Following Elioren, who had come out in a light outer garment, I stepped outside the mansion.
Wineries were mostly beside vineyards, so it would be far from the city center.
I braced myself to walk quite a distance, but in terms of how it felt, we arrived after about an hour.
It wasn’t completely a downtown area, but it wasn’t as if there were vast stretches of land suited for farming either.
It was an ambiguous outskirts area, half rural and half urban.
“Are we already here?”
“Yes. It was faster than you expected, wasn’t it?”
The winery we reached like that was...
‘This is a winery? Why is it so small?’
It was small. Far too small.
Unless they were artisan-run on a small scale, the famous wineries of Europe were over twenty hectares.
One hectare was about 1.3 soccer fields, so that meant ridiculously wide.
Of course, depending on the scale, there were also wineries that exceeded hundreds of hectares.
Like Robert Mondavi, or wines from Australia or Chile.
This was a medieval fantasy world.
Mass industry hadn’t developed, and they didn’t have the technology, so I hadn’t expected that much.
Still, this size was...
‘About five hectares?’
Only about the size of seven soccer fields stuck together.
It was a field smaller in scale than Silvaerin’s agricultural district.
As someone who had seen modern mass agriculture until I was sick of it, the impact was a little lacking.
“What do you think? It’s not as amazing as you expected, is it?”
“Ah, it’s amazing... Huh?”
“I know. It seems you’re deflated because it’s smaller than you imagined.”
What the hell, how did he know?
Elioren had read my mind with that gentle expression.
Come to think of it, Elioren had said something earlier on the way to the winery.
‘The winery we’re going to now is the place that makes the best wine in Noirudel.’
‘Wow, really?’
‘The sweet fragrance of fruit and the refreshing flavor of lemon zest are quite charming. It sells out as soon as they get any stock, so it isn’t easy to obtain.’
Despite saying he didn’t really like wine, he had praised this winery to a suspicious degree.
Seeing how he’d known it was this small yet still praised it so highly,
and how he was stoking the mystery with an attitude of, “It’s smaller than you thought, huh? lol!”...
‘He’s got some hidden buildup here.’
I had no choice but to understand that there was still an unrevealed twist remaining.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Eilenna! Please come out for a moment. We have a guest.”
Elioren knocked firmly on the winery’s door and called someone named Eilenna.
Was she the owner of this winery?
By the way, why were all the names so similar?
Elioren, Eilenna, Iseria, Seiran...
Elven-style naming seemed to contain a lot of “l” sounds.
It was pretty hard to memorize the names, too.
Bang, bang!
Even after waiting, there was no sign of anyone beyond the door.
Elioren began knocking on the door even harder.
“Uh, is it all right to knock that hard?”
“It’s all right. She only comes out if I do this much.”
Elioren answered comfortably, as if this were an everyday occurrence.
And then, truly, footsteps loaded with force came from beyond the door.
Thud—
Thud— thud!
The footsteps drew close, and the door flew open.
“What guest...! Huh? A human?”
“Ah, hello.”
Fresh light-green hair like green grapes,
and bright blue eyes that seemed to contain the blue sky.
A tall figure like a model, and a powerful presence felt from the very first impression.
‘A pretty older sister who makes alcohol well.’
Eilenna was a female elf who gave off exactly that kind of feeling.
Eilenna didn’t even glance at Elioren, who had been knocking on the door, and stared at me.
Though she looked away before long.
“Elioren, what’s this about, showing up all of a sudden? This human is... that guy from the rumors, I guess.”
“That’s right. I came because I wanted to show the winery to Sir Jinwoo.”
“Hey. You think this is a place people can see whenever they feel like it? And a human, at that...”
“Ah, excuse me for a moment.”
In the middle of the conversation, Elioren suddenly approached Eilenna.
The distance between the two of them grew closer and closer, until they were close enough to whisper.
‘…….’
‘……!!’
And then, Elioren whispered into Eilenna’s ear.
If I only described it like this, it would seem like a very sweet situation,
but Elioren’s expression was extremely displeased.
It stirred my curiosity as to what he could possibly have to convey to that extent.
It only stirred it. It wasn’t like I could dig into it...
After hearing the whisper, Eilenna flinched and hunched her shoulders in surprise.
Soon, the corners of her eyes drooped limply, drained of strength.
Where had that strong-older-sister aura gone? In an instant, her eyes had become docile.
“Th-then... c-come in. I’ll give you a tour.”
“Haha, let us go, Sir Jinwoo.”
“Ah... yes.”
With a face like a gloomy cat, Eilenna let us into the winery.
Just what had she heard to make her flip her attitude like that?
Regardless, Elioren still wore his gentle expression.
He might be an even scarier old man than I thought.
“I’ll show you the field first. That’s the most important part, too.”
“Mm-hmm, that’s true.”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, nothing.”
Without realizing it, I had blurted out what was inside me.
But that was because, when it came to winemaking, the field really was the core of the core.
Land, or soil, was called terroir in French.
In the narrow sense, it could mean only the actual land where grapes grew, and in the broader sense, it could encompass climate and cultivation methods as well.
If one went deep into terroir, it became highly specialized, dealing with the geological strata of the land, water sources, and even annual rainfall.
However, since I had only learned about wine at an introductory level, I didn’t know that far...
‘Eilenna probably knows.’
Since she was an expert, wouldn’t she know?
The fact that she said she would show me the field first already gave off the strong feeling that she was going to introduce terroir.
I followed Eilenna out to the field.
It was a relatively small field about the size of seven soccer fields, but compared to a single human, it was vast.
Green grapevines were planted all the way to the far end,
and each vine had been fitted with supports so they wouldn’t fall over.
A vineyard with its rows and columns aligned, satisfying the comfort of symmetry.
Standing before it and feeling the gently blowing breeze, a sweet scent of green grapes wafted thickly.
Mm, this is healing. Now it finally feels like I’m having an elf-like experience.
I let myself blend into the vineyard and enjoyed my calming heart.
“The grape variety is called ‘Esera.’ Both its acidity and sweetness are high, so it’s hard to eat as is, but it’s really delicious when made into wine.”
“Oho...”
“The sweetness of ripe peaches and apples, and the flavor of lemon are dominant. It pairs well with sweet desserts.”
“Hmm... I see.”
But when was she going to explain the terroir?
The variety was one thing, but there were things like this, you know.
This land has a large temperature difference between day and night,
and because the water veins of the Kalian Mountains flow beneath it, there is enough moisture... that sort of thing.
While listening to Eilenna’s continued explanation, I couldn’t hold back and asked.
“But by any chance, what are the characteristics of the land where the field is located?”
“Hm? Characteristics? Hmm... It’s made of dirt.”
“Uh... and?”
“And there are pebbles and stones, maybe? There are no pests.”
A chill—
I sensed a coldness rising up from my spine.
No way, surely not.
I must have asked strangely, so she was getting confused about the answer, right?
I changed the question to be more detailed and asked again.
“Not that. What effect do things like this land’s climate, rainfall, sunlight, and geological strata have on the grapes?”
“I don’t know. What’s that? Scary...”
Ah. How is it that my bad feelings are never wrong?
They said this was the place that made the best wine in Noirudel, yet she didn’t even know something this basic?
Just as I was about to be swept up in disappointment and complain, Eilenna spoke.
“I don’t really know about that stuff, so I’ll show you this instead. Hyap!”
Eilenna scratched her head as if embarrassed.
Then she placed both hands on a grapevine that had been emptied after its fruit was harvested not long ago, and shouted with spirit.
Shurururuk!
“Whoa! Shit!”
“Hehe, try eating one.”
Pop.
When she shouted with spirit at the empty grapevine,
the tree grew like mad and bore plump green grapes.
Eilenna plucked one grape with a pop and handed it to me.
Uh... it should be okay to eat this, right?
The abnormal growth speed bothered me, but if I started nitpicking that, my [Mana Market] was even more mysterious.
Pop—
I put one green grape into my mouth and bit down.
Splash!
The moment my molars tore into the skin, juice overflowed like a taut water balloon bursting.
I savored that ecstatic liquid with my tongue for a moment...
“Ptooey!!”
And spat it straight onto the ground.
“Ugh, it’s too sweet! Sour! Blebleh...”
“Hahaha! Of course it is. They’re winemaking grapes!”
“Eilenna. What are you doing right now?”
“Hieek.”
I kept spitting out the saliva streaming from my properly stimulated salivary glands.
Every time I spat, I could taste the lingering juice left on my tongue.
‘I thought it would be sweet, but I didn’t think it would be to this degree.’
Green grapes, Shine Muscat, which had been a boom in Korea for a while.
Shine Muscats are shipped once they measure at least 18 Brix, the unit of sugar content.
In other words, the sweet green grapes we usually eat have a sugar content of 20 Brix at most.
But the winemaking grapes used to make wine are in a different league when it comes to sugar content.
At minimum 26 Brix, and at high levels, exceeding 30 Brix.
Because of their high sugar content and corresponding acidity, eating them could make your tongue sting and your throat feel scratchy.
Still, I thought one grape would be fine and tried it...
Not at all.
She grew them without knowing terroir, climate, or anything else,
yet she produced this level of sweetness, acidity, and flavor?
I spoke to Eilenna, who was getting scolded by Elioren.
“How did you do it? You don’t even know the climate, yet grapes of this quality...?”
“Well, that’s... thanks to the grace of the World Tree, too.”
‘Ugh, the World Tree again?’
The World Tree, whose influence extended everywhere within Noirudel.
Truly, it couldn’t be anything but the GOAT among GOATs.
How were these guys planning to live without the World Tree?
Eilenna continued what she had cut off.
“Using the World Tree’s life force more efficiently. That’s the specialty of our family, Liliendra.”
“Wh-what.”
“No matter how abundant the World Tree’s grace is, simply pouring it in won’t create that taste. It’s only possible because it passed through my hands.”
“No way...”
So.
Outside Noirudel, and even on modern Earth, people record terroir every year and work hard to grow the best grapes.
But while humans are going, “We have to win...”, elves just go, “lol, click!” and call it done?
Fine, we lost.
“GG! The elves win!”
“Wh-what? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Honestly, when there’s this much of a difference at the starting line, I don’t even get angry.
If anything, my heart felt refreshed.
“I’ve seen plenty of the fields, so please show me the winemaking facilities.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure...”
Eilenna was flustered by my attitude, which had suddenly turned toxic.
Regardless, I dragged my toes and followed her to the winemaking facilities.
“This is our winery. In that big wooden barrel, we crush the grapes, then filter them through that strainer over there...”
Eilenna enthusiastically explained the winemaking facilities.
But since I already knew all of it... I didn’t really listen closely.
If one got into the details, there were many variables, but the broad strokes were like this.
The harvested grapes were stepped on with bare feet and crushed.
By stepping on them with bare feet, the yeast clinging to the body entered the grapes and helped fermentation.
Next was pressing, literally squeezing only the juice out of the crushed grapes.
After that, impurities in the juice were refined, and after fermentation and filtration, it was done.
Depending on the variety and intended flavor, aging or blending might also be carried out, but generally speaking, that was how it went.
Since modern wineries were more complicated and larger, medieval-style facilities didn’t really pique my interest.
The one and only reason I was still listening to this explanation was...
“Um, Lady Eilenna?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Could you... show me the grape crushing just once?”
“? Sure. It was a day I had to do it anyway...”
‘Yesss!!’
I hid my delighted expression as much as possible and shouted triumphantly in my heart.
The traditional crushing method involved stepping on grapes with clean bare feet, squish squish, and crushing them.
A barefoot grape show by a smooth, fair-skinned elf older sister with long, light-green hair swaying?
‘I can’t miss that.’
The sight of those clean legs being dirtied by sticky grapes.
Imagining her blushing with a strangely embarrassed look...
‘No. Let’s keep it moderate.’
Smack!
I almost fell into filthy delusions all by myself.
Maybe I was so jealous of Eilenna’s grape-click ability.
Without realizing it, I must have wanted to see her embarrassed.
“Hum... no, Jinwoo, I’m going to... start now?”
“Yes, yes!”
Eilenna, who had washed her hands and feet clean, said so.
Unlike before, her presence was strangely withdrawn.
‘The big one is coming!’
A gloomy desire bloomed once more within me.
Eilenna rolled up the ends of her top and pants...
And immediately began “crushing” the grapes.
Squish—
Squelch!
Splat!
I stared blankly at the sight of her mercilessly crushing the grapes.
Eilenna’s crushing method far exceeded my expectations.
That method was none other than—
“No!!!!!! Why are you using magic instead of doing it barefoot!!!!!”
“What? Are you stupid? How long would it take to do all this barefoot?!”
“Still, still!!!!”
A large pestle used for grape crushing.
Eilenna lifted and dropped that pestle with wind magic,
thump, thump, crushing the grapes.
“This!!!!! Isn’t tradition!!!!!”
Along with my expectations, it was crushed miserably.