Surprisingly, Shulin’s winery, which distilled Anka into red rice wine, managed to produce over 10 million litres of the wine in 1957. Because of the impressive production totals, Shulin had a reputation as the “Hometown of Red rice wine” in the early days. Mr. Huang Chunqing was also remembered by the following generations as the “Father of Shulin’s Anka.”

Given its long history, Anka has been distilled into red rice wine since the 13 century. In the 19th century, Huang Chunqing used western methods to improve the process of distilling Anka into Red Rice Wine, which led to the new wine being called “Red Dew.” After aging red rice wine, the red and violet color would gradually be replaced by a golden yellow, with a rich and mellow taste; this wine has the title of the most Taiwanese-flavored fine wine.

Sticky rice is steamed, mixed with Anka to saccharify it, fermented, and mixed together with rice wine to become red rice wine. The new wine is then pressed and filtered, then matured by sealing them in barrels and stored for 2 to 5 years. The aged wine would develop an increasingly mellow flavor with a special fragrance. When warmed up, the wine becomes even more fragrant and full-bodied than before.