Reviving a spirit

Fenjiu's new conglomerate features more than 100 imposing ancient-looking buildings and will showcase the whole process of wine making to the public in future. [Photo by Yang Feiyue/China Daily]

Back in 1915, sorghum-based Fenjiu first made waves abroad at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

The expo helped hundreds of local small wineries showcase their products.

At the museum, rooms for retail sales, accountants, managers, kitchens and wine storage facilities have been maintained the way they were in ancient times.

There, one gets an insight in how the Chinese wine business was conducted.

Meanwhile, Xu Fenjun, who is in charge of liquor production at Fenjiu, says: "Fenjiu might be the only winery that doesn't have water purifying equipment."

This is because local water comes from Shanxi's Pangquan'gou, which is surrounded by forests that cover an area of 6 million square meters. There, natural permeation purifies the underground water, so it can be used without any treatment, says Xu.

Separately, some liquor production still goes on at the museum. There, hundreds of black porcelain vats are buried underground for fermentation.