As a classic method of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) processing, wine-processing has been employed for toxin reduction and preservation of medicinal properties, efficacy enhancement and medicinal property modification, or purposely guiding the therapeutic effects of herbal medicines. This review retrieved literature from PubMed, Web of Science, China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases using keywords including “wine-processing” “medicinal properties” and “efficacy-enhancing mechanisms”. Findings indicate that traditional wine-processing predominantly utilizes HuangJiu, with distinctive techniques such as wine rinsing, wine stir-frying and wine steaming remaining in current practice. Modern processing technology emphasizes optimization of critical parameters. Wine-processing facilitates component transformation through physical dissolution, enhanced cellular permeability, and synergistic enzymatic/non-enzymatic reactions. Mechanisms involving multi-target networks and microbiota-targeted metabolic regulation, enable directional modulation of herbal cold/hot properties alongside efficacy enhancement and toxicity reduction. Future research should prioritize establishing digitalized process quality control standards, conduct interdisciplinary investigations into wine-processing effects on efficacy-related component groups, and elucidate directional regulation mechanisms of medicinal properties. These advancements are anticipated to promote standardization and modernization of wine-processing techniques while scientifically interpreting the theoretical foundations of TCM processing.

traditional Chinese medicine processing  /  wine-processing  /  medicinal properties  /  process optimization  /  efficacy-enhancing mechanisms  /  component transformation