"Shall we go fishing first, or take a look around the factory?'
Han Songlin thought for a moment and said, 'Let's take a look around first!'
This time, Han Songlin had come not just to fish or anything else.
He had come to see what the Yuanle Distillery was really like.
'At present, the brewery has a total of 1,230 cellars, of which 40 are over 100 years old and 82 are 30 years old. There are 260 cellars that are over 10 years old. The rest were built in the last five years.'
Han Songlin didn't say anything, but he naturally knew that the older the cellar, the better the wine.
To be honest, now Han Songlin understands why Yuanle Winery will still be around in the future.
Compared to the former Leshui Winery, Yuanle Winery really has a lot more depth.
So many old vats made Han Songlin a little surprised.
At the same time, he became very interested in Yuanle Winery.
'Now, isn't there any production in the factory?'
Li Wenjie gave a bitter smile: 'The wine that is produced cannot be sold, and the more that is produced, the more money is lost. That is why the factory has been shut down for more than a year.'
Han Songlin looked at Zhou Youwei and said: 'Zhou County, it is really a pity that the winery is just sitting there like this. And if it stays shut down for a long time, the wine lees in the cellar will not be able to produce wine!'
Right now, there is wine lees in the cellar, which is to say, the cellar is being maintained.
But it definitely cannot last too long.
Otherwise, the cellar will be ruined.
This is no joke.
Zhou Youwei naturally knew about this as well. Li Wenjie had already submitted several reports, asking the county to solve the funding problems of the factory.
But where would the county find the money?
Continue to borrow from the bank?
But there were just too many loans, and the county did not dare to get any more.
After all, if there were too many loans, what would the higher-ups think of the brewery?
Therefore, the county government was planning to sell the winery; after the winery was sold, they could say that a lot of money had been left behind.
For the county government, this would solve a lot of problems.
Zhou Youwei glanced at Li Wenjie, and there were some things that it was really not good to say in front of him.
Zhou Youwei gestured for Han Songlin to come a few steps forward and talk privately.
'Boss Han, I won't hide it from you. The county has already submitted a report to the city about selling the winery. The city has also already approved it. Now, it's up to you. To be honest, you are the most suitable person to take over.'
Han Songlin felt that he had been a bit set up.
Moreover, it was set up clearly.
'Zhou County, we are not outsiders. Now, if I take over this winery, I don't have enough funds!'
'Don't worry, the bank is willing to provide you with a loan!'
Han Songlin suddenly felt that he understood a lot of things. This was a bit like a pie falling from the sky.
No, if Han Songlin were not reborn, would he take over?
The Yuanle Distillery owed a lot of money, so it must be quite a lot.
Compared to the Fule Distillery, the Yuanle Distillery was indeed much better, at least in terms of the canteen, staff quarters, and even the staff activity centre.
Fortunately, there is no cinema, kindergarten or anything like that.
Now all of the 1,200-odd cellars are ready for production.
Together with the wine tanks and cellars, there is nearly 5,000 tons of raw wine in storage.
Among this, 3,000 tons of raw wine has been stored for more than five years.
Yuanle Winery also has a semi-automatic finished wine filling line that can fill 30,000 bottles of wine a day.
Another thing that attracted Han Songlin was that there were quite a few winemakers and mixologists at Yuanle Winery, totalling 20 to 30 people.
Nowadays, people would rather stay in a state-owned enterprise and die there than go to a private enterprise.
This is the mentality.
And in the winemaking industry, there are very few private enterprises nowadays.
There are many private enterprises among the distributors of white spirits, though.
'Zhou County, I won't beat around the bush. I'm quite interested in this winery. Why don't we take a look first and then talk about it?'
'That's fine!'
As they walked along, Li Wenjie pointed to a waterway, which was built with stone and the gaps filled with cement.
'President Han, Zhou County, this is the water we use to make wine. There is an underground spring in front of us, which we call Longdong. It has an abundant water supply throughout the year.'
Zhou Youwei smiled and said, 'This village is also named Longdong Village because of this!'
Longdong Village?
It really is a familiar name. Han Songlin knew that there were quite a few places with the same name.
There were really too many places with the same name in China.
Han Songlin looked at the cool spring water flowing in the canal. The canal was not wide, barely wide enough for a person to lie down, and less than a metre high.
These kinds of canals were common throughout Shu, and as an agricultural country, irrigation facilities were the most basic things.
'Let's go and have a look at the Dragon Cave,'
Han Songlin suggested. The Dragon Cave was actually a deep cave; standing at the entrance, it was hard to tell how many metres it was.
Water flowed from the cave, some of it entering the distillery through the water channel, and some of it flowing along the naturally formed watercourse.
Eventually, it would merge with the water discharged from the distillery and flow into the river, heading towards the Yangtze.
Han Songlin stuck his head into the cave, but unfortunately, it was too dark to see what was going on inside.
Han Songlin didn't feel like shouting into the cave, as it felt a bit silly!
"How deep is it?'
'More than 90 metres,'
Han Songlin was a little surprised, 'that's deep!'
'It is quite deep. In the summer, there are snakes and other things inside.'
Hearing about snakes, Han Songlin instinctively refused to go in.
The truth is, Han Songlin doesn't really like long worms.
Although he says he won't be scared when he sees one, he still gets a fright.
Every year, on the roads on this side of Shuichuan, whether it's the small roads in the countryside, or the national highways, provincial highways, or highways, countless snakes are run over and killed by cars.
Snakes and toads are everywhere.
In the countryside, basically every household will kill some snakes every year.
Anyway, if you see one, you'll basically kill it.
Cat-snake battles and other things like that are not really uncommon in the countryside.
If you feed a cat in the countryside, you definitely can't feed it eels and loaches, otherwise the cat might bring a long worm home.
'This water volume is quite good. Is it like this all year round?'
Distilleries require a lot of water, so places where distilleries are built must have an adequate water source.
Chuankui liquor will dominate the domestic white spirit market in the future, and it is the water here that makes it possible.
In fact, in the 1990s, many eastern liquor companies already bought raw spirits from Sichuan.
The white spirit industry also has OEM production.
It can even be said that this is a well-known secret in the industry.
Li Wenjie laughed and said, 'In the summer, the water volume is much higher, because that's the rainy season. In the winter, there is less rain, so the water volume is lower, about one-third less than now.'
'Anyway, is there enough water for the winery and the water plant?'
'Definitely enough.'
Han Songlin asked curiously, 'This water source is very important. Do you usually arrange for someone to patrol it?'
'Of course you have to arrange for someone!'
Han Songlin looked deeply at Li Wenjie, and from his expression, he knew that he had lied!
However, Han Songlin could not say anything, as there were some things that everyone understood without saying.