The Rising Value of Napa Valley
After Dean Thomas departed, a peculiar atmosphere settled over the lecture hall. The students had split into two distinct camps: one group swarmed around Elena, showering her with eager attention, while the other crowded around me, firing off a barrage of questions. The tension seemed to subside slightly once the lecture began, but the moment class ended, the students were restless again.
"Who taught you about wine?"
"Who’s going to be the moderator?"
"When does the filming start?"
Elena lifted her chin slightly, answering each question with practiced kindness. These were students who had previously ignored her, but now that she was a celebrity appearing on a TV show, it felt as though her long-suppressed self-esteem had finally exploded.
I didn't view her enjoyment of the attention negatively. Everyone wants to be loved and noticed; they just don't say it out loud. When an opportunity like this arises, anyone would be just as thrilled as she was.
Of course, I was also surrounded by a crowd. But what surprised me was that Sienna, from Harrington Winery, was among those approaching me.
As she walked toward me, the students parted like the Red Sea, their eyes fixed on her. It reminded me so much of Chloe back in high school that I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Back then, Chloe had been practically a school bully.
"Are you really not disappointed about missing out on that?" she asked.
"Do you honestly think I’d be disappointed about not being able to attend?" I replied.
"A winery's reputation determines the price of its wine. If your reputation rises, you can make a lot... a whole lot of money."
"Our wine is already being recognized without all that, isn't it?"
Before I could even finish my sentence, Armando—who had snuck into my lecture hall during the break—butted in.
"Where else would you find a winery that received two Double Golds at the same time? I doubt Harrington has that kind of experience, right?"
Sienna’s brow furrowed slightly.
"I was just asking out of curiosity. Why are you being so sharp?"
"Oh? I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry. I just thought perhaps Harrington Winery was jealous of Redwood... and for the record, I like beautiful women. So, please don't misunderstand."
Sienna looked bewildered by the sudden, baseless flirting.
"What is that supposed to mean..."
"Don't worry about him. Why did you come here all of a sudden?" I asked, waving a hand at Armando.
"I want to be part of the fun too! I’m a winery owner now, after all!"
"Ah... right."
At that moment, Sienna cut in.
"Forget him. Focus on me."
"......"
"......"
Since she told us to focus, Armando and I gave her our full attention. Feeling awkward, Sienna looked away and spoke with a haughty air.
"An important event has come up that will bring honor to the school. The department is organizing an event centered around students who own wineries. It’s a sale where we sell our flagship wines at a discounted price. It’s a project to promote student-run wineries and donate a portion of the proceeds to scholarships, so I hope everyone participates."
"Uh... that’s a great event, but we don't have any wine left."
In truth, I wasn't even sure if it was a good event.
For a large-scale operation like Harrington Winery, which likely had warehouses full of stock, a discount event would be a great way to clear inventory. But for a small winery like ours with little stock, participating was a disadvantage.
"You don't?"
"No. Both Aschelon and Sylphid are completely sold out."
As Sienna hesitated, wondering how to respond, Armando suddenly interjected in a greasy voice.
"By the way, what kind of style do you like?"
"......"
Sienna looked stunned, and...
"You crazy bastard..."
The curse slipped out before I could stop it, and I turned my head, trying to ignore the situation. But Armando didn't back down.
"If you have a boyfriend, I’m sorry. You’re just so pretty... the words just slipped out."
Armando’s greasy gaze was beyond description.
Flustered and annoyed, Sienna simply spun around and walked away, clutching her cheeks. The surrounding students looked at Armando as if he were a lunatic, but he just shrugged, looking proud of himself.
"Did I do well? I chased her off, didn't I?"
"...So you did that on purpose to chase her off?"
"Obviously."
"Wow... I can't even fathom your thought process. Weren't you dating that reporter before?"
After our interview with Blender magazine, the most shocking thing—even more than the sales spike of Jacob’s The One—was that Armando had started dating the reporter who covered us. Perhaps that was when his confidence had surged; his expressions and actions had become completely uninhibited.
"We broke up a while ago. So, this behavior is morally perfect and problem-free."
"Why did you break up?"
"The distance was too much. LA is too far from here. I was fine with it, but Miriam had a hard time. She’s a great woman, but it couldn't be helped."
"...... That’s unbelievable, truly unbelievable."
"You haven't dated yet, have you? It’s not always great. It’s nice when you meet, but there are a lot of inconveniences..."
"...... My stomach is churning."
"I understand your envy, but you have your own strengths. Namely, your knowledge of farming and winemaking. I respect you. I mean that."
It was a compliment, but it made me feel genuinely uncomfortable.
"Let's just go eat."
For today, I felt like I had to eat, even if it was the tasteless food from the American school cafeteria.
"No way. I came all this way to enjoy the commemorative event."
"......"
In the end, Armando decided to provide 100 cases of vinegar instead of wine to commemorate the victory at the 30th-anniversary re-tasting of the Judgment of Paris. Of course, he said he was discounting it, but it was still higher than the wholesale price, so he wasn't losing money. In fact, it was more profitable since he was bypassing distribution channels.
After the winery applied for the commemorative event with vinegar instead of wine, we met Chloe and Jacob at the cafeteria.
"Why are you so late?"
Armando scoffed at Chloe’s blunt remark as she waited for us.
"Hmph! If you knew the backstory, you’d be thanking me!"
"Why would I?"
"I chased that she-cat from Harrington away from Brian’s side."
Chloe, who had been standing with her arms crossed, looked at me and Armando intently.
"Okay. Lunch is on me."
"Greeeeat. See, Brian? There’s a reason for everything I do."
I said with all sincerity:
"I give up. I can't beat you."
I had to soothe my churning stomach by settling for a free, albeit tasteless, lunch with my friends.
Three days after Armando’s shocking mental breakdown of Sienna, a massive 53ft Volvo VNL reefer trailer slowly turned into the entrance of Laird Family Winery.
By now, 20 tons of cherries being unloaded from a truck like this didn't feel particularly overwhelming.
"This is all from Brentwood, right?" the driver said, handing over the paperwork.
"That's correct. Cherries from the Harris farm in Brentwood. 20 tons arrived today, and this will continue for ten days."
"Confirmed."
We could have taken it all at once, but because of the process of processing the cherries and getting them into the stainless steel aging tanks, we decided to receive 20 tons a day.
The cold air flowing from the truck brushed against my face, spreading the scent of cherries. The staff, who had been waiting near the warehouse, drove forklifts over and began unloading the pallets one row at a time.
"Brian!"
Alexis, the winemaking manager at Laird Winery, waved. Alexis had been a huge help in making Sylphid so far. Naturally, he didn't know the specific yeast or temperatures used to make Sylphid, but because he managed things well when I wasn't there, the numerous barrels of Sylphid were able to maintain a uniform quality.
"The volume is really huge this time. It feels like even more than when the Pinot Noir came in?"
"It's 200 tons. We're making two types of cherry wine this time. The existing Cerassia and a Reserve. But you don't need to worry about it from the start. We'll follow the same process until the first racking to remove the sediment."
"Until the first racking... so it stays the same until it goes into the stainless steel tank?"
"Exactly."
"200 tons... that's about 120,000 to 140,000 liters... isn't it a burden since the volume is so much larger than the Pinot Noir?"
"It's fine."
"Yeah, I heard Sylphid sold incredibly well. I suppose you can afford to spend this much."
When the volume increases, it consumes a lot of stainless steel tank capacity, and above all, if you use oak barrels, the rental fee for the barrels is added. I guess I should be thankful that we kept it under 6 months?
"Of course."
"Then, like before, you'll be handling the enzymes yourself?"
"Yes."
"Haa, I'm curious. What on earth are you using that you're hiding it so tightly?"
"Hahaha, please just think of it as a secret that every winery has."
"I know, that's why I'm just staying quiet. If it weren't, I would have been on my knees begging you to tell me. I managed to get my hands on Aschelon early on and drank it... it was incredible. You're not going to tell me the blending ratio for that either, are you?"
"Hehe... I'll tell you the varieties that went into it instead."
"Oh-oh, really?"
"It's over 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest is Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Malbec."
"Haha, thanks."
The fact that I told him which varieties were used wasn't really a big secret. The important thing lies in the condition of the main Cabernet Sauvignon and the other blended wines, and the blending process that brings out the flavor through minute adjustments.
"The first stainless steel batch will be cleared by the end of this year. To be precise, from mid-to-late November. After that, we'll move it to used oak barrels. The ones that are 2 or 3 years old."
"Not new oak barrels? As it happens, new oak barrels are arriving this September."
"No. If we use new oak barrels for cherry wine, the flavor will die."
"How long will you use them?"
"At least 4 months, and up to 6 months. We have to keep the temperature at 16 degrees so the aroma doesn't get too sweet."
Alexis nodded while taking notes.
"It sounds more demanding than grapes?"
"Cherries have high sugar content and inconsistent acidity. Especially since the skin has less tannin, we have to extend the maceration time a bit longer. About 36 hours."
We immediately moved the harvested cherries to the sorting line. Every time the cherries rolled along the conveyor belt, their characteristic sweet aroma exploded into the air.
Occasionally, crimson juice flowed from burst fruits, and the scent was even more intense than grapes.
Alexis pointed toward the stainless steel tanks.
"Since the volume is large... I've emptied ten 10,000-liter tanks, and I'll try to make a few more 5,000-liter ones. What about the sugar content?"
"Brix 22. It will probably come out higher than that. I'm going to aim for about 13% alcohol."
"Do cherries come out like that?"
"The Bing cherries from the Harris farm in Brentwood that we brought in have high sugar content."
"Oh, is that so? I see. Let's do that."
After finishing work at Laird Family Winery and returning to Redwood when the day turned dark, surprisingly, there was a guest in the office. And the identity of the guest was surprising.
"Oh, it's been a while!"
The person was Elowen Pike from Silveroak Hills.
"Hello, sir."
"Yes, I remember seeing you a few times when you were breaking new ground."
"But how are you here...?"
I made eye contact with my father, and seeing his bitter smile, I realized he had come to make an unreasonable request. Sure enough,
"You see, that land I sold you a while ago. I was wondering if I could buy it back."
"Excuse me?"
"Of course, I’ll buy the land back, and since you’ve had a hard time with it, I’ll add $200,000. How about selling it back for $1.3 million?"
I firmly shook my head.
"Absolutely not. We will never sell. Do you have any idea how much effort we put into reviving that land?"
"That’s why I’m offering $200,000 more, isn't it?"
"No. That’s alright."
He frowned and spoke as if he had no choice.
"Fine, $400,000. I’ll give you a total of $1.5 million. You can consider this a sufficient profit."
It seemed that since Silveroak had received great attention as a notable newcomer at the Judgment of Paris re-tasting, their wine sales had skyrocketed.
"We’re not selling. Even if you offer $2 million."
"$2 million? Ha, that’s ridiculous."
He shrugged at my father and said,
"Your son is too greedy. Fine. It can't be helped. But this is definitely a good opportunity. Please contact me anytime if you change your mind later."
Elowen smiled and left the winery.
"What on earth..."
As I was bewildered by his departure, my father sighed and said,
"Actually, Elowen wasn't the only one."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I’ve been getting calls all day asking if I have any intention of selling the farm. They said land prices in the Napa Valley area are rising."
"Ah..."
Only then did I realize that Elowen wasn't just trying to reclaim the land because his sales had increased. And the next day, I received a phone call from Christopher.
"Don't be surprised. They say the price of Aschelon has soared to over $300 in the secondary market after the re-tasting."
"What? How did that...?"
"Sylphid was over $200 in the secondary market, so I was curious how much Aschelon was, and I looked it up. Napa Valley wine is soaring overall right now. Haha, the value of American wine itself is rising!"
Christopher was shouting in excitement.