“They say they’ll make the deal.”
Ben Lowell, who had returned to the farm, beamed as he delivered the news.
“I see. Then all that’s left now is for the money to go out.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
“How much is in the tanks?”
“Roughly fifty thousand liters.”
“That’s exactly what I expected. Will the bottled wine be left in the warehouse as is?”
“Since it could be inconvenient for both sides, they’ll probably use an external warehouse.”
“Since they had a contract like this with that side before, the thought of signing another one makes me feel a little uncomfortable.”
“I suppose it would. But try to think of it positively. Silver Oak is actually thinking of this as a chance to clear out its debts and make a fresh start.”
“How much debt did they have?”
Ben Lowell shrugged and said calmly,
“They didn’t lay everything bare in front of me, but even at the lowest estimate, it should easily be over two million dollars.”
“Two million dollars…”
“I heard that one million of that was secured against the farm, so they probably took out at least another million in a Wine Inventory Loan for short-term operating funds, using their wine inventory as collateral. There may also be some Barrel Financing involved.”
“Wow… With expensive interest, it must be over ten percent.”
“Ten percent would be on the cheap side. If they took on additional collateral against barrels or bulk wine, the interest would likely have exceeded twenty percent. Banks are originally harsh with interest rates and fees when it comes to loans against nonstandard collateral—inventory that isn’t real estate, products vulnerable to weather and the market. And, in truth, the interest isn’t the important part. In this atmosphere, they can’t even dream of extending the maturity date, and if they miss the deadline, everything will be seized. That’s what they were probably most afraid of.”
“Mm…”
“Looking at it that way, Redwood here has actually given them a very favorable price. Considering the maturity date of that Wine Inventory Loan is fast approaching, they wouldn’t have been able to refuse even at a lower price.”
He seemed to think very highly of my generosity, but from my point of view, this wasn’t a major loss.
“You said there are fifty thousand liters in the tanks. It’s not like I’m going to throw it away, and depending on the quality, I can make more than enough profit from it.”
The farm itself had originally been priced at 5.8 million dollars, so in effect, I had valued the fifty thousand liters of wine and the tanks at seven hundred thousand dollars. Not expensive, not cheap.
“As for your skill, there’s no need to even mention it. Personally, I’m looking forward to it quite a bit. To what kind of magic you’ll work with Silver Oak’s wine, that is.”
“Do you enjoy wine personally?”
I asked because I wondered whether he knew what he was talking about, and his eyes widened as he raised his voice.
“Do you think I broker farm deals without knowing wine?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but…”
“The one and only reason I’m in Napa, of all places, is this: I wanted to be a little closer to the wine I love.”
In other words, he was a kind of wine fanatic.
“Ah…”
“Echelon from Redwood, Sylphid, and even though I personally didn’t consider cherry wine to be wine, I was amazed after drinking Cerasia from Redwood. For reference, I bought six bottles of Cerasia at Macy’s Department Store earlier this year, and I’m down to my last bottle, which I’m drinking sparingly.”
“Haha…”
“In fact, as Echelon became famous around California, I tried it myself and was deeply moved. After that, I started paying attention to Redwood, and when I saw in a magazine that Mr. Warren had joined, I personally began expecting great things. You have no idea how moving it is for me to be able to do business with such a winery.”
“I’m grateful you think of us that way. In any case, when did you set the contract date?”
“The day after tomorrow. The other side wants to receive the funds as soon as possible, but is there anything else you’d like to check? For example, the wine fermenting in the tanks…?”
At his cautious question, I shook my head.
“No, it’s all right. I trust Silver Oak’s skill.”
They were probably already upset about selling the farm, so I didn’t want to go out of my way to visit and upset Elowen by talking about the quality of the wine in the tanks. And since they had even been on a TV show, I figured the basic quality of the wine would be there. Of course, even if our standards for that quality were a little different, I wasn’t too worried.
“Understood. Then I’ll wrap things up here and let you know the time and place of the contract.”
“Since you came all this way, I’ll give you a gift.”
I brought out a bottle of Echelon I had stored at the winery and handed it to him. His mouth fell open wide, and he stroked the wine in its wooden case as he said,
“My goodness… This is why I can’t leave Napa Valley. Thank you. Um… Could I get your signature here, sir…”
“You’re not going to get it signed and then not drink it, are you?”
“I’ll have to think about that. Hahaha!”
I signed the wine bottle in a flowing script and handed it over, and he left the winery with a broad grin on his face.
“……”
Seeing someone like the wine I made so much, cherishing it like that, stirred up an indescribably strange feeling in me. But I soon forgot about it and turned toward the aging room.
Today was a very important day, together with Warren…
“Huh?”
When I opened the door to the aging room and stepped inside, my eyes met Warren’s as he held a wineglass.
Startled for a moment, Warren quietly set the glass down.
“No… The conversation was taking too long, you see. I was wondering how long I’d have to wait, so I just… tasted it once. It was good.”
“What are you doing? After telling me we should taste it together? You said we’d open it together.”
Originally, we had predicted that the barrels aged for a long time to make cult wine would reach their peak right around now. But this wasn’t a pressure cooker, and checking the condition with barrel samples midway didn’t mean the flavor would go bad or anything.
As for me, I only checked from time to time to see if any problems had arisen, so I had told him that if he was curious, he should go ahead and taste it. But Warren had flatly refused every time. His reason was that he wanted to check it when it was at its peak and experience the full emotion of it.
Today happened to be that exact day, so we had agreed to open and drink it together, but while I was talking with Ben about the acquisition, he couldn’t wait that long and had drunk it alone.
He avoided my gaze, but when I checked, he hadn’t simply opened a barrel.
“Huh? You blended it?”
At a glance, I could see traces of blending with wine taken from various barrels. He clasped his hands behind his back and cleared his throat.
“Ahem… After having a glass of Cab, I got excited and just couldn’t stop. So I blended it according to the ratio you mentioned. The preparations were already all done, weren’t they? We’d already experimented hundreds of times and worked out the perfect conditions… All I had to do was mix it, so how was I supposed to resist?”
“Wow… So how does it taste?”
He turned his head sharply, his eyes sparkling, and grinned.
“I’ll tell you, it’s the most shocking wine I’ve tasted in nearly ten years. Of course, there are parts that stand out a little. It might be because it hasn’t married before bottling, or perhaps the Petit Verdot is a bit much. We’ll have to wait a little after bottling to know, but even that excessive part feels charming to me. Like a tomboyish little girl, I suppose?”
When it came to these abstract expressions used by people who enjoyed wine, it was best not to nitpick. You could think of it as a culture all their own.
“So it’s good?”
“In a word, this is insane. Absolutely insane. At this level, a thousand dollars a bottle wouldn’t be too much.”
I took the beaker he had blended, poured some into an empty glass, took a sip, and rolled it around in my mouth. After savoring the aroma as much as possible through slurping, mixing it with air, I was certain it had nearly reached the scent I had experienced before my regression. Back then, when I discovered this blending ratio, I had been so delighted all by myself…
“It’s good.”
At my calm evaluation, Warren was the one who was startled.
“It’s good? That’s it?”
“Well… This is about the target level I was aiming for in the first place.”
“I suppose that’s true, but… Cabernet Sauvignon is at the center, and yet the Merlot attaches so smoothly? And why doesn’t the Franc stick out, but instead settle like mist? The line of the Petit Verdot is… whew, it’s insane… How is this the combination of a beginner? This is… I couldn’t even have imagined something like this at that age. Does this make any sense?”
But from the look of it, there were several beakers poured out.
“It looks like you adjusted the ratios a little?”
“Huh? Ah, that… When I did it exactly the same, there was a part that bothered me slightly. So I changed it just a tiny bit.”
“Which one was the ratio we originally calculated?”
“This one.”
When I poured the wine from the beaker on the far right into an empty glass and drank it again, I got the very subtle impression that the violet aroma of the Franc was slightly stronger. But it was so subtle that even I, who had researched wine to an extreme degree before my regression, probably wouldn’t have easily identified it as a problem at first.
“Do you think that one is better?”
“Mm… No. The one I tasted first has more charm.”
At my words, Warren’s face lit up.
“Right?”
“Yes. The one we originally calculated is more balanced, but I should say the one you adjusted has something more appealing to it.”
“Still, I’d like to say this is a matter of taste. I also thought the originally calculated ratio was perfect. I only changed it slightly just in case, and was lucky enough to get a slightly different version.”
I noticed that he had deliberately presented the changed ratio first and made a fuss over it, but I pretended not to know. In a way, that was exactly the point I had wanted him to fulfill by joining this winery.
Something I could not do. I had thought that he was someone who could raise my score, which capped at ninety, to ninety-five or ninety-eight. And as expected, he had done it perfectly.
“For now, let’s bottle about one case and watch it for around four weeks.”
“Shall we?”
If there were no problems, and if after marrying it became even more perfectly harmonious, I was saying we would release it as is. Warren drank the wine with an expression full of excitement.
“Yes. And I have something to do, so I’ll be heading out. Please take it easy. As for the bottling, you can have the staff handle it.”
“Where are you going?”
“To look after a farm.”
“A farm? Which farm?”
“A pear farm. Chloe’s.”
He blinked, then asked with a serious expression,
“Are you really looking after all of that?”
“Of course.”
“You look after cherries, pears, and almonds too?”
“Yes.”
He tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.
“Even if you study grape cultivation and winemaking for decades, you still can’t know everything about wine. Yet from what I’ve seen, you’ve reached a level beyond your age. I’m not joking at all when I call you Master. But you’ve mastered other farming methods too? How?”
“Mm… I’m very interested in farming.”
“Ha… This is maddening. It makes me feel like a fool.”
“People would be shocked to hear you say that, Mr. Warren. You’re the genius of the century.”
“That was how I was evaluated, yes. Before I met you.”
“Come on, just look at earlier. You changed the ratio I had come up with a little and made it even better.”
“You built the framework.”
“You know, don’t you? Anyone can build the framework. What matters is the subtle sense. Not just anyone can manage those delicate differences.”
Warren felt pleased, but at the same time, envious. This young man was already so objectively aware of himself that he even knew what he lacked, and there was no telling how far he would grow in the future.
“I’ll have to live a long life.”
“Pardon? Why are you stating the obvious? Anyway, hurry back inside.”
I left the aging room, picked up the bag I had left in the office, and was about to head out when Warren asked from behind me,
“What’s that?”
“Ah, this? I just bought one.”
“For that girl?”
“Yes.”
“I’m jealous.”
“If you’re jealous, I’ll buy you one later too, Mr. Warren. It’s nothing special.”
“No need. I don’t need one, so go have fun.”
“Yes.”
I quickly ran down the farm. If I left now, I would be able to arrive before lunch.
Meanwhile, Warren, who had been watching from behind, furrowed his brow and muttered,
“I’m curious… But since she’s his girlfriend, I can’t exactly follow him…”
Even as he grew older, he felt that his desire to learn had not diminished, and thinking that the passing years were a shame, he shook his head.