The Kanggye Winery is a leading wine producer in the DPRK.

Established on April 1 1956 as the first winery in the country, it turns out red wine and white wine, both of which are made from grape cultivated in Kanggye, and a variety of other alcoholic drinks.

Last year, it concentrated on modernizing production processes in order to improve the taste and fragrance of wines and increase their output, with the result that several parts of them have fully been automated and the temperature of fermentation processes are controlled automatically. As the integrated control system has been upgraded for overall production processes, the production has been put on normal track and the quality and hygienic safety of products ensured at a high level.

Its underground wine depot is a sight to behold. Big or small wooden barrels stand in rows in the spacious cool underground place.

Kim Son Hwa, director of the winery’s institute, said that they introduced an automatic temperature and humidity control system into the depot last year to provide it with more scientific and maturing conditions for the storage of wines.

The winery is pushing ahead with an undertaking for preserving the taste and aroma of famous products and developing new products in succession along with the upgrading of production processes.

It raised the level of enzymological and microbiological safety of wines by applying a new heat treatment method to grape processing and set up a raw material and product analysis system for overall production processes to improve the quality of wines.

The quality of Inphung Wine in which the unique aroma of grape and the maturing fragrance of fresh oak are harmonized, Paengno Wine with strong aroma of wild pear and plain taste, and carbonated Kanggye White Wine has further been improved as compared to previously, winning great acclaim at different annual exhibitions in the country.

Last year, the winery developed ice wine and some other new products, expanding the varieties of its patented products.

It secures grape seeds which meet the regional characteristics of the area and increases production by applying scientific cultivation methods.

It has rotated grapes in hundreds of hectares of grape fields step by step since a few years ago. Experts say that a new variety of grape is suitable for the climatic and soil conditions of the Kanggye area and it has high economic value for its good cold resistance and high sugar content and output.

It established a sapling production system of prospective significance for the creation of grape fields and introduced scientific cultivation and management methods according to varieties and seasons so as to increase grape output year after year.

Producers who have long cultivated grape vines in the area exert their efforts to spread organic fertilizer in winter, saying that one of the keys to raising the quality of grapes is to apply much organic fertilizer. They share experience they have gained through experimental culture for acclimatizing world-famous grape seeds in conformity with the regional features in the area and gain access to the global trend of grape cultivation through the sci-tech diffusion network.

“Science and technology help us take a tip on traditional production methods, estimate output and visualize the future development orientation. That our wine retains its popularity and remains as a famous product is attributable to the close combination of science and technology with the whole process of cultivation and production,” said Rim Yong I, manageress of the winery.