Kweichow Moutai Co. Ltd. (Chinese: 贵州茅台酒股份有限公司), commonly referred to as Kweichow Moutai (Chinese: 贵州茅台; pinyin: Guìzhōu Máotái), is a Chinese company specializing in the production, sale, and distribution of Maotai liquor, a particular style of jiangxiang (Chinese: 酱香; lit. 'sauce aroma') baijiu.[3]
Since the establishment of the company in its modern form in 1951, Kweichow Moutai has become the most famous brand of baijiu both within China and abroad gaining a notoriety among politicians and businessmen. The spirit is often presented at large diplomatic events with foreign dignitaries such as welcome dinners for US President Nixon's1972 visit to China, as well as Xi Jinping's and Barack Obama's 2013 bilateral meeting in California. Famously, at a state dinner with Deng Xiaoping, US diplomat Henry Kissinger was quoted as saying, "I think if we drink enough Moutai, we can solve anything.”[4]
Kweichow Moutai's position as a cultural icon has granted it broad market successes as well. Sitting at 181 on Fortune 500 China, the distillery is the largest non-technology company in China and the most valuable spirits brand worldwide[5] having surpassed the British multi-national spirits conglomerate Diageo in 2017.[6]
History
Its A shares were listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001. It is one of the few Chinese listed companies whose share price had exceeded CNY100. The price reached CNY803.5 in 2018.[7]
Kweichow Moutai and Camus started the cooperation in 2004, and Camus became the worldwide exclusive distributor of Moutai products for the duty-free market.[8]
A bottle of Maotai produced in 1983-1984 has an estimated price range of HK$115,000-173,000 (US$14,700-22,200) in an auction in Hong Kong in 2017.
