CHENGDU, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Among China's time-honored brands, the memory of "taste" has a long history. In particular, fine wines, which are closely related to people's lives, pay more attention to inheritance. In Mianzhu City, Sichuan Province, there is such evidence.
Walking into Jiannan Old Street in the center of Mianzhu, you can smell the strong aroma of wine. In the antique Jiannanchun "Tianyi Laohao" distillery, workers are spreading the fermented sake lees to cool, waiting for the opportunity to mix it into the steamed liquor retort, and the bamboo pole is hung with an iron ring with a lid with a diameter of about 1.5 meters, waiting for the workers to "close the lid and retort" to distill the liquor.
On May 13, 2024, the winemaker worked in the "Tianyi Laohao" winery in Jiannanchun. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Kun
According to the staff of Mianzhu Cultural Relics Protection Management Institute, from 2003 to 2004, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out archaeological excavations on the site of "Tianyi Lao", revealing the whole process of brewing technology from raw material soaking, cooking, mixing koji fermentation, distillation and liquor to wastewater discharge.
How old can Chinese wine be the taste? Taking Mianzhu and its surroundings as an example, Mianzhu has unearthed cultural relics such as the Warring States period bronze wine utensils and beam pots, Han Dynasty bartending terracotta figurines; At the Sanxingdui site, which is more than 30 kilometers away from the Jiannanchun factory area, a large number of wine vessels such as carbonized rice and bronze statues and pottery pots more than 3,000 years ago have been unearthed.
The bronze statue found in the No. 3 "sacrificial pit" photographed at the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, May 14, 2021. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Bohan
Not only Mianzhu, but also along the Yangtze River, Tuojiang River, Fujiang River, Chishui River and other vast water systems in the Sichuan Basin, many wine-making relics have inherited the Chinese "taste", and so far Yibin Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Mianzhu Jiannanchun, Gulin Lang Liquor, Tuopai Shede, Quanxing and other Chinese time-honored wines have been produced.
How to preserve the old taste of history? Tian Feng, deputy general manager of Sichuan Jiannanchun (Group) Co., Ltd., believes that winemaking is inseparable from the ecological environment. To this end, the Mianzhu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government actively promote the transformation of county-level mines, dismantle and close mines in ecologically fragile areas, complete huge ecological regreening, and protect authentic resources such as microorganisms, air, temperature, humidity and water quality.
"Secondly, in the production itself, we should do a good job of 'three old and three new', adhere to the old master, the old process, the old cellar, and pay attention to new technology, new manufacturing, and new marketing." Tian Feng said.
On May 13, 2024, the winemakers did cellar management in the No. 8 workshop of Jiannanchun. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Kun
In the No. 8 workshop of Jiannanchun, which has 1,600 old cellar pools, Luo Jiaju, the director of the workshop, is directing the retort to take wine. From grain to wine, it has to go through 267 large and small processes before and after. "Originally, the grain could be fermented into sake in about 35 days, but in order to ensure excellent quality, we insisted on brewing for more than 70 days, doubling the time and sacrificing the yield." Luo Jiaju said that there are more than 400 masters like him in the factory, and it takes at least 3 years to take apprentices out of the factory one-on-one, and he has only taken 4 apprentices so far.
"Facing the future, we need to further explore the process data of brewing fine wine, so that brewing can move from tradition to modernity, from experience to 'digital intelligence'." Tian Feng said.
Mianzhu Han Dynasty bartending terracotta figurines photographed on May 13, 2024. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Jiao
Nowadays, overlooking Mianzhu from the air, the Longmen Mountain Range, the main peak of 4989 meters, is lush and green, and the meltwater of the snow-capped mountains converges into clear streams, flowing through the fertile fields of western Sichuan under the snow-capped mountains. In the Jiannanchun Wine History Museum, the 2,000-year-old Mianzhu Han Dynasty bartending terracotta figurines are still sitting in long robes, holding a small spoon in their left hand and poking into the wine barrel, as if they are smiling in order to explore the "blending ratio".
The stone archway of Mianzhu Jiannan Old Street taken on May 13, 2024. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Jiao
Looking back at the stone archway of Jiannan Old Street, the four big characters of "drawing from the past and casting the present" are shining.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Jiao