Talk:Maotai

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Varieties

I believe that the "Varieties" section belongs in the Chinese wine article. Maotai is only one variety of Chinese wine. Badagnani 01:58, 15 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"Sauce-flavored"?

"Sauce-flavored" should be explained. Why is it called this? Is is used in cooking? Badagnani 23:01, 24 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently, Chinese wine can be classified by their fragrances. Googling 酱香酒 found me a page talking about different Chinese wine categories: 中国酒的香型也很多，主要有以茅台为代表的酱香酒 (sauce fragrance)，以泸州老窖为代表的浓香酒 (heavy fragrance)，以山西汾酒为代表的清香酒 (light fragrance)，还有米香型 (rice fragrance)、蜂香型 (Honey fragrance) 等等，这些酒都是蒸溜酒. See also [1] for more on the fragrance classification. Not sure what "sauce" really mean, but I don't think it is related to cooking though. Kowloonese 00:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Reading what you've written, along with some information I've gleaned from Chinese friends as well as Internet articles, I think the system I devised for "distilled" and "non-distilled" categories isn't the main way Chinese wine is divided. There seem to be other systems, like "white" versus "yellow/red," or by fragrance, etc. It's quite complicated. Badagnani 03:25, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting that 濃 ("thick," "concentrated") is the middle character in the Korean soup called "seollongtang" (雪濃湯). Badagnani 03:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is it really?

The article says:

"It is one of China's official state banquet wines and claims to be one of the world's three best known liquors (together with whisky and cognac)."

Seems quite a bold statement on the part of the manufacturer. I suggest adding something to clarify that in fact vodka is probably among the three. I've been to China and I know Maotai, but to say it's one of the best known liquors in the world is plain wrong. Dawidbernard 15:26, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do you read Chinese? If so, you can go through the official site (or use Babelfish to translate) and see if they do indeed say that. The PRC does represent 20 percent of the world's population. Whether it's true or not, if the company claims it in its official publicity materials, it's notable. Badagnani 17:42, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure they say this. The thing is, you can't really say that something is world-known if it is known mostly in one country, regardless of its size. The whole point of "being best known in the world" is about being recognized internationally. What I want to be done is to put this claim in context. If there is any reliable research into world best known liquors, it could be mentioned. Dawidbernard 21:25, 22 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose there would have to be a survey done (of a representative sample of the world's people) to determine this. Badagnani 22:16, 22 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I had never heard of maotai until i came accross this obscure kissenger quote. i thought it was a punn on mao. to say that it is of the three best known liquors is absurd. to say there is three best known liquors is absurd. --— Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.108.184.26 (talk • contribs)

Watermark

On authentic Moutai wine there is a watermark on the label. I think that we should put that in the article. I heard that people use authentic eyeglasses to see the watermark to prove that the Moutai is authentic. --— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.113.104.4 (talk • contribs)

Distribution

I don't have any info on this but that is why I came here to begin with on this subject. Perhaps someone knows where it is distributed...only in China, other countries, all provinces in China?? 66.82.112.1 20:23, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The English version of their website doesn't seem to say anything about that, so why not send them an email? http://www.moutaichina.com/en/contact.html Please let us know what you find out. Badagnani 20:27, 19 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

dead link

"Moutai Label" link is dead, and now in chinese —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.170.151.152 (talk) 00:37, 3 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Age of Maotai

Maotai comes in different ages. The most common ones are 15, 30 and 50 but what about 80 year old Maotai? How about the price of Maotai in general? Can this be included? I know 15 year old Maotai can sell as much as US$600, while 30 and 50 year old ones can sell as much as US$1400 and US$2200 in China —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.131.200.217 (talk) 06:34, 28 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you have sources that are good, you should add a section about it, probably with its own heading. The highest grade of Maotai retails for 26,800 yuan (US$3,375). Badagnani (talk) 06:42, 28 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to see the source for the prices for Maotai because I was personally there and purchased authentic 15 year old 1 Liter bottles for around $140 from very big reputable shopping centers. Also I was doing research for the 50 year old Maotai and people are pretty disdainful of the veracity of such a product (I'm sure it actually exists, but is it really 50 years old?)