Perhaps because they were used to Koreans, Frederick and his wife, as well as Chloe, showed no great aversion to Korean food. Even at this time, bulgogi and kimchi were fairly well known, and when Mom heard that Chloe’s parents were coming, she deliberately made the bulgogi sweet so that Americans would like it.
Maybe that was why Frederick kept exclaiming, “Fantastic,” as he ate dinner. Once he had filled his stomach to a reasonable degree, he looked at me with a subtle expression.
“To be honest, I was shocked when I heard it from Chloe. Jack is someone I know quite well.”
Since he had been running a tomato farm for a long time, there was nothing strange about him knowing Jack well.
“Then he must have known Chloe was your daughter, sir?”
“He would have. But he’s not the sort of fellow who’d care.”
“He wouldn’t care? How is that possible?”
As a Korean, it was truly hard to understand.
“Originally, that man’s farm wasn’t that large. At first, it was only about twenty acres. That must have been more than twenty years ago. But then there was an incident where a neighboring farm drilled a well improperly, causing the salinity of the groundwater to rise sharply. Jack, who had been thinking farm work wasn’t easy and that this was a stroke of luck, immediately filed a lawsuit over it.”
From the way he acted now, I could picture exactly what he must have been like when he was younger.
“So it wasn’t his first time doing it?”
“That’s right. The problem was, at first he was only trying to squeeze out a few tens of thousands of dollars, but as the surrounding farms all joined the lawsuit, it became much bigger than expected. On top of that, the damage to the farms from the increased salinity turned out to be greater than anticipated. So the scale of the lawsuit grew.”
“Ah…”
“At the time, the farmer who caused the damage couldn’t handle the amount of compensation, so he put his farm up for sale and chose bankruptcy. That farm was split apart according to the damages owed.”
“Then the land he has now originally belonged to someone else?”
“That’s right. After obtaining more than thirty acres for free like that, Jack went on to seize land several more times using the same method.”
At those words, my parents and I stared with our mouths hanging open.
“Then that means he was trying to seize Chloe’s farm too. But how could he do something like that when he knows your face, sir?”
“That has nothing to do with it. He’d simply say he was acting according to the law.”
“He’s a bastard.”
“He is. If I had drilled a well improperly while setting up my pear orchard, he would probably have sued me in exactly the same way. In that situation, I can only be grateful that you helped Chloe.”
“Not at all. It was only natural.”
“From now on, I intend to keep a close eye on Jack. From what I heard, you told him you wouldn’t file any additional lawsuits?”
“Yes. I was worried he might end up harboring bad feelings toward Chloe for no reason.”
“You made the right call. With lunatics, it’s best to avoid them. And even if you don’t tell them, the surrounding farms are probably eyeing Jack’s farm like hawks. Those farmers know better than anyone how he expanded his land.”
At those words, both Chloe and I felt a chill in our hearts. Because we vividly remembered the look in their eyes when they first barged in.
They hadn’t come simply to collect insurance money or some compensation. They had come to tear apart and devour a vast piece of land spanning seventy acres.
“By the way, when are you thinking of buying a house?”
Seeing Frederick ask again, as if he still had lingering attachment to Deer Ridge Country Club, I answered awkwardly.
“Probably… around the end of this year?”
“That’s not bad either. The real estate market has been looking rather unusual lately.”
New Century Financial, a subprime mortgage lender, had already gone bankrupt, setting off warning lights in the real estate market. I didn’t want to live my new life playing money games, so I tried not to pay attention to it, but the state of the market was definitely very bad.
“Exactly. I’m thinking of considering it around the end of the year.”
“You’ve got long arms and good control of your body, so you’d be good at golf. It’ll be a lot of fun if you learn together with Chloe later.”
“…Yes…”
---
After getting through the crisis that had befallen Chloe, around the time April approached, a black Bentley sedan entered Oakville in Napa Valley and came to a stop. An elderly man opened the door and revealed himself. Surprisingly, he was Warren Winiarski, the founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the protagonist of the Judgment of Paris victory and a man called the pinnacle of American wine.
A Polish-American, he founded his winery in 1970, and in the 1976 Judgment of Paris, his 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon beat out France’s finest Bordeaux wines to take first place, instantly elevating him to the ranks of world-class winemakers.
One bottle of his historic 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon wine was currently housed in the Smithsonian Museum. Since Warren Winiarski and Robert Mondavi were extremely close, there was nothing strange about him visiting.
His clothes, too, were remarkably casual for someone who had just stepped out of an expensive sedan.
“You’re here?”
When he entered the study, Winiarski saw Mondavi rising with the support of a cane to greet him and waved his hand.
“Why are you getting up? Please, sit down.”
Warren, who had always seen Mondavi hale and hearty, frowned at his now much more gaunt appearance.
The relationship between Warren and Mondavi was not merely that of winery owners in the same Napa Valley. In the early 1970s, when Warren was studying wine, he worked at Mondavi’s winery and learned his philosophy of winemaking, so in truth, they were closer to master and disciple.
When Winiarski recognized the soil of the Stag’s Leap area and chose the S.L.V. vineyard, Mondavi actively supported that choice, and there were even records of him encouraging Warren by saying, “You’ve chosen excellent land.”
So although Mondavi was already over ninety and it would not be strange for him to die at any time, Warren was not pleased to hear that his health was poor.
“Why the long face?”
After sitting down, Warren looked out at the vast vineyard spread beyond the window and grimaced.
“I’m just thinking about a lot of things.”
“Heh heh heh… You’ve been recognized as having one of the best wines in America. What is there to worry about so much?”
“Isn’t life nothing but worries until the day a person dies? I even worry about what to eat tomorrow. And it’s not the best wine. It came in second.”
At the Judgment of Paris re-tasting held last year, the wine that took first place was the 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, while his wine came in second.
“Ha ha ha! Listen to you sulk… Though I suppose my time to go is near, I’m not so bad that I’ll die right away.”
“They say it isn’t serious?”
“That’s what they say. I still have at least a year in me.”
At that, Warren nodded. He felt somewhat relieved that there was still time.
Just then, someone came out from within and brought two glasses filled with wine.
“You could have given me tea. Why wine?”
“Are you sick of it now?”
“Honestly… a little.”
It was an unexpected answer. But as if Mondavi knew the circumstances behind it, he brought the hand holding his cane near his chest and said,
“I heard. You put it up for sale?”
“It’s been up for quite a while. They simply refused to meet the price.”
Surprisingly, Warren Winiarski had put Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars on the market. However, until then, buyers had not offered a proper price, but after it once again confirmed its reputation by placing second in last year’s Judgment of Paris re-tasting, the sale had rapidly picked up speed.
“But your children are perfectly fine, aren’t they? Why?”
“They’re alive and well, but isn’t that all? They have no interest in wine, only in real estate, sports, and funds… That’s why I envy you so much when I look at you. Seeing your children continue to take an interest in wine and strive to develop it. Even your grandsons and granddaughters working at the winery—do you know how envious that makes me?”
“…So? Who’s taking it?”
“Marchesi Antinori and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.”
Marchesi Antinori was founded in 1385 and was the longest-lived winery family in Europe, continuing for over six hundred years, with its home base in Tuscany, Italy. It was one of the most prestigious wine families in Europe, and had long been active in overseas investments in the United States, Chile, Romania, Malta, and elsewhere.
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was the second-largest wine company in the United States, located in Washington, and had grown into a giant winery after its Eroica Riesling, produced in partnership with Germany’s Dr. Loosen, achieved worldwide success.
For these two companies to acquire Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars meant that a family bearing European tradition and history had joined hands with American corporate capital and distribution.
“The price?”
“It’ll be a little under two hundred million dollars.”
After hearing the story, Mondavi picked up his wineglass with a grave expression.
“Here and there, everything is being sold off.”
“Where else?”
“Duckhorn Wine Company.”
“Ah… I’ve heard about that. Dan said he was exiting, so I suppose he’s finally handing over most of his shares?”
The Dan he mentioned was Daniel J. Duckhorn, the owner of Duckhorn, whom people in the industry and those close to him called Dan Duckhorn.
“Perhaps it’s because I’m an old man, but I don’t like seeing wineries being sold off like that. No matter how profitable wine may be, seeing someone openly make money and leave…”
“Are you going to scold me too, then?”
Mondavi looked at Warren over his wineglass and grinned.
“You’re different. You wanted to pass it on, but there was no one to pass it on to. Do you think I don’t understand how that feels?”
Upset, Warren frowned again and took a sip of the wine he had not particularly wanted to drink. But then he furrowed his brow, moved the wine around in his mouth for a moment, and asked,
“What’s this? You’re even serving wine that isn’t from here?”
“Maybe because I’m nearing death, I no longer want to put the wine I made into my mouth. Whenever I do, I keep worrying over it and analyzing it.”
“That’s true. With someone else’s wine, you only have to enjoy it.”
“Heh heh… Exactly. It’s a wine I’ve taken a liking to lately. The infuriating thing is, they make so little of it that not much reaches the market, and most of it gets released in the East, so it’s actually not easy to find in the West.”
Warren tilted his head for a moment, then soon realized the identity of the wine.
“Ah! It’s Sylphid. The one that’s been quite the topic lately…”
He, too, had drunk one bottle of it last year. This year, he had only heard many rumors, and this was his first time drinking it. Because he had tasted it before, he was able to find the answer right away.
“That’s right. An infuriating wine.”
Warren chuckled.
“What’s infuriating is the winery. I heard the owner is Asian…”
“I’ve seen the owner before, and among them, the one who caught my eye was the owner’s son. His talent for wine was, how should I put it… It felt just like seeing you in the old days.”
At that astonishing praise, Warren’s eyes gleamed.
“Is that so?”
Redwood Winery had now become quite famous in Napa, but that did not mean every winery owner admired it or considered it extraordinary. After all, a large number of winery owners in this region were world-class monsters.
Moreover, wine might turn out well because of the winemaker’s skill, but it could also turn out well if the terroir of that vintage was phenomenal. That was why it was important to make a name for oneself by steadily releasing popular wines.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… You really have let go completely, haven’t you?”
It was a rebuke for putting the winery up for sale and no longer paying attention to things. At the scolding from Mondavi, who could be called his former teacher, Warren gave a bitter smile.
“Please think of it as me having no reason left to try.”
“Well… I suppose that can happen. What do you think?”
“About what?”
“If you’re going to sell the winery anyway. Why not hand it over to that fellow, who seems to have a promising future?”
But Warren looked unimpressed.
“You want me to give up two hundred million dollars?”
“You can receive it in installments over a long period, can’t you? Are you in urgent need of money right now?”
“That’s not the case, but…”
“Think carefully. Once you let go, do you really think the philosophy of Stag’s Leap will be properly maintained?”
At those words, Warren fell deep into thought for a long while and could not give an answer.