Wuliangye Production

Unique natural and ecological environment

Wuliangye is located in Yibin in the Sichuan Province. Yibin is one of the cities with the longest history in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It has been defined as “the most suitable area for the production of high-quality pure distilled liquor on the same latitude of the earth” by UNESCO and World Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). This is due to its subtropical monsoon climate, which brings warm and humid air, abundant rain and stable air circulation at the basin. Along with unique and fertile yellow clay soil and rich water resources, it has become the most suitable environment for the growth of more than 150 kinds of microorganisms needed for Wuliangye production. Geologically, mountains around Yibin have old layers rich in mineral substances such as phosphorous, iron, nickel and cobalt, which are suitable for microorganisms in the pits to form three-dimensional microflora. In the meantime, through the long-term production activities, billions of microorganisms are gathered in the air of Wuliangye Industrial Park. They have become the unique and inimitable resources for the liquor production. In 2017, Yibin was listed as one of the “World’s Top 10 Liquor Producing Areas”.

Water used by Wuliangye is taken from the underground spring 90 meters below the ancient riverbed of the Minjiang River, and the water is crystal clear, sweet, and rich in over 20 kinds of minerals, truly top water source.

The special landforms in Yibin contribute to the formation of purple soil, paddy soil and new soil. These soil layers are dense, well-structured and rich in mineral nutrients.

Yibin has 3000 years of spirits-making history. An unique natural environment and production conditions have evolved over time in Yibin, which have become the most precious treasures of Wuliangye.

Excellent ancient fermentation pits

Fermentation pits are the soul of Strong Aroma baijiu production. Wuliangye’s ancient pits are made of low-acidity yellow mud fire clay, which contains numerous minerals including iron, phosphorus, nickel, cobalt, etc.. In Particular, the 16 ancient pits, built in the Ming Dynasty and still being used by Wuliangye today, is “alive cultural relics” has never been ceased working in past 650 years. The pits are rich in nickel and cobalt, which helps solidification and catalysis, consequently affect the quality of spirits. They are the only existing earliest built underground pits. They carry the long history of Chinese spirits culture, and have immeasurable cultural and historical value.

The age of the fermentation pit is the most crucial factor for producing strong- aroma Baijiu. Wuliangye leaves 1/4 of the distilled grains in the pit each time. Microorganisms and aroma substances go through complex biological reactions to form a rich natural fragrance source, which slowly penetrates into the pit mud. The older the cellar gets, the more microorganisms there will be and the more developed its metabolite, or natural conditions, will be, which produce a stronger and more in-depth flavour. These pits are ‘live’ and require continuous brewing. Otherwise microorganisms in them will die and the pits would become redundant, losing their brewing qualities. These ancient pits are one of the major reasons that Wuliangye is inimitable.

In 2013, Wuliangye Ancient Fermentation Pits were listed as a National Protected Key Cultural Relics Sites.

Chen’s secret formula

Sorghum produces spirits with fresh aroma, rice produces pure and mellow spirits, glutinous rice produces pure sweetness and rich flavour, wheat produces spirits with lingering aftertaste, and corn produces strong aroma. Wuliang in Chinese means 5 grains. Thus Wuliangye is made of 5 grains. In 1368, the Chens in Yibin inherited the business of Yaos. In 1900, San Chen, a master spirit maker made an adjustment to his family recipe and came up with Chen’s Secret Formula. This was then further developed into the current balanced proportion of 5 grains: 36% of sorghum, 22% of rice, 18% of glutinous rice, 16% of wheat and 8% of corn. This perfect ratio is the key for extracting the balanced essence of five grains, to prepare for the baijiu production.

Unique production technique – Wrapped Starter

Wuliangye’s starter culture (Qu) is made of wheat and manually formed in bricks. Wuliangye’s unique ‘wrapped starter’ has a bigger surface to react with the bacteria around it, compared with the ordinary rectangle shaped starters. The brick format can very well maintain the humidity for a longer time to ensure microorganisms growth, especially those slow-growing and fragrance-producing microorganisms.

The bricks need to be store in a temperature, humidity and air-controlled room with consistent monitoring. The highest temperature of the starter at one point can each 60 degrees, which gathers certain important bacteria and increases the quality of the Qu.

Unique production technique – Wrapped Starter Fermentation and distillation

Wuliangye’s fermentation takes around 70 days. Fermented grains in pits are taken out layer by layer as the surface layer, the upper layer, the middle layer and the bottom layer. Such procedure can lay a solid foundation for the next “layered distillation” process and also improve the liquor’s quality.

Fragrance is generated out of fermentation but refined with distillation. The layered distillation procedure indicates the whole process of taking fermented grains out, piling it up, grains mixing and distillation, and each step is conducted layer by layer. As a result, it ensures the original liquor flavor of each layer remains unique but, in the meantime, balanced.

Wuliangye has an unique ‘Rotated fermentation’ technique, meaning the fermentation are rotated between different pits to balance bacteria and improve the average fermentation quality across the studio. This is craftmanship skills and operated by very experienced technicians. Majority of them inherited the skills from their family.

As the grains on the bottom of pits has a larger contact with the pits themselves, the technicians would sometimes selectively prolong the fermentation by two rounds, to increase the fragrant substances.