The Merger (2)
“They’ve agreed to the deal.”
Ben Lowell, who had returned to the vineyard, announced the result with a beaming smile.
“I see. Well, now all that’s left is the money part.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
“What’s the capacity of the tanks?”
“About 50,000 liters.”
“Exactly as I expected. Will the bottled wine stay in the warehouse?”
“It might be uncomfortable for both sides, so they’ll be using an external warehouse.”
“I’ve had contracts like this with them before, so thinking about signing another one feels a bit awkward.”
“I suppose so, right? But look on the bright side. Silveroak Hills is looking at this as a chance to clear their debts and start fresh.”
“Just how much debt were they in?”
Ben Lowell shrugged and spoke calmly.
“They didn’t lay it all out in front of me, but it’s definitely well over $2 million.”
“Two million dollars...”
“I heard $1 million of that is collateralized by the farm itself, so they probably took out another $1 million in Wine Inventory Loans for short-term operating capital. There might even be some Barrel Financing on top of that.”
“Wow... with interest rates that high, it must be over 10%.”
“10% would be on the cheap side. If they used barrels or bulk wine as additional collateral, the interest would have exceeded 20%. Banks are notoriously brutal with interest rates and fees on non-standard collateral—assets like inventory that are vulnerable to weather and market fluctuations. And honestly, the interest isn’t even the main issue. In the current climate, they can’t even dream of extending their maturity dates. If they miss the deadline, the bank would seize everything. That’s what they were most afraid of.”
“Hmm...”
“In that sense, Redwood offered them a very generous price. Considering the looming maturity of their Wine Inventory Loan, they wouldn’t have been able to refuse even if you’d offered less.”
He seemed to think my mercy was something grand, but for me, it wasn’t a loss at all.
“You said there are 50,000 liters in the tanks. It’s not like I’m going to dump it; depending on the quality, I can easily make more than that in profit.”
The farm itself was valued at $5.8 million, so I essentially valued the 50,000 liters of wine and the tanks at $700,000. It wasn’t a cheap price, but it wasn’t expensive either.
“The skill speaks for itself, I’m sure. I have high expectations. I’m curious to see what kind of magic you’ll work with Silveroak’s wine.”
“Do you enjoy wine personally?”
I asked, wondering if he actually knew his stuff, and his eyes widened as he raised his voice.
“Do you think I broker vineyard deals without knowing wine?”
“Not to that extent, but...”
“There’s only one reason I’m in Napa, and it’s not for any other reason: I wanted to be closer to the wine I love.”
So, he was a wine geek of sorts.
“Ah...”
“I’ve had the Achelon and Sylphid from Redwood, and while I personally didn’t consider cherry wine to be ‘real’ wine, I was left speechless after trying the Serasia from Redwood. For the record, I bought six bottles of Serasia at Macy’s earlier this year, and I’m down to my last one, so I’m savoring it.”
“Haha...”
“Actually, as Achelon became famous across California, I tried it once and was deeply moved. Since then, I’ve been keeping a close eye on Redwood, and when I saw the news in a magazine that Mr. Winiarski had joined, I was personally very excited. To be able to handle a deal for such a winery... I can’t even begin to tell you how touched I am.”
“I’m grateful you feel that way... Anyway, when did you set the contract date?”
“The day after tomorrow. The other side wants to receive the funds as quickly as possible. Is there anything else you need to check? Like checking the fermenting wine in the tanks...?”
At his cautious question, I shook my head.
“No, that’s fine. I trust Silveroak’s skill.”
They were already heartbroken about selling the farm; I didn’t want to go over there and rub salt in Elowen’s wounds by questioning the quality of the wine in the tanks. And since they’d been on a TV show, I figured the basic quality would be there. Even if the standard of that quality was a bit different, I wasn’t worried.
“Understood. Then I’ll leave it at that and let you know the time and place for the contract.”
“Since you’re here, I have a gift for you.”
I pulled out a bottle of Achelon that we had stocked in the winery and handed it to him. His mouth dropped open, and he stroked the wooden case as he spoke.
“My god... this is why I can’t leave Napa Valley. Thank you. Um... could you sign this for me...?”
“You aren’t going to just keep it and not drink it, are you?”
“I’ll have to think about that. Hahaha!”
I scribbled my signature on the bottle and handed it over, and he left the winery with a wide grin.
“......”
Seeing someone cherish the wine I made like that stirred a strange, indescribable emotion in me. But I quickly shook it off, turned around, and headed toward the aging room.
Today was a very important day, and with Warren...
“Huh?”
As I opened the door to the aging room, I locked eyes with Warren, who was holding a wine glass.
Warren, momentarily flustered, quickly set the glass down.
“No... the conversation was taking so long. I wondered how much longer I had to wait, so I just... I had a taste. It was good, you know?”
“What is this? You were the one who insisted we taste it together! You said we should open it together!”
I had predicted that the barrels I’d left to age for a long time to create a Cult Wine would reach their peak around this time. It wasn’t a pressure cooker, so checking the state of the barrel with a sample wouldn’t ruin the flavor.
I had told him to taste it whenever he was curious since I only checked occasionally to see if there were any problems, but Warren had adamantly refused every time. He wanted to wait until it was at its absolute peak to experience the full impact.
Today was finally that day, and we were supposed to open it together, but while I was busy talking to Ben about the acquisition, he couldn’t wait and drank it alone.
He was avoiding my gaze, but when I checked, I realized he hadn’t just opened a barrel.
“Wait? Did you blend it?”
I could clearly see the traces of blending from various barrels.
He put his hands behind his back and cleared his throat.
“Ahem... I had a glass of Cabernet and got carried away, I couldn’t stop. So I tried blending it at the ratio you mentioned. Everything was ready, wasn’t it? We’d already experimented hundreds of times and hit the perfect conditions... all that was left was to mix it, and I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Wow... so, how does it taste?”
He turned his head sharply, his eyes sparkling, and gave a sly grin.
“I’ll tell you, it’s the most shocking wine I’ve tasted in the last decade. Of course, there are some sharp edges. That might be because it hasn’t married before bottling, or maybe the Petit Verdot is a bit strong. It’ll need some time after bottling, but I found that excess to be charming. Like a tomboyish girl, if you get what I mean?”
One shouldn’t pick fights with the abstract expressions of wine lovers. It’s best to see it as their own unique culture.
“So, it’s good?”
“In a word, it’s insane. It’s absolutely insane. At this level, a thousand dollars a bottle wouldn’t be an exaggeration.”
I took the beaker he’d used for blending, poured it into an empty glass, took a sip, and swirled it in my mouth. By slurping to mix it with air and feel the aroma to the fullest, I was certain it was nearly identical to the scent I’d experienced in my previous life. I remembered how happy I was when I first discovered this blending ratio...
“It’s good.”
Warren was surprised by my calm assessment.
“Good? Is that all?”
“No, well... this was the target I had aimed for.”
“I suppose so, but... the Cabernet Sauvignon is the core, yet the Merlot attaches so smoothly? Why is the Franc not overpowering, but instead laying down like a mist? And the lines of the Petit Verdot... oh, it’s insane... how is this a combination from a beginner? This... I couldn’t have imagined something like this at that age. Does this even make sense?”
But looking closely, there were several beakers set out.
“I see you adjusted the ratio?”
“Oh? Ah, well... when I did it exactly the same, there was something that bothered me. So I changed it just a tiny bit.”
“Which one is the one we calculated initially?”
“This one.”
I poured the wine from the beaker on the far right into an empty glass and tasted it. It was very subtle, but I felt the violet scent of the Franc was slightly stronger. It was so subtle that even I, who had studied wine extensively before my regression, would have had a hard time identifying it as a problem at first.
“Do you think that one is better?”
“Hmm... no. The first one I tasted is more charming.”
Warren’s face brightened at my words.
“Right?”
“Yes. The one we calculated originally is safer, but the one you adjusted, Warren, has something more... alluring, I suppose?”
“I’d like to leave that to personal preference, though. I thought the originally calculated ratio was perfect, too. I just changed it slightly on a whim, and I suppose you could say I got lucky and ended up with a slightly different version.”
I realized he had intentionally presented the adjusted ratio first to make a fuss, but I pretended not to notice. Perhaps this was exactly what I had wanted him to do when he joined this winery.
Things I couldn’t do. I had hoped he would be the person who could take my 90-point limit and push it to 95 or 98, and he had done it perfectly.
“Let’s bottle about one case and watch it for four weeks.”
“Shall we?”
At my suggestion to release it as is if there were no issues and the marriage resulted in an even more perfect harmony, Warren drank the wine with a look of pure excitement.
“Yes. And I have some business to attend to, so you can rest. You can have the staff handle the bottling.”
“Where are you going?”
“To check on a farm.”
“A farm? Which one?”
“The pear orchard. Chloe’s place.”
He blinked, then asked with a serious expression.
“Are you really handling all of that?”
“Of course.”
“Cherries, pears, and almonds, too?”
“Yes.”
He tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.
“Wine is something you can study for decades and still not know everything about, yet from what I see, you’ve reached a level that defies your age. When I call you a master, it’s no joke. But you’ve mastered other farming methods, too? How?”
“Well... I’m just very interested in farming.”
“Ha... this is insane. I feel like a fool.”
“If you say that, Warren, other people will be shocked. You’re the genius of the century.”
“I’ve been called that, yes—before I met you.”
“Hey, look at earlier. You took the ratio I conceived and made it even better.”
“You built the skeleton, didn’t you?”
“You know, anyone can build a skeleton. The important thing is the subtle sense. That minute difference is something not just anyone can do.”
Warren felt good, but at the same time, he felt envious. This young man had such a high level of self-objectification that he knew exactly what he was lacking, and there was no end in sight to how much he would grow.
“I’ll have to live a long time.”
“Yes? Why are you saying something so obvious? Anyway, get going.”
I left the aging room, grabbed the bag I’d left in the office, and headed out. Warren called out from behind.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this? I just bought one.”
“For that girl?”
“Yes.”
“I’m envious.”
“If you’re envious, I’ll buy you one later, too, Warren. It’s nothing special.”
“Forget it. I don’t need one, so go have fun.”
“Yes.”
I ran down to the farm quickly. If I left now, I could arrive before lunch.
Meanwhile, Warren, watching from behind, furrowed his brow and muttered.
“I’m curious... but since it’s his girlfriend, I can’t exactly follow him...”
Feeling that his desire to learn hadn’t diminished even as he aged, he shook his head, lamenting the passing of time.