The "Maoxianglang flavor" that has aroused heated discussions is influencing the future trend of the high-end sauce-flavored liquor chess game.
[Undertake "thatch" and open "Lang flavor"]
On April 20th, Langjiu Manor, there was a tense and intense atmosphere in the thick aroma of wine.
On this day, the much-anticipated Qinghualang Cup Wine Tasting Contest was held as scheduled. In half a year, more than 300 cities, more than 40,000 participants, coupled with the popularity of the "Million Cash Prize", have made this industry event continue to come out of the circle.
Now, nearly 600 people who have fought their way out of the encirclement have gathered together to fight the top of the Forbidden City.
It is understood that the competition at the final site is divided into six rounds, mainly based on knowledge quizzes and on-site tasting, especially "identifying the fifth generation of Qinghualang in the fourth generation of Qinghualang, the fifth generation of Qinghualang, and Feitian Moutai", "the identification of different storage methods and time of the original liquor" and other assessment content has attracted attention.
The 600 finalists present had to quickly identify the correct answer from the several wine glasses in front of them.
The contestants who participated in the last few rounds of the competition on the spot generally said: Moutai has a good front taste, Qinghualang has a longer aftertaste, the fourth generation Qinghualang is slightly stronger, and the fifth generation Qinghualang is more supple.
Yu Fen, the final winner of the Million Dollar Cash Prize, said bluntly: The fragrance of the fifth-generation Qinghualang is so special that I will never forget it, and it will be unforgettable after smelling it once, which may be the biggest reason why I won the award.
In this regard, Zhong Jie, a member of the National Sensory Analysis Standardization Technical Committee and an expert member of the National Liquor Standardization Technical Committee, explained: "Maoxianglang flavor" is a practical method for memorizing Moutai and Qinghualang.
In recent years, as two representatives of high-end soy sauce liquor, Langjiu and Moutai are often compared and analyzed by industry insiders.
Needless to say, as the first brother of high-end soy sauce wine in China, the mellow and unique "Maotai" has always been one of its most iconic characteristics. So what is the mystery of "Lang Wei", which can go hand in hand with "Maoxiang"?
The birth of "Langwei" is inseparable from the carving of time.
The oldest vintage of the same price base wine is one of the characteristics of the fifth generation of Qinghualang. Each batch of raw liquor has to go through a complex process of 3 grading, 5 kinds of storage, 6 rounds of wine selection, and 9 times of blending, and finally forms 63 kinds of original wine and more than 100 kinds of flavored wine. Then, in each batch of raw liquor, no more than 38% of the original liquor is selected and stored for more than 7 years as the main base liquor, and the proportion is not less than 80%, plus the aged liquor that has been stored in the cave for more than 20 years and the flavored liquor of different flavors are blended.
Combined with the unique brewing vein of "growth and storage", this "Lang flavor" is finally mellow. The four flavor base liquors of "sauce, aging, grain and koji" make their personalities more distinctive and unique, and fully meet the current consumers' taste requirements for richer and more delicate sauce aroma.
In this regard, Zhong Jie commented: With the improvement of the quality of life, consumers have put forward higher requirements for the diversity and complex dimensions of the aroma of soy sauce wine. In fact, in addition to the prominent sauce aroma and rich koji aroma, soy sauce wine also has compound koji aroma, aged aroma and grain aroma. Compounding many aromas into a glass of blue and white Lang wine is the direction that Lang wine people have found.
According to the relevant papers published by the scientific research team of academician Sun Baoguo of Beijing Technology and Business University in the international first-class journal "Food Chemistry", a total of 3927 volatile flavor substances were detected in the fifth generation of Qinghualang, 1030 volatile compounds were identified, and 162 flavor substances were discovered, which is the most abundant product in the sauce-flavored liquor that has been reported so far.
Wine tasting experts said that "Lang Flavor" runs through the whole process from smelling, entering, swallowing, aftertaste, aftertaste, and empty cup fragrance, and the sauce aroma, grain koji aroma, and honey sweet aroma are complex and compatible with cave aging, and the wine body is more mellow, delicate and long.
Maoxiang and Langwei are completely different flavor characteristics, and as Langwei is understood by more consumers, the pattern of high-end soy sauce wine will also change.
[From "Lang Flavor", look at the high-end trend of soy sauce wine]
In fact, as consumers' demand for high-end soy sauce wine is developing towards refinement and diversification, not only this competition, but also the rising "Langwei" has quickly set off a trend in the market.
In 2022, Wang Junlin, chairman of Langjiu, announced that Langjiu had reached a new level of 20 billion yuan, and at the end of 2023, Langjiu announced that the company's two key data of payment collection and market shipment hit a record high.
Behind the record-breaking data, there is a fierce offensive of "Langwei".
Since its listing in October last year, it has expanded from Wuzhen to Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xishuangbanna, and Beijing...... Under the brand methodology of continuity and repetition, focus and density, contact and linkage, Langjiu 800 tastings quickly took root in the market, and at the same time, in the name of the fifth-generation Qinghualang, it lit up the landmarks of 100 cities and went out of the circle strongly.
In addition, the five-month wine tasting competition also allowed 40,000 core target groups to deeply perceive the charm of the fifth generation of Qinghualang and instigate a new wave from the deep water area of the industry.
As a result, the fifth-generation Qinghualang, who stands proudly in the industry with the scarce value of "three firsts and three uniques", has attracted a large number of supporters, and has quickly established a strong reputation in the market in less than 200 days after its listing.
Behind this leading edge, Langjiu's talent and precipitation are the key elements that cannot be ignored.
Located in the golden wine-making valley on the left bank of the Chishui River, Langjiu has the best natural conditions for winemaking in China. On this basis, Langjiu continues to expand production and storage, and uses scale to achieve storage time and improve quality with storage time. Today, it has built 6 ecological wine-making areas in the core production area of Chishui River, with an annual production capacity of 70,000 tons and reserves of 220,000 tons.
In the document of the general program of Langjiu's "Centennial Langjiu", by 2030, the target annual production capacity of soy sauce wine will be 100,000 tons, and the storage capacity will be more than 500,000 tons.
On the other hand, Langjiu adapts measures to local conditions and deduces the brewing and storage vein of "born in the Chishui River, grown in Tianbao Peak, raised in the pottery altar storehouse, and hidden in the Tianbao Cave". The fifth generation of Qinghualang is a bright pearl that grows on this basis.
Langjiu is blessed with unique natural endowments, which gives "Langwei" a unique taste difference, and the ultimate pursuit of quality is a complete set of "foundation" process on top of "talent".
In essence, both "Maoxiang" and "Langwei" follow the successful products of the logic of "talent-foundation". Especially in the context of the modernization of the liquor industry, the success of "Maoxianglangwei" has created a picture of the future for the entire high-end sauce-flavored liquor industry.
However, this kind of "innate endowment" and "acquired foundation" are easy to say, and it not only requires God's appreciation to eat, but also decades of polishing and precipitation.