 After the Tang conquest of Gaochang – an oasis state on the Silk Road located near Turfan in modern Xinjiang – in 641, the Chinese obtained the seeds of an elongated grape called "mare teat" ("maru" ) and learned from Gaochang a "method of wine making" ("jiu fa" ).Several Tang poets versified on grape wine, celebrating wine from the "Western Regions" – that from Liangzhou was particularly noted – or from Taiyuan in Shanxi, the latter of which produced wine made from the "mare teat" grape.Meng Shen's 孟詵 "Materia Dietetica" ("Shiliao Bencao" 食療本草) and the government-sponsored "Newly Compiled Materia Medica" ("Xinxiu bencao" 新修本草; 652) record that Tang people produced naturally fermented wine.