Traveling through 70's wine

There are many wineries similar to Gaojia Winery in Bo County. Wen Qing went to several more wineries and found that the methods of brewing wine and making koji in each winery were not exactly the same. She wondered why these liquors had different aromas and flavors.

Finally, Wen Qing went to Gutan Distillery, which is the most famous liquor in Anhui Province.

Wen Qing revealed his identity, took out the letter of introduction issued by the Erxia Village Brigade, and humbly expressed his willingness to come for a visit and study.

The Gutan Winery was a little overwhelmed by this uninvited person. After hesitating for a while, they arranged for a female comrade named Xiao Yang from the Propaganda Department to take her around for a walk for the sake of her colleagues, and specifically told Xiao Yang to walk faster.

Wen Qing followed Xiao Yang all the way here. Although it was just a glimpse, she also got to see their wine-making process.

Gutan Liquor is made from high-quality glutinous sorghum from Anhui Province and brewed with water from local thousand-year-old wells. What is more distinctive is that it adopts a three-round fermentation process. When steaming the wine, it is distilled in layers according to different fermentation cycles. After picking the wine, it is stored separately according to different wine bodies. Finally, it needs to be cellared for five years before it can be blended and sold. Due to its long fermentation time, the aroma substances in the wine are 10% to 20% more than other strong-flavored wines.

Although Xiao Yang did not tell her the ratio of koji to dregs in each round of fermentation, as well as the fermentation time, Wen Qing was still able to keenly taste the subtle differences in the wines produced in the three fermentation cycles while watching the flowers and picking the wine.

According to Xiao Yang, the best koji for Gutan wine is called Taohuachunqu.

Peach Blossom Spring Qu is only made when peach blossoms are in full bloom, mainly because the temperature is suitable in spring and the fungus is active. The core of the finished quji is shaped like peach petals, and it is used to make wine with an orchid-like aroma and a mellow taste.

Imagine that when peach blossoms fall like rain, the koji maker presses various grains into blocks, ferments them in the spring breeze, and absorbs the fragrance of peach blossoms. The brewed Gutan wine seems to have concentrated the taste of spring. This is a romance unique to China.

Wen Qing wrote all of this down, spent a large sum of money to buy 100 kilograms of Taohua Chunqu, and prepared to go back and try it.

After spending more than a week in northern Anhui, Wen Qing gained a lot. Returning to Erxia Village, he immediately entered the space and started making koji according to the methods he learned this time.

The air in the space was fresh and the temperature was suitable. She mixed the koji according to the proportions, making it about the same size as Peach Blossom Spring Koji, and put it into the koji room in layers for fermentation. As for whether the result would be Peach Blossom Spring Koji, Wen Qing couldn't guarantee it.

It only takes more than a week to make koji in the space. After the fermentation of the koji is finished, Wen Qing moves the koji to another room for aging. After a few days, she can try to use it to make wine.

Early in the morning, Wen Qing went out for jogging and boxing as usual. Liu Quan saw the smoke rising from the roof of Wen Qing's courtyard and knew that Wen Qing had returned. After breakfast, he called Wang Jianguo and came over.

Wen Qing told them about her visit to several wineries, and finally said to them: "There may still be some problems with the process of producing strong-flavor liquor in our winery, such as the size of grain crushing when moistening the grain, the proportion of water added when steaming the wine, the temperature of adding koji when cooling, and the temperature control during fermentation. Even the process of making koji, I think all need to be improved."

Wang Jianguo said: "Okay, then how do we do it?"

Wen Qing said, "This is what I learned along the way. Jianguo, you can take a copy and read it slowly. I plan to make several plans and try them one by one. I will always find the best one."

Wang Jianguo only graduated from elementary school and was still a little afraid of studying. He hummed a few times and said nothing.

Wen Qing said: "Although winemaking experience is more important than books, we don't have a master to guide us. How can we make progress without learning from others' experience?"

Liu Quan poked his waist, and Wang Jianguo reluctantly took the notebook. Wen Qing said, "You will have three days to copy it, and then we will revise the winemaking process of the winery."

Then he said to Liu Quan: "Captain Liu said you graduated from junior high school. I have a junior high school chemistry book here. You can take it and study it. Our winemaking is also a kind of chemistry, organic chemistry. You need to learn how to detect the chemical composition of wine. Don't worry, I want to learn it too."

Liuquan frowned and took the book.

Wen Qing said: "We will reorganize the winery in the next few days."

She has contracted the land from the backyard to the hillside. Now there are only ten wine cellars and twenty ground vats in the backyard, which is not as big as Gao's winery. Wen Qing plans to expand the winery and dig a few more wine cellars.

Thinking of this, she and Liu Quan went over to seek Captain Liu's opinion.

Considering his son's future, Captain Liu said to Wen Qing, "You have contracted the land from the back of your courtyard to Xiaoya Mountain. You can use it for a long time, but if you want to build a winery on it, I suggest you buy it. This is safer. What do you think?"

Wen Qing nodded. Although she could use the land after it was contracted, things were unpredictable. If someone had other ideas and wanted to occupy the land in the future and her wine cellar couldn't be moved, it would be better for her to buy it.

So he said, "Of course I'll buy it. How much do you think it will cost?"

There are a total of 20 acres of land from the backyard to the foot of Xiaoya Mountain. The winery will occupy 7 acres of it. Together with the original 5 acres of land, after the expansion, the winery will cover an area of ​​7.5 acres, which is almost 5000 square meters, which is enough.

After Captain Liu reported to the commune, the commune agreed to sell it to Wen Qing for 5000 yuan per mu, considering that the rocky land was not suitable for growing crops. After deducting the 1400 yuan contract fee she had already paid, Wen Qing still needed to pay 3.36 yuan.

The two went to the commune to sign a land purchase agreement, and at Wen Qing's insistence, they went to the county to apply for a land certificate.

The new winery's house adopts a brick-concrete structure and is not complicated. Wen Qing plans to ask Mr. Liu to renovate it.

The winery will be expanded by more than 4600 square meters this time. Wen Qing has planned a 2000-square-meter wine cellar area, a 1000-square-meter koji room, a 1000-square-meter wine warehouse, a 300-square-meter granary, and reserved 300 square meters for distillation and drying.

She plans to dig 100 wine cellars and 1000 ground vats. Considering that the fermentation of lees has certain requirements on the environmental temperature, the temperature in the winery cannot be too high or too low.

I plan to dig two wells in the winery and install pressure pumps and water pipes. When the weather is hot, I will pump water from the wells for circulation to cool down the water. When the weather is too cold, I will burn a stove to heat up the water, thus ensuring the appropriate temperature all year round.

After planning the functions of each area, Wen Qing drew the blueprints, marked the dimensions, and asked Liu Quan to be in charge of supervision. Wang Jianguo was still in charge of the affairs in the winery, and the winemaking work could not stop.

She took out the steel, water pipes, cement, lime, bricks, tiles, and wood that were placed in the space. Although it was still not enough, she asked Master Liu to bring the construction team into the site first and start work as soon as possible.

The land was full of stones, so they had to dig out the stones first, then dig the foundation and lay the pillars. The dug stones would be cleaned and piled aside so that they could be used to build the wall later.

In the 1980s, the supply on the market increased a lot. This time, we asked Captain Liu for a letter of introduction and went to the Wulipu Brick and Tile Factory to buy the bricks and tiles we needed.

When she arrived at Wulipu, she found that a new brick and tile factory had opened there. The attitude of the old brick and tile factory had also improved a lot. Wen Qing found the old brick and tile factory and bought 1 black tiles and 3 green bricks. The old brick and tile factory agreed to deliver them to Erxia Village immediately. Wen Qing realized the benefits of competition.

She found Yingzi from the Nancheng scrap yard, and with her help, she bought three tons of steel and four tons of water pipes, which were not only enough for this use, but also enough for repairing the second courtyard.

For cement, lime and other building materials, we go to Master Hu.

With these materials, the pillars and walls can be cast with concrete, so the amount of wood used will be less, and only some will be used for doors and windows. Wen Qing still has some wood in her space, so she doesn't need to buy any more.

For the next period of time, Liu Quan, in addition to sales and delivery, worked with Mr. Liu Erye, hoping to complete the winery expansion project by the end of the year.