Lots by Kweichow Moutai at Sotheby's
About Kweichow Moutai
Baiju is China’s national spirit, with Moutai being one of the most prestigious and well known brands. The state owned company Kweichow Moutai is both China's most valuable publicly-listed company and the most valuable spirits brand in the world.
There are several varieties within the baijiu market, based on style and origin. Some are very prestigious indeed, and none more so than Moutai (also spelt maotai), which has to come from a designated area around the town of Maotai, Guizhou province, southwest China. If you think of baijiu as brandy, then moutai is like cognac. The brand we see in auction houses, Kweichow Moutai, is on the level of Hennessy XO or above.
Moutai has notes of mushrooms and umami-rich soy sauce and it fits into the sauce-fragrance category of baijiu. The strong-fragrance variety is more fruity and floral.) Typical notes on the palate might include aromas of pear drops or even nail polish remover and a long, earthy, pungent finish.
“Sun Flower” Moutai holds a unique place not just in the Moutai distillery’s history, but also in that of China’s. The “Sun Flower'' replaced “Flying Fairy” for the export branding during the cultural revolution. The “Flying Fairy” logo, originating from the Maogao cave drawings in Dunhuang, was categorized as one of the “four olds” and thus, deemed inappropriate to be continued to be featured on Moutai bottles. “Sun Flower" Moutai was first introduced in 1969, with the last batch coming out into the market around 1983.
Just like the finest whiskies and cognacs, baijiu can command stratospheric prices at auction: a 24-bottle case of “Sun Flower” Kweichow Moutai from 1974, for example, sold at Sotheby’s London in 2021 for £1 million.
Read Less