Vietnamese traditional wine enters the Japanese market

The capital of leaf yeast wine

Bang Phuc commune, Cho Don district, Bac Kan province, currently has more than 300 households directly making wine, with the most concentrated in Na Bay, Na Pai, Ban Khieu, Na Hong, Ban Chang, and Na Quan.

Mrs. Nong Thi Tam is one of the households that has had a tradition of making wine for many generations. Thanh Tam Cooperative (Cooperative), where Mrs. Tam is the director, is the first unit to export Bang Phuc leaf yeast wine abroad.

Coming from a rural family, Mrs. Tam has helped her family make wine since she was young. At that time, the family could only brew 10 to 20 liters of wine a day, mainly serving the needs of people in the area.

As the years passed, many customers coming to the restaurant praised the wine for its good taste and headache-free drinking, so they gradually cooked more. Thanks to everyone's introduction, Mrs. Tam's wine gradually sold to neighboring districts.

In 2017, Thanh Tam Cooperative was established, and now there are 24 members; the cooperative also associates with 20 local wine producers to ensure the quantity of wine supplied to the market.

Regarding the secret to making good wine, Mrs. Tam said that a fermented fruit must combine 19-32 medicinal plants taken from the old forest. These leaves are a separate secret that has been taught. That is also the "secret," so Thanh Tam Cooperative's wine always has a unique flavor, unlike any other wine.Having good wine and good yeast is not enough. The clean, cool water source in Bang Phuc, over 1,200m above sea level, is also a godsend for the people here.These leaves are a separate secret that has been taught, so Thanh Tam Cooperative's wine always has a unique flavor, unlike any other wine.

Having good wine and good yeast is not enough. The clean, cool water source in Bang Phuc, which is over 1,200m above sea level, is also a godsend for the people here.

Water is taken by the cooperative from the upstream stream in the deep forest, cool all year round, and transported by plastic pipes to ensure cleanliness, giving Bang Phuc wine a unique taste.

A batch of brewed wine will be aged by the cooperative for 1 to 3 months. The fermentation will help impurities settle and permeate out, giving the wine a cool taste when used. In addition, the cooperative also purchased additional equipment and built a factory to place a filtration system and package products.

Before bottling, wine will be processed through 2 filtration systems and aging machines to remove aldehydes, ensuring the wine reaches consumers at 25 degrees. At the threshold of day, Bang Phuc traditional wine reaches the smoothest, coolest, and easiest to drink state.

After many years of persistently building the brand, in 2018, Thanh Tam Cooperative's wine products were recognized as 3-star OCOP products and 4-star OCOP products in 2022.

Currently, Thanh Tam Cooperative produces an average of 600-800 liters of wine every day, of which high quality wine products are for export, the rest are consumed in the domestic market.

Conquer the Japanese market

After many efforts, joy also came to Thanh Tam Cooperative when, in 2022, the first batch of goods met export standards to the Japanese market.

Specifically, Thanh Tam Cooperative signed a contract to sell the first 2,000 liters of wine with KOME CO.LTD in Japan. From here, Bang Phuc leaf yeast wine began its journey to conquer this fastidious market.

In 2023, the Cooperative's total export wine output to this market was 66,000 liters, bringing in more than VND 2 billion in revenue. By 2024, Thanh Tam Cooperative has negotiated with partners. The amount of wine exported is expected to increase to 30,000 liters per month.

Previously, sold in the domestic market, the price of a liter of wine from Thanh Tam Cooperative was only about VND 20,000, but when exported, each liter was up to VND 40,000, depending on the different types of wine.

A liter of exported wine has a higher price of VND 10,000 to VND 15,000. Selling at a higher price brings high income to the cooperative and participating households. To export, Thanh Tam Cooperative's Bang Phuc leaf yeast wine must meet the concentration and Ethanol ratio of 25%.

Currently, the Cooperative operates a separate production process; from selecting the type of rice to cook, the rice must be new and soaked for one day before cooking. The average fermentation time is 30 days in summer and 60 days in winter. The longer you ferment, the richer the wine will be.

After cooking, the wine is put into jars and incubated for 3 to 5 months before being put into a filter to remove impurities. The most important thing for ensuring exported wine is going through an aging machine. Similar to a wine purifier, the aging machine also thoroughly removes toxins in wine.

Some types of toxins, when decomposed, also create a more delicious and mellow wine flavor. A Japanese partner invested in the aging machine at the Cooperative to ensure the wine meets the partner's quality requirements.

Thanh Tam Cooperative's export of wine to foreign markets is a big step forward in agricultural production and processing of agricultural products in Bac Kan province, proving that the production capacity of people in the area still has many difficulties.

Revenue from wine exports helps Thanh Tam Cooperative create stable jobs for 20 workers with stable incomes.

In September 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued a Plan to build Bang Phuc Wine craft village to promote the strength of this wine-making profession. When recognized as a craft village, wine-making households and cooperatives will have more resources to invest and build brands.

In addition, Bac Kan province also built a Bang Phuc wine-making village associated with community tourism development. Bang Phuc commune has a cool climate and an ancient Shan Tuyet tea growing area that is very suitable for tourism development in the future.