng)是塔牌的好。

宋先生還回憶了自己與塔牌黃酒的一段淵源：10年前，紹興老字號、專營出口黃酒的塔牌酒廠在省老字號協(xié)會的指導(dǎo)、協(xié)助下，召開了一次塔牌冬釀酒開醞典儀暨黃酒文化研討會。全國有關(guān)黃酒的研究、經(jīng)營、生產(chǎn)的專家與大酒廠領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都應(yīng)邀到會，計達(dá)30余人，開會并下榻在五星級富麗華酒店。省老字號協(xié)會邀請浙大民俗學(xué)家呂洪年教授和他參加了冬釀節(jié)開醞典儀及研討會。他們兩位在會上就酒文化的民俗與黃酒、美食之間的關(guān)系作了發(fā)言。后來，《中華老字號》雜志為塔牌黃酒冬釀節(jié)的開醞典儀及黃酒文化研討會專門出了一期專刊。承蒙刊物主編路峰先生垂青，宋先生的發(fā)言文字稿及發(fā)言時所攝照片，得以同期刊發(fā)。紹興之行結(jié)束時，增牌酒廠廠長還親贈他們兩人五年陳精裝酒與三年陳平裝酒各一瓶。

據(jù)宋先生說，五年陳塔牌酒一打開，酒香撲鼻，抿一口，口味甘洌，如飲瓊漿玉液。那裝酒之瓶，系定制的龍泉青花瓷，雅致之至，用來插花，沒有比這更好的花瓶了。宋先生由酒說到他撰寫發(fā)表美食文章的佳話。他告訴我說，他母親祖籍紹興，生前說過，長毛（太平軍）造反時，先祖肩挑一擔(dān)兒女及細(xì)軟，從紹興逃到老余杭西義橋村避難，在當(dāng)?shù)匕布衣鋺?。雖已近百年，但宋先生對紹興古城仍有親緣之情。退休前，宋先生所在的學(xué)校開辟旅游課，教務(wù)處長指定他執(zhí)教。紹興是古越都城，為省內(nèi)名勝古跡匯集之地，宋先生曾多次前往考察、收集資料，以供教學(xué)之用。每逢暑假，也總?cè)ソB興，由當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)生陪同前往游覽，故他對紹興很熟悉，寫下不少紹興題材的旅游、美食隨筆，散發(fā)于蘇州、上海、武漢、汕頭各地的晚報。

對我與宋先生的閑話，章勝利先生頗感興趣，也留了一段話：“聽兩位酒仙說酒話，自然聽著聽著有些微醺的感覺了。鄙人出生于紹興，乃酒的故鄉(xiāng)。何況，剛滿月時，父親就用筷沾上酒讓我嘗嘗家鄉(xiāng)水的味道。故鄙人自稱酒齡即是年齡矣！愛酒人總結(jié)一生喝酒的感受，認(rèn)為微醺最好，大醉無趣?！焙沃^“微醺”？答曰：“在沉醉與清醒之間，亦即微醉、略醉，也許是半醉，至多是七八分的醉。酒家對此種境界更為推崇。似乎可以說，喝酒在醉與不醉之間更有趣。太醉為褻瀆酒神，不醉為冷落仙子。飲酒微醺，飄飄欲仙，精神振奮，頭腦清醒，余香滿口，吹氣如蘭，個中妙趣，有不可言傳者。”

紹興人章先生對紹酒知根知底，聽其一番話，特別有感覺，他還風(fēng)趣地即興附上一首詩曰：“花間一壺酒，獨酌無相親。閑來學(xué)種花，春色滿乾坤。子張兄一起來猜酒令！”我是個什么都不舍得扔掉的人，對于這樣一份“優(yōu)雅”，又如何舍得隨便丟棄呢！

（本文圖片由視覺中國提供）

What I Know aboutYellow Wine

By Zi Zhang

Though I am a native of Shandong， a coastal province in eastern China， I knew something about yellow wine when I grew up. Shandong is a giant producer of wines： spirits， beers， and grape wines， and a yellow wine， which I tried and found it sweet and an additional flavor of something burnt. In my college years in Shandong， I often visited a college teacher who came from Xiaoshan， now a district of Hangzhou. I sipped some Jiafan yellow wine at his home. I came to work and live in Hangzhou shortly after the beginning of the new century. When I first went back to Shandong for a home visit， I brought two bottles of yellow wine to him as gift.

In the first years in Zhejiang， I mistakenly thought Jiafan was all there was to know about Shaoxing yellow wine. Gradually， however， I noticed various wine shops in Hangzhou selling different kinds of yellow wine from Shaoxing. Yet， these differences remained mysterious to me.

At a lunch during a visit to Shaoxing， I tried two kinds of Gu Yue Long Shan yellow wine， one aged for three years and one aged for five years. After the lunch， I visited China Yellow Wine Museum where there is a cavernous wine cellar and a workshop where yellow wine is made manually in a traditional way.

A wine expert who is a graduate of Zhejiang University took me around and gave me a detailed account of yellow wine and Shaoxing yellow wine. The explanation was comprehensive and thorough for an outsider like me who knew little about the yellow wine produced in Shaoxing. I learned that there are four kinds of wine differentiated according to their dryness or sweetness.

Later I consulted Song Xianzhang， a food expert with profound knowledge of cuisines in Jiangnan， and Zhang Shengli， a native of Shaoxing and playwright， about Shaoxing yellow wine. They gave me insights into yellow wine from different perspectives.

According to Song， the yellow wine of Shaoxing dates back to 2，500 years ago. Wineries in Shaoxing use the water of the Jianhu Lake. All the 72 rivers and streams around the mountains in Shaoxing flow into the Jianhu Lake.

The water contains trace elements and enzymes， whose natural combination and quantities you cant find anywhere else. Yellow wine is also made in Hangzhou， Shanghai， and Japan， but theirs lack the special flavor native to Shaoxing. Song says that leading wineries in Shaoxing have tested the water and they have detailed reports of what they found in the water of Jianhu Lake.

Gu Yue Long Shan （Literally， Ancient Yue， Dragon Mountain） and Kuaijishan （Kuaiji Mountain） are well known in China because the two brands are the main wine brands on domestic markets. Ta Pai （Pagoda Brand） wine is largely exported to overseas markets and is therefore not so popular at home. Song points out， however， Ta Pai is a better yellow wine essentially because it occupies the best location where it can tap into the best water resource.

Zhang Shengli says he first experienced the taste of yellow wine when he was only 30 days old. At the celebration dinner， his father dipped a chopstick into yellow wine and put the tip of the chopstick between the babys lips so that the baby could have the first touch of the water from hometown. Zhang says his drinking age is only 30 days short of his real age. While talking about enjoying yellow wine， he says half drunken and half sober is the best pleasure a drinker can enjoy. When one is half drunken and half sober， one feels good and the pleasure is more than words can describe and convey.