Mixing sweet with strong

In Jinkeng village, an hour's drive from the city, the smell of rice wine fills its central public square at the beginning of the holiday.

Village chief Tu Yuyuan stands before a row of newly unsealed clay jars, kicking off the annual Jinkeng rice wine opening ceremony.

Deng Chuanju, 48, didn't expect to win this year's Wine King competition.

"I never thought my family's wine was special. Other families make good wine, too. But everyone said ours was the best. I'm happy," he says.

His wine is made by his mother, in her 60s, using a recipe passed down from her mother. She makes it every year around the winter solstice, when the weather turns cold.

The wine is made from steamed sticky rice cooled to the right temperature, mixed with a starter culture, and then left to ferment. That's it. The rest depends on experience and luck.

"Temperature matters. Too hot, and the wine spoils. Made around the winter solstice, it just gets purer as it sits," he adds.

His family's signature is sweetness.

"People who don't drink much like it sweet. Heavy drinkers prefer it stronger. Ours hits the middle, as it is sweet enough for the first sip to taste good, but with enough kick," he elaborates.

From 100 jin (50 kilograms) of rice, they get about 60 jin of wine. They make seven or eight batches a year, selling at 15 yuan ($2.17) per jin. By Spring Festival, it's usually sold out.

In Jinkeng, locals affectionately call the rice wine "Red Army Cola".

"This is an old revolutionary base area," explains Deng Chuanzhan, head of the local chamber of commerce.

"The Red Army passed through here. Rice wine is one of our three famous products, along with dried fish and wild mushrooms."

He ordered 600 jin this year to give as gifts to friends in Xiamen and Fuzhou, the provincial capital.

"The packaging is getting nicer," he notes, adding that it is perfect for visiting friends and family during the festival.