VietNamNet Bridge - Kim Long Village in central Quang Tri Province, which once made wine to export to France, is now a tourism attraction. And it still makes rice wine.

Located in Hai Que Commune in Hai Lang District, the village has a history of 600 years. The wine trade started 200 years ago and brought fame to the village.

In the French colonial period, after examining many winemaking villages in central Vietnam, the French chose Kim Long village.

Until today, Kim Long village still uses the traditional technique of winemaking. After five days, from 3kg of rice, they can produce one liter of wine.

"From 4 am until noon, I can brew a liter of wine. Although it is hard we do not use industrial methods to maintain the traditional taste of our wine, which has been preserved for many generations," said Nguyen Dong, whose family has brewed wine for three generation.

In recent years, Kim Long residents have cultivated other varieties of rice to process wine. Currently, they have four kinds of wine: rice wine, glutinous rice wine, red wine and herbal wine, with alcohol concentration of about 45%.

In Kim Long village, wine is brewed in bronze pots; casuarinas timber is the major fuel.

"Water, climate, rice and the unique traditional brewery method create the famous Kim Long wine. Many other villages have learned our techniques but they are unsuccessful," Mr. Dong said.

Kim Long village has 300 households engaged in production of wine, with a daily output of 3-5 liters per household, earning an annual revenue of about VND2 billion ($100,000).

The village is trying to build its brand in order to bring Kim Long wine to supermarkets nationwide.

"In the long term, the village will become a tourist attraction where tourists can explore the unique wine brewing technique. Currently, two households are offering this service,” said Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuoc, Chair of the Kim Long Cooperative.

VNE