Recently, several kinds of wines that can't be bought have been circulated on the Internet, including "many towns in Maotai". It means that you can't buy wine marked "Maotai Town Wine" or "Maotai Town XX Wine".
Why? Because, although Moutai is produced in Maotai Town, it is called Moutai, and the name "Maotai Town XX Wine" is not a real Moutai.
However, it is wrong to think that "multiple towns in Maotai" cannot be bought. Although "Maotai Town XX Liquor" is not Moutai liquor, it does not represent counterfeit Moutai liquor, let alone inferior liquor or fake liquor.
Maotai Town, a town under the jurisdiction of renhuai city, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, is a famous ancient town and big town, which integrates ancient salt culture, Long March culture and wine culture and is known as "the first wine town in China". The famous Maotai Distillery is located in Maotai Town. Even because of the special microbial environment in Maotai Town, Maotai Distillery can't brew authentic Moutai without Maotai Town.
However, as Maotai Town is "the first wine town in China", there is not only one winery in the local area, but hundreds or even thousands of wineries have gathered. Because Moutai is famous for its maotai flavor, most wineries in Maotai Town also produce maotai-flavor liquor. Only a few of these wineries are large-scale, and most of them are actually small workshops. There are almost no exceptions, because "Maotai" is very well-known, and all wineries in Maotai Town use "Maotai" as a promotional selling point. Because "Maotai" has become the exclusive property of Maotai Distillery, they want to write "Maotai Town Wine" or "Maotai Town XX Wine".
Practically speaking, "multiple towns in Maotai" is not a fraud, because there is no counterfeit Moutai. In fact, among the numerous "Maotai Town XX Liquor", some of them are of good quality and high cost performance, but they are not easy to distinguish. Except for a few wineries such as "Lai Mao", most of them are hard to brand themselves, but they dare not call themselves "Maotai".
In fact, Maotai's monopoly on the name "Maotai" is unfair to other wineries. For example, during the Long March of the Red Army in the past, the predecessor of Moutai was several wineries, and each winery had its own brand name, not called "Maotai". After 1949, Maotai Distillery was gradually established, and later Maotai also had brands such as "Tian Fei". Different from Tsingtao Beer, it is branded with the name "Qingdao". At present, social enterprises cannot apply for using place names as trademarks, but some established state-owned enterprises can use place names as trademarks. As a matter of fact, the original intention of Maotai is the wine produced in Maotai Town, while Tian Fei Maotai is the wine produced in Maotai Town, and its brand name is Tian Fei. However, it is difficult to distinguish between "Maotai" and "Maotai Town Liquor" artificially, which constitutes unfair competition to some extent. Making "Maotai Town Liquor" look fake or "rich" is good for Maotai Distillery, but it is not good for the development of Maotai Town, Guizhou Liquor Industry and China Liquor Industry in the long run.
Let's take a look at foreign examples. Many people have heard of "cognac" and "Bordeaux". What are they? It is wine, but it is not used as a trademark or brand of wine. Konek, a small town in Charente province in southwest France, is famous for producing high-quality brandy. However, "cognac" is not monopolized by a big winery. As long as the cognac meets certain standards, it can be called "cognac" and does not need to be called "cognac".
What I want to say is that although all the wines in Maotai Town are not necessarily good, they can rightfully call themselves "Maotai". Of course, you need to add your own font size in front. However, the current situation in Maotai is a bit special. It is suggested that it be renamed as "XX brand Maotai liquor" or a place name trademark be specially approved, which is called "Maotai brand liquor", similar to "Qingdao (brand) beer" or "Dezhou brand braised chicken". Think about it, if only one enterprise in Dezhou City, Shandong Province can produce "Dezhou Braised Chicken", isn't it a bit overbearing? Isn't it a bit funny if only Quanjude is called "Beijing Roast Duck" and others can only be called "Beijing Roast Duck"?