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Kweichow Moutai: China’s ‘national schnapps’ on the rise

Baijiu is the most popular alcoholic drink in China and Moutai the most famous brand, with a similar status to vodka in Russia or tequila in Mexico. Its origins go back over 2,000 years to the time of Emperor Wu of Han. These days, the national drink is frequently served at official state banquets and is used as the official state gift. Its protected source is the village of Maotai in the Guizhou province on the banks of the Chishui, the Red River. These days, more than 30,000 tons of the 53 percent alcohol Moutai are produced. In cooperation with Camus, a limited edition was launched as an homage to the greatest poets: after Li Bai in 2013, Du Fu followed in 2018. The elegant bottle showing a painting of a poem is made from the finest porcelain.

Traditional methods are used for the distillation of regional raw materials: organic sorghum and wheat and the best water. Fermentation takes place at high temperatures. During the production process, which takes a year, fresh grain is added twice to the boilers, then several boiling and fermentation processes take place. Every batch of the distillate is separated according to age, production cycle and aroma. It then matures slowly in terracotta containers and, during the storage period of at least five years, develops a fine soya aroma. Master blenders make sure that the characteristic, full flavour is preserved. The secret lies in the humid climate, the water from the Chishui, as well as in the distillation technique and maturing period.

At the World Spirits Award, there was double gold for Kweichou Moutai Du Fu Edition.

Château du Tariquet - One castle, one family, on history

This family history begins in 1912 with the bear tamer Jean-Pierre Artaude who returned to his homeland in the south-west of France after many years in the USA. He purchased Château Tariquet and took his wife back to France with him at the start of the 1920s. His daughter Hélène and her husband Pierre Grassa (the son of Spanish immigrants who moved to the village of Éauze after being a prisoner of war) rebuilt their parents' property with a great deal of care and diligence and began to produce Bas-Armagnac here. Of their four children, Maïté and Yves continued the family tradition and remained on the estate. In 1972, they established a company here with their father and went on to develop their products and sales even further.

Today, this family company remains independent but has increased its estate to almost 1,000 hectares. The responsibility for the company lies with Maïté and Yves and their sons Armin and Rémy. It was Yves Grassa who decided, along with his sister, to produce white wines here in 1982, going against all tradition to produce a cuvée from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc which is still appreciated today by wine lovers across the world.

In addition to its fresh and fruity Vins de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, the company concentrates its production on Armagnacs with 45% alcohol from the rare Folle Blanche grape variety that is typical of the region. The Baco and Ugni Blanc varieties form the basis for the assemblages with 40% alcohol. Recently, high-quality bottles have come onto the market, such as the XO cask no. 6 (54.9 % vol) which is characterised by its roasted aromas, vanilla notes and well integrated alcohol.

The Armagnac XO und Armagnac VSOP won gold at the World-Spirits Award.

Distillery Krauss: Delicious spirits from the Koralpe

At the foot of Koralpe in St. Martin im Sulmtal lies Distillery Krauss. What started in 2007 in a small garage in Schwanberg developed into an international spirits producer from 2018 at the new location, now with five employees. It has made a name for itself globally especially for gin, marking Austria on the gin world map. In addition, other top products such as rum, whisky, apple brandy and aniseed spirit have been awarded worldwide, rounding the product range off perfectly.

Amongst everything that is undertaken in the successful enterprise, some ‘cornerstones’ have emerged over the years as the most important values: a wide product range, concentration on the essentials, enjoyable moments, expertise and quality. For the fine brandies, there is an emphasis on single barrel filling at barrel strength. Despite the size of the company, individual gin productions are nevertheless still made according to customer wishes. The pot still at the old location is available for this, which is otherwise used for testing purposes and new developments – such as the first Austrian BIO Hard Seltzer.

The World Class Distillery 2022 OBB (Distillery of the Year – Gold & World Spirits Award 2022), World Class Distillery 2022 GIWO (Distillery of the Year – Gold & World Spirits Award 2022) and First Class Distillery 2022 BILI collected, alongside double gold for Saffron infused Dry Gin (Spirit of the Year 2022) and Zwetschkenbrand (damson brandy) (World Spirits Award 2022 & Spirit of the Year 2022), a further nine gold medals and four times silver.