2025 is the Yi-Si Year of the Snake on the Chinese lunar calendar. In Chinese culture the snake is the emblem of wisdom, agility and renewal — affectionately called the “little dragon,” it carries people's hopes for rebirth and good fortune. Jiannanchun (Yi-Si Snake Year) Zodiac Commemorative Edition pours those hopes into a bottle.
Its inspiration comes from the Twelve-Zodiac Porcelain Paintings by Giuseppe Castiglione, the Italian Jesuit who served as court painter to three Qing emperors. He fused Western perspective and light with Eastern brushwork, bringing the twelve zodiac animals vividly to life. Jiannanchun lifts the Snake from that painting onto the bottle — three centuries of imperial aesthetics, meeting today's nongxiang baijiu.
I. The “Little Dragon” of a Court Painter: A Painting and a Bottle
Giuseppe Castiglione served as court painter under the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. He painted with Western realism yet mastered Eastern aesthetics, founding a Sino-Western style of court art — and the Twelve-Zodiac Porcelain Paintings are among his most celebrated works. The coiled Snake on the painting is still vivid three centuries on.
Jiannanchun weaves that Snake into the bottle design — zodiac motifs on the vessel, imperial grace in the liquid. Relic and wine meet across time in a raised glass.
II. The Zodiac in a Bottle: Marking the Years with Wine
The zodiac cycle is one of China's oldest ways of keeping time. Every twelve years the wheel turns, and each year carries its own character — the Snake Year is about transformation: shedding the old, moving with wit and grace.
Jiannanchun has turned the zodiac into a series: the Year of the Dragon, the Year of the Snake, and now the Year of the Horse — one edition a year, marking time with wine. This 888ml collector's bottle carries a triple blessing: in Chinese, “8” sounds like “fa” (prosperity), and three 8s in a row are the luckiest of omens — for your own collection or as a gift.
III. A Wine Vein of a Thousand Years: From Tang-Dynasty Imperial Wine to Today
Jiannanchun's roots lie in Mianzhu, Sichuan, at the foot of the Jiuding Snow Mountains, where glacial meltwater flows through the town and nurtures one of the finest terroirs on the golden 30th-parallel brewing belt. As early as the Tang Dynasty, the region's “Jiannan Shaochun” was recorded in history as an imperial tribute wine — the thousand-year wine vein begins there.
Today's Jiannanchun (Yi-Si Snake Year) is the living continuation of that lineage — the same land, the same craft, told in a younger voice for a new generation.
IV. Seven Grains in the Cellar: Heritage Craftsmanship, Patiently Sedimented
This wine follows the traditional path of nongxiang baijiu: seven grains — water, sorghum, wheat, rice, glutinous rice, corn and barley — fermented in ancient cellars, aged for years and meticulously blended, to standard GB/T 19961 at 52% vol.
Each grain has its role: sorghum builds the frame, rice brings clarity, glutinous rice adds sweetness, wheat lends the qu starter's fragrance... The aromas of many grains fuse and rise in the old cellar, finally achieving the classic nongxiang character — “rich aroma, pure elegance, crisp and clean, harmoniously balanced.”
Jiannanchun (Yi-Si Snake Year)｜Nongxiang 52% vol｜888ml｜Seven grains (sorghum, wheat, rice, glutinous rice, corn, barley)｜GB/T 19961｜Ancient-cellar fermentation, long aging, fine blending
V. One Fine Wine, Three Perfect Moments
A Keepsake for Your Zodiac Year
For those born in the Year of the Snake, raising a glass in your own zodiac year is a ritual worth keeping.
A Gift with Meaning
For elders and honored guests — Castiglione's artwork and the Snake-Year blessing give the gift cultural weight.
Festive Banquet Centerpiece
An 888ml bottle at the reunion table — a triple “fa” omen, joy for the whole table.
Want to taste or order? WeChat: +86 186 8275 6100 — tell our wine consultant your occasion and preferences, and we will match the right bottles for you.
A toast to wisdom renewed, a toast to fortune reborn.
