The products currently on the market with the Lai Mao brand are somewhat related to the Lai family. Whether Lai Mao is authentic or not ultimately depends on which manufacturer the Lai Mao liquor formula patent belongs to and who has ever legalized the Lai Mao trademark. Used.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the ancestors of the Lai family built a winery in Maotai Village. Brewing the famous "Laimao" wine at home and abroad, this is the source of the brand.
In the early 1980s (1983), Mr. Lai Shilun, the direct descendant of Lai, gathered with the ancients and rebuilt the distillery. At that time, the distillery was named "China Kweichow Moutai Hengxiang Distillery" (later established Guizhou Huihui Distillery) Laijiu Co., Ltd.) and began to produce "Lai Mao" trademark wine. As the earliest enterprise to use the "Laimao" trademark, the winery applied for the "Laimao" trademark in accordance with the national trademark law in 1984 and was approved by the local Industrial and Commercial Bureau.
After a four-year review process, the "Laimao" trademark applied by founder Mr. Lai Shilun in 1988 passed the preliminary review at the State Trademark Administration and entered the announcement process. Later, due to objections raised by Kweichow Moutai Distillery, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce finally rejected the application for the "Lai Mao" trademark on the grounds of "similar trademarks." In 1990, the State Administration of China granted the Kweichow Moutai Distillery the "Laimao" trademark. Based on this, it can be determined that the only company that legally used the "Laimao" trademark before 1990 was the Kweichow Moutai Hengxiang Distillery.
Since then, the actual holder of the "Laimao" trademark, "Kweichow Moutai Distillery", has not produced "Laimao" trademarked wine. According to relevant regulations, the trademark holder must not use it within three years. The trademark must be registered again, so the word "Laimao" is used as a general term by many wineries, with a mixed mix of manufacturers and products. The mix of good and bad has resulted in the current extremely chaotic situation in the Lai Mao liquor market.
Mr. Lai Shilun applied for and obtained the trademarks "Lai" and later "Lai Fu" in 1988, which are still in use today. The "Laifu" brand high-quality sauce wine is brewed using Lai's ancient recipe to distinguish it from other products with the "Lai" label. It ensures the rights of consumers who understand these situations and drink high-quality sauce wine brewed with genuine Lai's ancient recipes.
About patents:
Mr. Lai Shilun and his only son Mr. Lai Ding strictly adhere to the family's traditional craftsmanship and carefully brew a large amount of high-quality Lai Mao liquor, which has received high praise in the market. In 1986, Mr. Lai Shilun applied for an invention patent based on his family's traditional craftsmanship: "New process for producing Lai Mao liquor by multiple cellaring method" (Patent No.: 86 1 02779.5). After 4 years of repeated sampling and random inspection by the China Patent Office, the results were obtained. The "n-butanol and ethyl lactate content of Laijiu was significantly higher than that of exported Moutai (i.e. Feitian Moutai)". Due to this inspection result, Laijiu was finally awarded a national invention patent. In 1990, it was approved by Gao Lulin, director of the National Patent Office at the time. Certificate. Later, Kweichow Moutai Distillery raised objections to the patent and it has now been cancelled.
In view of this, there is reason to believe that Mr. Lai Shilun and his son Mr. Lai Ding are the sole heirs of the ancient brewing recipe of Lai's ancestors.
Internationally, there are strict restrictions on vintage wine. The law stipulates that wine stored in oak barrels for more than 2 and a half years from the date of distillation can be called VO or VS, and wine stored for 4 years can be called VO or VS. Those stored for more than 6 and a half years are called VSOP, and those stored for more than 6 and a half years are called XO. For example, the Louis XIII produced by Rémy Martin is over 40 years old. At the same time, foreign countries also allow wines of different storage years to be mixed with each other.
In China, Moutai Group was the first to launch the "vintage wine" system in the 1990s and launched 15-year, 30-year, 50-year, and 80-year-old wine products in 2004.
"Year wine" is derived from the "wine and wine" blending process of Maotai-flavor wine. That is, old wines stored in different ages are blended with wines stored for 3-4 years according to a certain proportion to produce finished wines.
In this way, the quality of the sauce wine produced by this method depends on the base wine and the blending old wine that plays a key role!
The vintage wine produced by Moutai Group is blended with old wine from a large amount of old wine retained by three private wineries including Lai's that were acquired in that year. The oldest one has a history of more than a hundred years! Therefore, it is normal operation for Moutai Group to launch 50-year-old and 80-year-old wines. Just imagine, how can a winery without a long history produce vintage wine that is older than its own?
The highest quality level of Laifu Liquor is only 30 years old (the factory is 30 years old). This is exactly what Laifu Liquor does by following the same quality requirements as Moutai Distillery. The same example also appears in Wuliangye The group's newly launched "Yongfu Sauce Wine" does not have the concept of vintage wine like its Luzhou-flavor wine. Such an honest attitude is also highly praised by Lai Fu!