Ask yourself this: if you had mistakenly bought white wine vinegar instead of white wine, would you consider making the substitution? A wine vinegar is wine that has been soured naturally or artificially. You don't really want to use a soured wine in your recipe, do you? The fact that it’s made from rice instead of grapes isn’t relevant.

If your recipe calls for a modest amount of rice wine, though, you could probably substitute a sweet white wine or even white grape juice without substantially altering the flavor of your dish.