Traditional winemakers work the tasty

Weigh about 1.5 kilograms, bricks of "jiuqu" are hung on shelves in a store room kept at the appropriate temperature and humidity. [Photo/ wxrb.com]

Making wine the old-fashioned way is hot work!

Wuxi's traditional winemakers are at their busiest in summer, when the mercury often rises to 40 degrees Celsius.

That's because summer is the perfect time to make "jiuqu", a centuries-old yeast mixture that is used to produce many kinds of Chinese wine, including "baijiu", "huangjiu" and Wuxi's famous local brew, Yuqi Shuangtao.

Many companies in Wuxi still make "jiuqu" using traditional techniques. The workers first have to smash the wheat husks, before making the bricks of "jiuqu". The bricks then have to be dried for a month in a room kept at around 40 degrees.