Wuzhou Tokay Wine

Wuzhou Tokay Wine

　　Wuzhou Tokay Wine is a premium medicinal liquor made primarily from the Tokay gecko, a specialty of Guangxi. The wine has a jade-green hue and a richly aromatic flavor, offering nourishing and body-strengthening therapeutic effects.

　　 Tokay wine is one of Guangxi’s well-known animal-based liquors, with those produced in Wuzhou being especially famous for their quality. Its production history stretches back many centuries. Historical records indicate that as early as the early Qing Dynasty, people in Wuzhou had the custom of capturing Tokay geckos to make wine, a practice that dates back over 360 years. At that time, large-headed Tokay geckos were abundant around Dongmen in Wuzhou and near the Sanjie Temple in Hexi, and locals often caught them to brew wine. The *Annals of Wuzhou Prefecture* also noted that “Wuzhou Dongmen Tokay Wine” was widely renowned during the Qing Dynasty, showing that Wuzhou Tokay Wine has long been famous. By the mid-1930s, the Longshan Winery in Wuzhou refined the traditional folk methods of brewing Tokay wine and began mass production. Within just a few years, the production of Tokay wine had reached a considerable scale. The product was not only popular in Guangxi, Guangdong, and East China, but also began to be exported in bulk to Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asian countries.

　　　 After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the production of Wuzhou Tokay Wine developed rapidly, with continuous improvements in both output and quality. The wine is not only jade-green and transparent with a mellow and fragrant taste, but also offers benefits such as nourishing yin and kidney, enriching blood and complexion, strengthening the waist and essence, calming wheezing and coughing, treating pulmonary tuberculosis with hemoptysis, replenishing qi and blood, and invigorating the body and mind. It is especially effective for conditions like neurasthenia and nocturnal emission. Thanks to its long history, superior quality, authenticity, remarkable efficacy, the Wuzhou Tokay Wine was awarded multiple times as a Guangxi Famous Product and High-Quality Product in 1962 and 1987. In 1983, it received a Product Honor Certificate issued by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of China. In the same year, it was selected to be exhibited at the International Fair in Italy. In 1985, it was listed as a key branded product of China National Medicines & Health Products Import & Export Corporation. Over the years, Wuzhou Tokay Wine has been widely sold across China and in Hong Kong and Macau, and exported to more than 40 countries including the UK, France, and Japan, enjoying a high reputation in both domestic and international markets. The production process of Wuzhou Tokay Wine is as follows:

　　　(Ingredients) Live Tokay geckos, 50-proof high-quality rice wine.

　　　(Process) First, the Tokay geckos are slaughtered, their eyes removed, and their brain matter and internal organs cleaned out. The bloodstains are wiped clean with medical cotton, then the geckos are placed in large earthenware jars and soaked in rice wine at a set ratio. After 3–4 months, following tasting and evaluation, the wine undergoes blending, filtration, clarification, inspection, and packaging to become the final product.

　　　(Features) The wine has a jade-green color, strong transparency, no obvious sediment, and a mellow, smooth flavor.