How to describe the flavor of Shaoxing Huangjiu in a scientific way?

Huangjiu, the unique and oldest traditional wine in China, is one of the three oldest brewing wines in the world. The latest research found that Huangjiu contains more than 340 volatile flavor substances, 60 non-volatile flavor substances and 60 flavor contributing substances. It can be said that Huangjiu can bring people exhaustive sensory enjoyment. In addition, Huangjiu, with the low alcohol content, multi-fragrance and soft and balanced taste, is slightly acid but not astringent. These characteristics are more suitable for the sensory preferences of Chinese people.
Huangjiu contains rich and complex components. In addition to ethanol and water, there are amino acids, oligosaccharides, glucose, dextrin, vitamins, organic acids, trace aromatic components and minerals in Huangjiu. These trace and complex components make up the unique and delicate flavor of Huangjiu. In the national standard Huangjiu (GB/T13662-2018), the evaluation proportion of taste accounts for 50%. It can be seen that taste can best reflect the typical flavor and wine body of Huangjiu.
The unique flavor of Huangjiu is determined by taste and fragrance. The charm of traditional Huangjiu lies in the participation of the unique microorganisms of production areas in the fermentation, so as to give the unique flavor of production areas to Huangjiu. In addition, the unique brewing technology, raw materials and production areas of Shaoxing Huangjiu also bring up unique and complex fragrance characteristics of Huangjiu.
Generally speaking, the flavor of Huangjiu can be described as sweet, fresh, sour, astringent and bitter. And the flavor of Shaoxing Huangjiu is usually described as "sweet but not greasy, slightly sour, bitter and salty but delectable". How to describe the flavor in a scientific way? The research center of traditional brewing food of Jiangnan University evaluated the flavor of Huangjiu in different production areas. The results showed that Shanghai Huangjiu and Jiangsu Huangjiu have stronger rice flavor, and the northern Aged Wine has stronger sweet, astringent, bitter and burnt flavor. And compared with them, Shaoxing Huangjiu has stronger flavor of fruits, wheat koji, soy sauce and mushrooms. The author believes that Shaoxing Huangjiu has advantages in the types and contents of volatile substances (aldehydes, alcohols, esters) which form the typical flavor of Huangjiu. At the same time, Shaoxing Huangjiu contains more ethyl lactate and diethyl succinate which are the typical style substances of Huangjiu.
To further analyze, the research team of Shaoxing Huangjiu flavor, led by Professor Zhou Zhilei of the research center of traditional brewing food of Jiangnan University, cooperated with Huangjiu consumers and professional sensory evaluators to create a flavor wheel of Shaoxing traditional Huangjiu which includes 56 smell descriptors, 10 taste descriptors, 6 mouthfeel descriptors and 12 aftertaste descriptors.
According to the sugar content, Shaoxing Huangjiu can be divided into dry Huangjiu, semi-dry Huangjiu, semi-sweet Huangjiu and sweet Huangjiu. The dry Huangjiu is fresh, and has strong flavor of wheat koji, nuts and acetic acid, with a little bitter and a slight aftertaste. Semi-dry Huangjiu is mellow, fresh and sweet, and has strong flavor of fruits, honey and yeast. The taste of semi-sweet Huangjiu is balanced. It is sweet and has strong flavor of smoke and caramel. Sweet Huangjiu is sweet, fresh and mellow, and has a strong flavor of soy sauce and leather.
As we all know, with the increase of wine age and the change of volatile flavor substances, Huangjiu becomes more mellow. Therefore, the flavor wheel of Huangjiu is also changing. Describing the flavor of Shaoxing Huangjiu in a scientific way can make consumers have a deeper understanding of Shaoxing Huangjiu, and realize and promote the value of Shaoxing Huangjiu in a real sense.