Redwood Reserve Vinegar(1)
Time slipped by in the blink of an eye, and a month had already passed.
“Brian! The aphids are almost completely gone!”
Chloe shouted with excitement at school, but considering the sheer amount of ladybugs and lacewings she had personally collected and received support for, I figured it was only natural.
“That’s great. Since we caught them early, the trees shouldn't be too damaged, so the harvest shouldn't be a problem, right?”
“Exactly. I’m so grateful.”
“Don’t be. It was all for my own benefit anyway.”
“My dad was actually really impressed by your ideas and praised you. When I told him that if I win, I’d need one ton of cherries at cost, he said he could even do two tons. I did well, right?”
I tilted my head.
“Two tons?”
By my calculations, about 1.2 to 1.4 tons would be enough to make around a thousand bottles of cherry wine. So, two tons would mathematically yield about 1,500 bottles. The problem was whether our farm’s storage facilities could handle that volume.
“Yeah! What do you think?”
She seemed to be waiting for me to be secretly happy, but I just expressed my gratitude calmly.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“You don’t seem very happy?”
“I am. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to get through this year just fine. Assuming you win, of course.”
Chloe, who hadn't yet achieved the premise of winning the bet, wore a sour expression. Just then, Armando ran over and chimed in.
“Oh? Chloe. Ethan was looking for you outside.”
“Really?”
“Ethan’s face looked pretty stiff. Did you guys fight?”
“He was being annoying, so I told him off. Whatever. Don’t worry about it.”
After saying that, Chloe tossed her hair back haughtily and disappeared.
“Looks like they fought, huh?”
As expected, Armando is always interested in other people’s business.
“I guess so.”
“Aren’t you curious? Why they fought?”
“Not really... More importantly...”
I pulled a small bottle out of my bag.
“Guess what this is?”
“What is it?”
“Vinegar we brewed at our farm.”
“Oh, is that it?”
“It’s almost finished, so it needs to be bottled, but we need a label. I’ve been debating who to ask. Do you know anyone?”
At my question, Armando gave me a strange look, as if wondering what kind of guy I was.
“Why? What?”
“You know best.”
“Me?”
“Weren’t you close with Rachel?”
Rachel, who was from Taiwan? I tilted my head, trying to dig up old memories, and immediately let out a low exclamation.
“Ah...”
I had only remembered that Rachel would eventually become a lawyer, but I suddenly recalled that when she was in Taiwan, she had studied art. And that she was seriously agonizing over a career in design.
“Go talk to her.”
“Okay.”
After classes ended, I carefully pulled a bottle from my bag. The purple liquid inside the glass bottle sparkled in the sunlight. My target was Rachel, who had just finished her math class and was neatly tying back her black hair.
“Rachel.”
She looked up, her eyes scanning me for a moment. Her slender fingers closed her locker.
“What is it?”
“Do you have a moment? I have a favor to ask.”
As I held up the bottle slightly, Rachel’s indifferent gaze followed it, but soon locked back onto my face.
“What is that?”
“That’s why I asked to talk for a second.”
“...Alright.”
I led Rachel into an empty classroom and poured some vinegar into a paper cup. The sour grape aroma that wafted out when I opened the bottle quickly filled the room.
“Whoa, is this vinegar?”
“Yeah. I made it with grapes from our farm. Try it.”
“Me? Why?”
“Just try it.”
She was slightly suspicious, but perhaps thinking I wasn't a weirdo, she immediately brought the vinegar to her lips.
“Mmm~ This is good?”
“Right?”
“Yeah. I thought it would just be super sour because it’s vinegar... but it’s... how should I put it? It has a rich flavor. It’s sophisticated, isn't it?”
“Exactly. That’s it.”
“But why did you make me drink this?”
“Actually... this is the first vinegar coming out of our farm. So, we don’t even have a label yet.”
“Don’t tell me...?”
“Yeah. Our farm is lacking in many ways, so we don’t have the money to hire a professional agency... would you be able to do this for us?”
“Hmm...”
Honestly, there was no reason for her, a student preparing for college, to do this. Still, I could ask confidently because this wasn't exactly a losing situation for Rachel either.
“Think about it. We’re immigrant farm owners, and you’d be donating your talent for a farm like this. More importantly, I have plans to get this into South Coast Plaza, the best department store in the region. That means the label you make could be sold at South Coast Plaza.”
“Really?”
“Well, I’m going to try my best to make that happen; it’s not guaranteed. But what do you think? The taste and aroma are really great, right?”
Rachel’s eyes sparkled. South Coast Plaza is the largest shopping center on the West Coast, featuring over 250 boutiques and luxury brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Cartier.
Having vinegar with a label she designed as a volunteer activity sold there would clearly be a very important bonus factor when applying for college.
“It definitely looks like something special... but I’m not a vinegar expert.”
“True. I was originally planning to age it for another month, but it seems to be at its peak right now, so I’m going to start distribution with several places immediately. It would be awesome if your label was already on it.”
“Hmm... alright. But I have a condition. Credit me as the designer with my name small on the label.”
“Of course, I can at least do that. Deal!”
“Deal!”
Rachel and I bumped fists. As I picked up the bottle to leave, Rachel asked.
“By the way, are you not seeing Elena lately?”
Rachel, mentioning Choi Sujeong, my wife from my previous life.
“Huh? No, I’m not.”
“You two were so close.”
“Ah... Elena must be disappointed in me. She probably thought I was going to go to a university in New York. She wouldn't be able to accept me saying I’d farm here.”
“...I don’t know. She seems to be having a really hard time?”
I shrugged.
“It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. I’ve chosen my path, and Elena has her own path. We’re just not a match.”
At my cold response, Rachel flinched slightly, then gave a faint smile.
“Yeah. If that’s what you think, then that’s how it is.”
“Anyway, let’s do a great job.”
Since I had a schedule afterward, I quickly left the classroom with the bottle of vinegar and walked fast. My next destination was the UC Davis Cooperative Extension.
It wasn't strange that the Cooperative Extension, which oversees agricultural education and support for California, was located at this university, the most prestigious agricultural college in the American West. Therefore, finding the office on campus wasn't difficult.
“Hello. My name is Brian Choi, a student at Vintage High School. I’m here because I have something I’d like to give to Director Pierce Morgan.”
The staff member standing at the entrance was flustered when I visited the office and asked for Pierce Morgan point-blank, but soon smiled and guided me.
“You’re lucky you came when Mr. Pierce is in. Would you mind waiting a moment?”
“Not at all.”
A moment later, she gestured for me to go inside, and I entered with the bottle of vinegar.
“Oh, we meet again?”
The tall Pierce Morgan, who had been sitting at his desk, saw my face and stood up with a smile. He was so tall that I had to tilt my head way back to look up at him.
“Hello. I’ve brought the vinegar I mentioned to you last time, as it’s finished.”
“Is that so?”
He seemed to know there was some ulterior motive for me going out of my way to bring the vinegar myself, but he smiled and gestured for me to sit down. As the bottle containing the purple liquid was placed on the table with a slosh, he looked at it intently.
“Would you like to try some?”
“Naturally.”
As I uncorked the vinegar, the sour grape aroma instantly filled the office.
“It smells good.”
“It tastes even better.”
He tasted the vinegar with a teaspoon he happened to have in his office, and his eyes widened.
“Wow. This is incredible.”
“Right?”
He looked into my eyes meaningfully and asked.
“So, there must be another reason you brought this, right?”
“Haha, you’re right. Actually, as you can see from our appearance, we’re immigrants. We were working on a farm when a vineyard went bankrupt, and we acquired the farm through the SDA (Socially Disadvantaged Applicant) program for immigrants.”
“That’s an interesting story.”
“We acquired and are operating the farm through low-interest loans, but that doesn't mean there’s no burden at all. Agriculture is a structure where costs are constantly incurred until results are produced.”
“That’s true.”
“So we made vinegar, and while I’m confident in the taste, I have a lot of concerns regarding marketing.”
He grinned.
“But we can’t sponsor or promote products from individual farms, you know?”
“I know. I was just hoping you could help us get certified as an organic farm quickly.”
“Help you get certified quickly?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where organic certification is processed?”
“Of course. It’s done by the NOP (National Organic Program) within the USDA. So I know Mr. Pierce can’t help directly. I just thought you might be able to connect us with the certification agency and auditors quickly, and consult on document preparation. What do you think?”
He looked at me with a genuinely impressed face.
“You are an amazing kid.”