Xinhua-backed world estates index debuts, placing China’s Langjiu in top tier

Global estate representatives meeting at Langjiu Estate in Sichuan said inheritance and innovation are becoming central to liquor brands facing softer global demand and changing consumer preferences. The discussion followed the June 20 launch of the World Estates Influence Index, a new benchmark compiled by the Xinhua Indices Institute that assessed 94 representative estates from 23 countries and regions across six continents and placed Langjiu Estate among 10 leading estates as the only Chinese Baijiu producer in the top tier. Speakers at the Estate Culture Forum said quality-driven growth is a shared priority across Chinese and overseas estates. Wang Bowei, consejero delegado de Sichuan Langjiu Co., Ltd., said Langjiu has focused on using baijiu to connect China with the world, supported by traditional brewing techniques and storage conditions on Tianbao Mountain that have helped the company build inventories of 300,000 tons of high-quality sauce-aroma baijiu. He said annual sales are capped at no more than one-tenth of stored liquor volume, reflecting a long-term approach built around time and quality. Other estate operators pointed to similar quality controls. Ryan Camus said independent management has preserved product quality across Maison Camus’s more than 100-year history, while Laurenz P. Lergenmüller said Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen stores wines dating to 1861 and reinspects, tastes, records and reseals bottles every two decades. Wang also said Langjiu has tried to refresh the tasting experience through cross-sector integration and has welcomed more than 1 million visitors since opening to the public in 2020.