Baijiu liquor tempting taste buds in Argentina

Renowned Shanxi distillery company Xinghuacun Fenjiu recently made a long journey to the South American country of Argentina, promoting its white liquor — or baijiu — varieties to local consumers and the business community.

Its liquor-tasting event was held on Nov 29 in the nation's capital of Buenos Aires. More than 150 representatives from the local business, political and media circles attended.

Denovo, the dealer of Xinghuacun Fenjiu in Argentina, hosted the event with Fenjiu International — the arm of global operations at the Shanxi distillery company.

At the event, Xinghuacun Fenjiu and Denovo executives introduced the products and their history and culture to the guests.

Li Bingqian, an executive from Denovo, talked about the history and culture of the brand of Xinghuacun Fenjiu.

She said Xinghuacun Fenjiu is a unique product from the township of Xinghuan in Shanxi province, which might be the original source of China's alcoholic beverages.

"An archaeological discovery in Xinghuacun township in 1983 has offered material evidence for the long history of China's alcoholic beverages, which might date back 6,000 years," Li said.

She said one of the remarkable findings at the site, which is located in the premises of today's Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group, was a waving spindle-shaped bottle. It was identified by archaeologists as a utensil used to brew alcoholic beverages. It has a distinctive feature of Yangshao Culture, an ancient civilization in the middle reaches of the Yellow River between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago.

She added that ancient techniques for making Xinghuacun Fenjiu's white liquor were included in China's national list of intangible cultural heritage items in 2006.

The company is also one of the pioneering white liquor companies in China to go global.

After it won a first prize at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, the United States, in 1915, Fenjiu-branded white liquor began to attract the attention of international buyers. Since then, Xinghuacun Fenjiu brands have become popular in overseas markets.

Xinghuacun Fenjiu is now among the top three exporters in China's white liquor industry. To date, its products have been sold to more than 80 countries and regions, through its dozens of overseas dealers and thousands of outlets in foreign countries.

Wu Jia contributed to this story.