China's YunTuo Single Malt Whisky Strikes Gold on Debut at The World Whisky Masters 2026
YunTuo’s New-Make Spirit Wins Gold at The World Whisky Masters 2026, Marking a Milestone on Its Journey from Yunnan to the World Stage
SHANGHAI, CHINA, Aug. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YunTuo, Diageo's first whisky distillery in China, made a gold-medal debut on the global stage, securing Gold in the New Make category at The World Whisky Masters 2026. Competing against entries from whisky-producing regions around the world, YunTuo’s new make stood out for its clearly defined flavour character and outstanding overall performance.
YunTuo new-make spirit was awarded a Gold medal in the New Make category
New make is the distillery spirit produced through the whisky-making process after distillation and before cask maturation. It is a defining expression of a distillery’s character and whisky-making mastery. This Gold medal is therefore more than an accolade: it is a direct validation of the quality of YunTuo’s new make by an international panel of industry professionals, and a powerful endorsement of its spirit character development and integrated whisky-making system. Winning Gold on its first appearance at a global professional competition marks an important milestone for YunTuo, one that takes the distillery from its home in Yunnan to the world stage.
The World Whisky Masters is organised by The Spirits Business, an international trade publication serving the global spirits industry. A globally influential industry competition, The World Whisky Masters brings together entries from established and emerging whisky-producing regions worldwide. Each entry is assessed through blind tasting by a professional panel of whisky and spirits specialists. By spotlighting the flavour expressions shaped by different origins, raw materials and production methods, the competition provides the industry with an international platform for professional evaluation and exchange.
As the first whisky distillery established in China by Diageo, a global leader in scotch-making, YunTuo draws on more than two centuries of Scotch whisky-making expertise while embracing the distinctive natural environment and rich resources of the Yunnan highlands. Since its establishment, YunTuo has continued to forge a whisky-making system and flavour identity of its own. The Gold-winning new make opens with bright, fresh fruit notes that draw out delicate floral aromas, creating a distinctive fruit-led floral character. Clear and immediately recognisable, this character establishes a strong flavour foundation for YunTuo’s spirit before it enters cask maturation.
From the Yunnan Highlands, YunTuo’s New-Make Character Takes Shape
Unlike matured whisky, new make has not yet been shaped by the character of the wood, toast levels or the flavor of previous fills. It therefore offers a more direct expression of the aromatic structure and spirit character created through mashing, fermentation and distillation. YunTuo’s fruit-led floral expression is not the result of any single making process, but of the long-term interplay between Yunnan’s highland conditions, a disciplined whisky-making system and close collaboration between global masters and the local production team.
Flavor is terroir’s gift, the natural environment slowly translated into spirit. YunTuo Single Malt Whisky Distillery is in Eryuan, Dali, in western Yunnan, at approximately 2,100 meters above sea level. The name “YunTuo” reflects the distillery’s connection to the land: “Yun” pays tribute to Yunnan and the distillery’s relationship with its natural resources, while “Tuo” signifies exploration and pioneering, expressing YunTuo’s continued pursuit of new possibilities for Chinese-origin single malt whisky.
Yunnan’s rich biodiversity and natural resources provide a foundation for the distillery’s flavor exploration. The relatively temperate highland climate pronounced diurnal temperature variation and Sanye Spring all inform YunTuo’s whisky-making approach. As one of the natural springheads of Erhai Lake, Sanye Spring is fed by snowmelt and rainfall accumulated over time and naturally filtered through layers of highland rock, providing a clear and delicate foundation for the spirit. From climate and water to the region’s abundant natural resources, YunTuo continues to explore how Yunnan’s ecology can be translated into layered fruit and floral aromas, creating a flavor expression rooted in place.
Scotch Whisky-Making Expertise and Local Craft: Building YunTuo’s Whisky-Making System
Terroir provides inspiration, a disciplined whisky-making system turns it into a stable and clearly defined flavor profile. YunTuo brings together Scotch whisky expertise and the long-term practice of a locally rooted production team to establish its new-make style.
With more than 40 years of experience in Scotch whisky, Dr. Jim Beveridge OBE serves as Chief Advisor to YunTuo. YunTuo is also the first Chinese whisky project in which he has been deeply involved since retiring, extending a lifetime of expertise into the new terroir of Yunnan. Craig Wallace, Diageo Master Blender, and Andrew Millsopp, Diageo Master Distiller, provide specialist guidance on flavor development and distillation respectively, working together to shape YunTuo’s whisky-making system.
Working closely with Scotch master team is YunTuo’s local production team, led by Distillery Manager Edison Chiao. As a founding member of the project, Edison guided the team through equipment installation and commissioning, process calibration and the transition to stable operations. Through ongoing observation and assessment of new make across multiple production runs, the team has translated Diageo’s two centuries of whisky-making expertise into daily production and progressively defined YunTuo’s new-make style.
Throughout production, YunTuo applies disciplined control across key stages to translate Yunnan’s natural conditions into a clear fruit-and-floral expression. Slow mashing allows the malt’s natural flavors to develop gradually, creating a delicate and clean foundation for the spirit. A 120-hour fermentation gives the yeast sufficient time to develop aromatic precursors, building connected layers of fruit and floral character. Slow distillation, together with the reflux characteristics of YunTuo’s Abercrombie copper pot stills, helps preserve light and delicate fruit and floral aromas while building a layered structure in the new-make spirit.
New-Make Character, Evolving Through Maturation
The Gold medal at The World Whisky Masters 2026 recognizes YunTuo’s current new-make style and whisky-making system, while marking the distillery’s progression from new make into long-term maturation. The fruit-and-floral framework of the new make forms the foundation of YunTuo’s distillery style. As the spirit enters cask, different wood types, previous fills and maturation conditions will further develop its aromas, texture and structure, allowing YunTuo’s luscious and layered distillery style to unfold over time. YunTuo is currently conducting maturation trials across a range of cask types, exploring how cask character, maturation stage and target flavor can guide the spirit’s continued development.
From its fruit-led floral new-make foundation to the layers that continue to develop through maturation, YunTuo’s vision remains clear: to carry forward more than two centuries of Scotch whisky-making heritage and take the natural landscape of the Yunnan highlands as its flavor blueprint, creating a distinctive Chinese-origin single malt whisky.
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