Entering the gate of Van Village (Van Ha commune, Viet Yen, Bac Giang), visitors stop before a pair of parallel sentences written in Nom script:
Clouds of beautiful wine and fragrance from the North Sea
The victory of Nhu Nguyet dawned in the Southern sky
Van Village Wine (also known by its folk name: Hoe Loi wine) dates back to when Mrs. Nghi Dinh brought the wine making profession from China to pass on to the people here. To date, the most popular wine among people is more than 400 years old. When King Bao Dai enjoyed this wine, he loved it so much that he bestowed Van Village Wine with the four words "Van Huong Beautiful Wine".
Famous throughout Kinh Bac, Van Village's wine also suffered many times. During the French colonial period, winemaking was strictly prohibited. Making wine must be done secretly. Be a little rude and go to jail. Until 1978, when Prime Minister Pham Van Dong visited France, the French government invited the prime minister to drink "Van Huong Fine Wine".
Thanks to that, the ban on Van Village making wine was lifted. Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh, former chairman of the People's Committee of Van Ha commune, recalled: "In those days, wine was bustling in the village streets, wine raced to gather on the beach and then go everywhere. Van Village became the largest wine barn in Vietnam."
There are many types of Van wine. But to drink once to remember, to be ecstatic, wine connoisseurs only choose wine distilled from yellow-flower glutinous rice. The people of Van Village said: It is a special sticky rice grown only in the Kinh Bac region.
Because Van Village Wine is so delicious, many people try to find the secret to distilling fermentation starter here. They said: Van Village Wine is delicious thanks to the talent of making Van Ha yeast. Each yeast fruit contains up to 36 herbs, which is why it is so fragrant, delicious, strong, and rich. Hearing that, Mr. Tom, a famous rice wine maker in Van Village and has been in the profession for 74 years, just laughed: "If we could analyze it like that, the wineries wouldn't be five or ten times better than us."
Another person speculated: "Van wine is delicious because the villagers make it with clear Cau River water. Villagers who go to settle down in a foreign country still bring all the wine-making process and experience to distillation, but the wine is still pale, cloudy, and drinks into the throat." Mrs. Tom shook her head: "Cau River is now turbid and black. Only if you are crazy would you make wine." Having said this, Mrs. Tom remained silent.
Every day, Mrs. Tom often works hard at the ancient wine furnace to distill clear, fragrant sticky rice wine. He said: "I want to preserve the soul of Van Village Wine so that in the future, people who remember Van's beautiful wine will not be disappointed when looking for it." Winemaking is quite a feat. How long a batch of wine is brewed depends on the hot, cold, stormy weather. You can let it cool a bit but absolutely do not let the wine be too light or too "shocking". Mrs. Tom is proud: Only like that, when Van Village Wine is shaken vigorously and rotated, the wine toothpick swirls into a pointed shape from the bottom to the neck of the bottle like an inverted triangle… Just like that, Van Village Wine feels heavy when drunk but goes down the throat as smoothly as a lullaby.