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{{#seo:
|title=Chinese Plum Wine (梅酒 / 青梅酒 Meijiu) - Chinese Food Wiki
|keywords=Chinese Plum Wine,plum wine,梅酒,青梅酒,梅子酒,Meijiu,Qingmei jiu,green plum wine,Prunus mume,ume,杨梅酒,bayberry wine
|description=Chinese plum wine (梅酒 / 青梅酒, meijiu) is a sweet-sour fruit wine made by steeping green ume plums (Prunus mume) in spirit or rice wine; it is related to Japanese umeshu and linked to the "green plums and warm wine" story of the Three Kingdoms.
}}

{{Infobox chinese food
| image = Chinese Plum Wine.jpg
| caption = Chinese plum wine served on ice
| alternate_name = 梅酒; 青梅酒; 梅子酒; Meijiu; Qingmei jiu; green plum wine; ume wine
| pinyin = Méi jiǔ / Qīngméi jiǔ
| type = Fruit liqueur or fruit wine; usually about 10–20% alcohol
| course = Beverage (aperitif / dessert drink)
| country = China
| region = Plum-growing areas of southern China, including Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and [[Taiwan Food|Taiwan]]
| other = Plums here are ume (Prunus mume), not European plums; bayberry wine (杨梅酒) is a separate fruit
}}

'''Chinese Plum Wine''' (Simplified Chinese: 梅酒 or 青梅酒; Pinyin: ''Méi jiǔ'' / ''Qīngméi jiǔ''; also ''meizi jiu'' 梅子酒) is a sweet-and-sour drink made from the green fruit of the '''mei''' tree (''Prunus mume'', known in English as Chinese plum or Japanese apricot). Most plum wine is made by steeping unripe plums with sugar in a base spirit or rice wine; some is made by fermenting the fruit itself. It is the Chinese relative of Japanese '''umeshu''' and Korean ''maesil-ju''.<ref name="fw">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_wine English Wikipedia: Fruit wine]</ref><ref name="mume">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_mume English Wikipedia: Prunus mume]</ref>

== Origin and region ==

The mei tree is native to southern China and has been cultivated for its fruit and blossoms for thousands of years; the fruit is too sour to eat raw and is instead preserved, made into plum sauce, or smoked and dried (乌梅) to flavour the summer drink [[Suanmeitang]]. Steeping fruit in alcohol is an old Chinese practice, and green-plum wine is made today in plum-growing counties of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and Taiwan, as well as at home.<ref name="mume" />

== Raw materials ==

* '''Green (unripe) mei plums'''
* '''Sugar''' — often rock sugar
* '''Base alcohol''' — clear [[Baijiu]], rice spirit or [[Mijiu]]; fermented versions use the fruit juice itself

Overview only — not a recipe.

== Production (overview) ==

For infused plum wine, washed green plums and sugar are sealed in a jar with a clear base spirit and left for several months while the fruit's acids and aroma move into the liquid. Commercial producers filter, adjust sweetness and strength, and bottle the wine; some keep the plums in the bottle. Fermented plum wines are made by crushing the fruit and fermenting the juice like other fruit wines.<ref name="fw" />

== Style and taste ==

Plum wine is amber to golden, sweet and noticeably sour, with an almond-like note from the plum stones. It is usually drunk chilled, on ice or with soda, as an aperitif or after a meal, and is lower in alcohol than baijiu.

== Culture ==

The best-known literary scene involving plums and wine comes from the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'': '''"discussing heroes over green plums and warm wine"''' (青梅煮酒论英雄), when Cao Cao invites Liu Bei to drink and asks who the true heroes of the age are. In the story the green plums are served with warmed wine rather than steeped in it, but the phrase is widely linked with plum wine in China today. The episode is fiction written centuries after the events.<ref name="rtk">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms English Wikipedia: Romance of the Three Kingdoms]</ref>

A related early-summer drink in Jiangnan is '''bayberry wine''' (杨梅酒), made by steeping red bayberries (''Myrica rubra'') in spirit; it is a different fruit from mei.<ref name="myrica">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morella_rubra English Wikipedia: Morella rubra (Chinese bayberry)]</ref>

== Notes ==

* "Plum wine" in English can also mean European-plum brandies or fruit wines; Chinese and Japanese plum wine use ''Prunus mume''.
* This page makes no health claims, gives no prices and is not a home-infusion guide.

== See also ==

* [[Chinese Alcohol]]
* [[Osmanthus Wine]]
* [[Suanmeitang]]
* [[Chinese Fruit]]
* [[Mijiu]]
* [[Chinese Drink]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

Chinese Plum Wine - Revision history

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