Rice wine region
Fujian
福建Fújiàn
Fujian Province · The home of red qu rice wine
- Province
- Fujian Province
- Climate
- Subtropical, humid
- Style
- red qu rice wine
- Key city
- Longyan
- Producers
- Longyan Chengangjiu, Fujian Laojiu
Fujian, on China's southeast coast facing Taiwan, is the heartland of red qu rice wine, one of the oldest kinds of huangjiu. It is brewed with hongqu, red yeast rice made by growing red Monascus moulds on rice, which gives the wine a ruby colour that turns golden-amber with age. Scientists consider it the model of the southern style of Chinese rice wine, alongside the Shaoxing style of Zhejiang and the northern style of Shandong.
Red yeast rice
Hongqu, red yeast rice, has been used in China for thousands of years as a food colouring, a wine starter and a food additive. Two types dominate rice wine brewing in Fujian: Gutian hongqu and Wuyi hongqu.
Pingnan
The craft's heartland is Pingnan County, in the coastal city of Ningde, where high-altitude forests, mineral-rich springs and red-yellow soils create ideal conditions. Producers use mountain spring water, highland glutinous rice and handmade red yeast, often in family workshops. Locals call it the 'grandfather of Chinese wines'.
From ruby to amber
As the wine ages, the Maillard reaction transforms its colour from ruby red to golden-amber, with flavours of caramel and umami. Red qu wine is also made in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Taiwan, and in Chinese communities across Southeast Asia.
Spirits 烈酒
In the mountains of Longyan, Nine Rivers is building a single malt whisky distillery backed by around 200 whisky lovers from around the world.
Climate & soils
- Climate
- Subtropical, humid
Sub-regions
Pingnan (Ningde)屏南 · 宁德
The heartland of red yeast rice wine.
Gutian古田
Gives its name to one of the two main types of red yeast rice.
Longyan龙岩
Home of Longyan Chengangjiu.
Producers
Visit
Pingnan County, in the mountains of Ningde, is the place to discover red yeast rice wine in family workshops.
Sources
- Red yeast rice wine: a heritage of Pingnan — Fujian Provincial People's Government, 2025
- Aged red rice wine (Hongqujiu): flavour and functional components — Journal of Fungi (MDPI), 2025
- Monascus enrichment from Hongqu — Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021