Thursday 2 December 2010

MOUTAI

China starts residents relocation to protect "national liquor"
English.news.cn 2010-12-01 13:03:16
GUIYANG, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Moving away from her house after living there for decades, Chen Liangying waved a long goodbye to Moutai, both the name of her hometown and China's "national liquor".
"It takes just three minutes from my house to get to the distillery. The mild fragrance of wine is even integrated into our lives," said Chen Liangying, 57, a resident of Moutai town, in the city of Renhuai in southwest China's Guizhou Province, which enjoyed a long history of wine making.
The local government relocated Chen and about 16,000 local residents in Moutai town to a new residential zone in Renhuai, to protect the unique environment of the beverage's high quality in the old town.

The distillery of Moutai occupies three-fifths of the old town area, which is five square kilometers. The micro-environment of Moutai, including the water source, microflora, vegetation and geological environment, all contributes to the unique taste and quality of the world famous wine.

In Moutai, the brewing plants and the office building of Kweichow Moutai were even merged among the randomly built residential houses.

"Some people from outside the area longing for the Moutai secret may have the first impression of 'fragrance Moutai Wine, dirty Moutai Town' when they walk in the town," said Wang Zhaoda, the chief official with the Moutai Town.

In fact, there are about 49,000 people living in the small old town, and 15,000 among them are living nearby or mingled in the brewery zone.

The climate and vegetation in the town of Moutai is quite unique, which contribute to the taste of the liquor. Moutai is classified as "sauce-fragrances" for it offers an exceptionally pure, mild and mellow soy sauce-like fragrance that lingers after drinking.

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Moutai Red Diamond: $20,000 a bottle

1 comment:

JOHN Fitzpatrick said...

Although, i've only drunk the standard Moutai, not the Red Diamond. The standard one, in 500mls in almost the same looking white bottle with red label, costs about as much as a bottle of Johnny walker black-label, I guess. Its hard to remember.The standard one is very good. Actually, I'm a bit too fond of it. It comes with a neat little stopper-capper in the neck which stops you from pouring out more than a tiny bit at any time; which is wise.