If you depart from Taitung City, drive along East Rift Valley Highway/ Provincial Highway 9. Along Luye River before reaching Luming Bridge, you will see a large signboard of the winery pointing you to a small road ahead. There you will see a wall of plants with a white bicycle parked against it, and behind it is Qu He Liquor Village. Born in 1962, winery owner Liao Kun-lang grew up next to the river. Migrated from Lunbei, Yunlin, to Luye, Taitung, in 1953, his grandfather started farming the land and for three generations, they have grown plums, oranges, corn and groundnuts. When the farm was passed to Liao, he built upon the foundation and established Taitung’s first farm winery that makes organic wine in 2008 – Qu He Liquor Village.
Introduction
The Chinese characters for the winery’s name represent the babbling water of Luye River and the plump rice ears along the river bank, which are the essence of nature and health in the Taitung area. In 2009, the winery won the Top 10 Shennong Award for wine made using local agricultural produce.
Taitung is one of top three loquat production areas in Taiwan. A cross between Motegi loquat and Nagasaki wase loquat, the species grown here has a round or oval shape, with succulent flesh and slightly-acidic sweet taste. Besides its fruits, loquat flowers and leaves also have economic values. For instance, the world-famous Pei Pa Koa syrup is made using loquat leaves and other traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients; while loquat flowers are widely used in making vegetable stews and soups in some places.
In addition to loquat wine, Qu He Liquor Village provides loquat picking and loquat tea making activities. From September to October every year, the loquat farm is open to visitors for fruit picking. While picking fruits, visitors can learn the loquat’s planting cycle, gauge the loquat’s ripeness and tips for eating the loquat. Its loquat tea, which is made from Taitung’s unique flowers and Chulu loquat, combines the lung-clearing function of loquat, acidity of roselle and subtle sweetness of chrysanthemum, making it an absolutely worthwhile experience.
Other than the seasonal loquat picking activity, DIY plum vinegar and plum wine sessions are available for booking all year round. Each session can accommodate up to 60 participants. During plum harvesting season, visitors can walk up the mountain to pick plums. Walking through the beech forest trail not only allows visitors to take in natural phytoncide, it also makes plum picking especially enjoyable. Ensuring that visitors learn about the planting and processing of plums is Liao’s commitment to organic planting and eco-friendly farming education. He hopes that visitors leave with a deep impression of the importance of environment, tree health and fruit quality.
Features of Agricultural Tourism
Fruits
As a third-generation farmer, Liao was originally only occupied with growing crops such as plums. When he was not farming, he and his father even had to take up odd jobs, such as landscaping and rock stacking, to supplement income needed to protect against the risk of natural disasters to their crops. He knew that he had to find a different path in order to overcome the hardship of traditional farming industry’s dependence on weather and climate.
In 1993, Liao encountered a crisis when Japanese buyers suddenly switched to the Chinese market, leaving plums originally intended for export to Japan in a glut. As leader of Beinan Township’s Mingfeng plum production and marketing group, he decided to lead fellow farmers on an agricultural transformation – turning to class-2 processing by making crispy plums, soft plums and plum vinegar from the excess plum supply. After solving the glut problem, he began to think about the future of agricultural upgrading. At the same time, the farmers’ association and township office also sent consultants to help with agricultural upgrading.
Information
TEL
+886-8 957 0561
Address
No. 29-3, Luming Bridge, Beinan Township, Taitung County 954003 , Taiwan (R.O.C.)
