Guizhou

The Chishui River

The Chishui, or 'Red River', flows between Sichuan and Guizhou and is essential to the baijiu industry of both provinces. Around Maotai town, distilleries are scattered along both sides of its V-shaped valley, between the mountains. Under the Ming and Qing dynasties the river was also a trade route, carrying salt and baijiu.

Red sorghum

Sauce aroma baijiu is made from a local red sorghum, known as hongyingzi, whose grains are firm and plump, with small, thick husks. It can withstand the many rounds of steaming and cooking that the long sauce aroma process requires, and it is rich in tannins, which help create the style's savoury, soy-sauce-like aromas.

Climate and microbes

Renhuai has a warm, humid subtropical climate, with an average annual temperature of about 16 °C. The valley is full of the yeasts and bacteria that drive fermentation, which is why producers say true sauce aroma baijiu cannot be made outside this area.

How the style was born

The roots of sauce aroma baijiu lie in the Qing dynasty, when officials of the salt monopoly stationed in Maotai brought baijiu techniques from northern China and combined them with those of neighbouring Sichuan. The town and its distilleries were destroyed in 1854, during the uprisings that shook Guizhou in the mid-19th century; production restarted in 1863 at the new Chengyi distillery, followed by Ronghe in 1879 and Hengxing in 1929. From 1951 the three were merged into Kweichow Moutai.