Author: decanter china. Com
The decanter magazine talks about zhang yu's 100-year history of innovation. This article was first published in october 2024。
Photo: in 1915, zhang pixar (first row, fourth row) led the chinese business corps to the pan american pacific expo in san francisco, california, usa
For the wine world, the end of the nineteenth century was a time of change。
In 1870, the brothers jame torres and miguel torres vendrell of spain founded the bodegas torres. 1892, on mount montebero, california, ridge vineyards planted the first vines. At the same time, the root cancer that swept across europe is finally coming to an end。
At that time, in the far east, the entrepreneur zhang pixie established the first modern wine brewery in china in 1892。
At the age of 17, zhang peng went to south-east asia alone and, after hard work, accumulated enormous wealth through land reclamation, shipping and mining. At the height of his term, his assets were said to exceed the total revenues of the government。
In 1871, at the french consulate in the indonesian bar city (jakarta), zhang piers first came into contact with wine and gave rise to the idea of starting the first chinese wine company. After extensive research, he chose to set up his own wineworks in the mountains, where wild grapes are visible. He named his liquor store zhang yu, meaning zhang yu xianlong。
To find the right brewer, zhang peng tried three times. The first candidate was british, but he died on a long voyage; the second brewer, from the netherlands, was dismissed after two years for incompetence。
Finally, baron baron m von babo, vice-consul of the austro-hungarian empire and a member of the wine-making family, volunteered to become zhang yu's brewer. Under his guidance, zhang zhang made the first bottle of chinese wine in 1899 and the first bottle of chinese brandy in 1914。
Photo: zhang yu's first general manager, zhang chengqing, and baron barbo, a brewer (poster, right) together, raise a glass to celebrate china's first brandy
A pioneer in wine
Despite being born at a time of violent and turbulent history, zhang yu deserves to be a pioneer in chinese grape cultivation and brewing。
At its inception, zhang yu introduced 124 varieties and 690,000 trees from europe and married them to local mountain grapes to adapt to the local climate. To date, more than 90 per cent of chinese wine-breeding varieties have been introduced and named by zhang zhang zhou, and many international grape varieties are now widely used as chinese names。
At the brewery, zhang yu purchased oak wood from austria and italy for barrel preparation and imported presses and distillors from europe. Zhang peng also purchased equipment from france, germany and japan and established china's first glass bottling plant, with an annual production of 1 million, with the early realization of “bottled winehouse”。
In 1912, the qing dynasty was over and 2,000 years of imperial rule was over. When the nation struggled to establish a new social order, in 1915, the 74-year-old zhang peng led the china travel business corps and participated in the panama pacific universal fair in san francisco, california, united states。
Here, for the first time, chinese wines and brandy were on the international stage, with historic results。
Zhang yu's red rose wine, and commander ray's dry white wine, cognac, and joan slurry misty were awarded the highest prize of the fair, grand prize。
Ethnic brand
In the 1930s, in shanghai, an international city that had been spared war for a short time as a result of western occupation, zhang yu's wine was in the middle of a social scandal。
In 1931, zhang yu launched china's first brand of dry red wine, using the snake dragonball as its main material. General manager zhang yu wanted him to name it “the ungone”. This poetic name is taken from the meaning of “in the heart of heinawakawa, with the idea of western and central china”. To date, the release of quantuan remains one of zhang yu's major products and one of the world's most famous。
On the night of the national day, 1 october 1949, zhang yu's wine entered the first national feast of the people's republic of china。
In 1954, at the geneva conference, prime minister zhou enlai gave zhang zhang zhou liang to dignitaries. At this important conference on the post-war international order, “brand diplomacy” has also further consolidated zhang zhang’s position as china’s top brand。
Lead the future
In 1953, chen park became zhang yu's chief brewer and worked for 40 years in this position. As one of the first generation women brewers in china, she has made a significant contribution to the technological breakthrough of the chinese wine industry。
In 1982, she established china's first dry-red laboratory, the unida dry-red laboratory, which improved the production process of zhang yu dry red wine. At the same time, zhang zhou actively disseminated brewing technology, laying the foundation for the development of the chinese wine industry。
Photo: zhang yu corporation's doorword came out of the hand of a conglomerate who was the teacher of the same emperor and the emperor。
Over the past 40 years, more regions of china have begun to plant wine brewing in pursuit of top-class windfalls. Zhang zhang zhou has also expanded the brewing industry outside shandong. These large-scale production projects have played an important role in revitalizing the rural economy, especially in marginal areas。
Today, zhang zhang is ranked first on the chinese market for more than 20 consecutive years and has invested in buying liquor stores in france, spain, chile and australia. Zhang yu group now hosts 14 liquor stores, with distribution networks covering more than 80 countries。
As the world of wines has become more and more sensitive to the characteristics of the production areas, zhang zhou has further developed innovations to use indigenous yeasts, chinese oak drums and chinese pottery cans in brewing, aiming to express “chinese wind soil, zhang yu style, world quality”. In addition, zhang zhang is experimenting with rare wine-breeding varieties that are more suited to china's diversified climate conditions。
Zhang yu has been in existence for 132 years. Where is zhang yu's future in the face of an increasingly complex domestic and foreign market environment? To be sure, at every turning point in history, the people behind this legendary brand have always shown wisdom and determination and, ultimately, are moving towards success。
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