Wuliangye's secrets buried not in vaults, but cellars

Liquor cellars, especially older ones, are the key to giving Chinese brands their unique essence, according to national experts.

The older a cellar is, the richer the aroma will be.

Although China's alcohol industry is prosperous with many competitive brands, only a few use aged cellars.

Wuliangye is one of them.

Wuliangye's cellars have been working for centuries, ceasing only in times of nationwide crisis.

Wuliangye's fragrance, to a large extent, is from its aged cellars. Though the cellars were made of mud, the aroma passed from them is described as delicate and pleasant.

This puzzled many Japanese liquor-makers who kept wondering how these crude mud cellars were able to produce spirits with such a faint scent.

Wuliangye's aged cellars are scattered throughout the old downtown area of Yibin, a city in southwestern Sichuan province.

Every old home hidden in the twists and turns of mountainous roads gives some hint of the cellars' historical roots - some can even be dated back to several hundreds of years.

Workers who spent a long time in these cellars have a deep sense of pride, they told reporters. The reason is that a considerable proportion of the best Chinese liquor comes from these cellars.

According to rules of the Wuliangye plant, only the most outstanding liquor can be selected as the basic liquor for making Wuliangye.