Coming down Highway 14 through Kuohsing township (
They also sell something a little less sweet -- moonshine. Discretely displayed on the farmers' racks are liquor bottles, some shaded red by homemade wine, others clear as ice, filled with liquor strong enough to send chills shuddering through an unseasoned drinker.
"It's made from the strawberries we can't sell," says a vendor, pointing to a bucket of damaged fruit. "We collect these, cover them in sugar, and let them ferment." It's a simple distillation process with straightforward results: a strawberry tinged liquor with the kick of a mule.
"We've been making it for over 10 years and never had any problems," says the vendor, who tends the roadside stand with his wife.
The moonshine of Nantou County has long been highly regarded by locals and the deep-rooted wine culture of the region has pretty much kept at bay the Taiwan Tobacco & Wine Board (TTWB,
But in the near future, the moonshiners may find reason to pop open a few bottles in celebration. Taiwan's plans for entering the World Trade Organization mean a gradual dissolution of the monopoly that the TTWB has long held over production of alcoholic beverages. And that is giving residents hope that the area's drinking culture may be further developed at the local level.
The Hsinyi Farmers Association has already purchased land in preparation of setting up a tourist winery within the next year when the regulations for the management of private wineries are sorted out.
Hsinyi (
This is because some of the products still made, while not of the paint thinner variety, are just outside the letter of the law. For instance, Crazy, a hard-hitting 50-percent-by-volume plum spirit only for hardened drinkers, is technically illegal. "But the government understands our problem," Chang says. "One of the best things to do with surplus production is to turn it into wine. It is a product which already has a clear market."
For the moment, Chang and his fellow moonshiners are happy to maintain a low profile. They've been quietly doing it for generations and the government rules won't fully phase-out for about five years. But while people aren't offering tours of their stills yet, they also aren't afraid of government interference. Huang Kuo-chung, a local fertilizer dealer who makes his own wines and spirits, says that "if they wanted to make a point of it, they would have to arrest virtually everyone in the village."
One of the sticking points for the successful development of the local industry is coming up with an acceptable standard of quality. With no labels, or labels that are no more than decorative, the only test of quality is in the drinking. This applies to most of the brews and distillations sold in and around the fruit orchards of Nantou.
But making moonshine can be a tricky business. If the liquor or wine is too strong, it may have unpleasant side effects, such as insomnia, headaches and blurred vision. But the negative side effects of these naturally fermented liquors shouldn't be confused with those of more severe grain alcohols -- a bad batch of which may cause blindness.
But Chang says the association can guarantee quality. "We have recently spent NT$2 million on new testing equipment," he says. "In this way, we are sure the beverage has no harmful influences."
Huang was unimpressed. Asked about the quality of the Farmers Associations' Crazy, he says: "It's quite good, but lacks purity. There is not enough wine-making talent in the government and the Farmers Association is only just getting started. The association is too influenced by TTWB procedures."
He suggests that the emergence of medium-sized wine-makers, such as the farmers association, will never truly replace family brews. "We are always experimenting," he says. "We make it for ourselves and sell it locally to friends, so we want the best taste."
But as he readily admitted, brews of the sort he makes are not really commercial enterprises. And it is the creation of wine related tourism that many locals long for as a means of boosting the number of people visiting the area, which is still recovering from the devastation of last year's 921 earthquake.
"It is necessary to fix the rules of the game, [before anything can be done]. There are lots of plans. It is likely that the Council of Agriculture (COA) plans to make Hsinyi, Houli (后里), and Erlin (二林) into wine regions," said Chang. This would give local wine a commercial appeal that has never really been possible under the monopoly powers of the TTWB.
According to Lin Tzi-ching (林子清) of the COA's Food and Agriculture Department, the legislative process has already been set in motion to allow the establishment of private wineries, which may take place as early as next year.
Lin said the COA provides training and guidance for private interests in setting up wine-making operations and will also have a review committee to ensure that basic standards in technology and hygiene are met. "Basic investment will be quite a few million NT dollars," he said, ruling out the participation of small family operations in these projects.
For Huang, this means that operations like his own will probably not be affected by these developments. In any case, Lin pointed out that "small wineries will focus on non-distilled products, as the proposed rate of NT$7 for each degree of alcohol at which these operations will be taxed would make spirits uncompetitive."
While the government lumbers ahead to put the legal and administrative apparatus in place for the privatization of winemaking and distilling, for wine lovers who know the local scene, there are already an abundance of choices. Home brews are an open secret and locals obviously relish the slightly dubious origins of the stuff they drink.
While Chang regards this situation as "a transitional phase," Huang, and one can presume many others like him, feel that the government can legislate all it likes, but in some company, moonshine always tastes better.
For your information:
A good starting point for a wine tasting trip is the showroom of the food processing plant of the Hsinyi Farmers Association located at No. 11, Hsinkai Lane, Mingte Village, Hsinyi Township, Nantou County (南頭縣信義鄉明德村新開巷11號) tel: (049) 791-959.
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