Late September morning, Warren’s home.
“So, how much have we lost so far?”
His eldest son, Andrew, lowered his head, unable to bring himself to speak, and Jonathan fidgeted before answering.
“Well... it’s not as if we’ve had large-scale vacancies yet. They say the prices of nearby buildings have fallen sharply, but there’s still room for them to rebound... and most importantly, we didn’t borrow that much when we bought the building, so...”
“Hah. What would you have done if I hadn’t stopped you back then?”
“......”
At the time, when they had sold Stag’s Leap Winery and bought the building in San Jose, Andrew and Jonathan had been envisioning a dreamlike future. A dream of becoming real estate magnates, using the monthly rent and rising property values to buy additional buildings.
But the subprime crisis, which they had thought would pass by lightly, struck the United States, and they experienced firsthand that real estate investments could not always be good.
At the very least, they could not deny that if their father had not stopped them when they tried to buy more buildings, they would have suffered far greater losses.
“So, are you managing the building properly?”
Realizing that the anger had left his father’s voice, Andrew quickly raised his head and answered.
“Yes! I make sure to go and check on it every other day.”
“Since it’s come to this, at least manage it properly. The real estate market won’t keep going downhill forever, so make sure it can be properly valued when the market comes back.”
“Of course, Father. Naturally.”
Warren nodded, then gathered his clothes and prepared to leave, when Jonathan watched his mood and cautiously asked.
“How long are you going to keep going in to Redwood?”
“How long? When one of our employees joined Stag’s Leap, did you ever think about what year you’d like them to work until before leaving?”
“That’s not what I mean... You’re getting on in years, Father. I’m just worried you might wear yourself out for no reason. People your age usually rest, travel, and things like that...”
“Hmph! Why? Do you want me out of sight in Napa?”
When Warren snapped his head around and glared, his second son startled and waved his hands.
“Oh, what are you saying? I’m saying this because I’m thinking of your health, Father. If you’re at the winery, you’ll keep worrying about things and doing research. It’s just that there’s nothing good about staying in that stuffy aging room, drinking nothing but wine.”
“If being in a stuffy aging room caused health problems, how do you think Mr. Robert Mondavi lived to that age?”
“That’s a special case.”
“...What is it you want to say?”
Thinking his true intentions had been seen through, Jonathan scratched his head and said,
“Everyone outside is speaking badly of you, Father.”
“......That’s what you wanted to say?”
“Honestly, it’s true. They’re asking why you went into that tiny winery. Michel Wine, the ones who acquired Stag’s Leap, have been making inquiries nonstop, and they’re sharpening their knives. They’ll probably check every wine that comes out of Redwood Winery. And if it’s even similar to Stag’s Leap’s blending ratio...”
“That will not happen.”
At Warren’s firm words, Jonathan hurriedly continued.
“If not that, then if a low-quality wine comes out for no reason, it’ll only drag down your reputation, Father.”
Only then did Warren think he understood why his second son had been prattling on since morning.
“So what you’re saying is, Michel Wine complained that my reputation must not be harmed, is that it?”
Jonathan practically jumped.
“What? No...”
“No, my foot...”
Warren, thinking there was no way his second son—who had never had the slightest interest in wine—would mention his reputation out of concern for him, snorted and said,
“There’s no need to waste your breath on pointless nonsense. And there’s no need to go around listening to pointless talk, either.”
“That’s not it... It’s just that there really are a lot of people who don’t understand you, Father.”
“Because they don’t understand me, are you telling me to go around explaining my intentions to each and every one of them? Or are you saying I should stop doing what I want for their sake?”
“......”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”
Shaking his head, Warren left the house, and soon his stiff expression gradually softened. His steps toward Redwood Winery were light because of anticipation.
He was already excited to see what the quality of the completed blended wine would be after the marriage period following bottling, and on top of that, today was also the day he would taste the new Pinot Noir.
But when he arrived at the winery, Brian was nowhere to be seen, and only his father was there.
“Good morning. You’re here early again today.”
Although he was an employee of the winery, Woody Choi always treated Warren with reverence. Given that he knew Warren’s reputation well, it was perhaps only natural.
“Haha, good morning. But is Brian in the aging room?”
He asked because Brian, who always drank coffee in the office in the morning, was nowhere to be seen. The instant coffee brought from Korea was quite addictive, but Warren stayed away from it. He judged that it might alter his palate.
“No. He’s at Silver Oak.”
“Ah... I see.”
Warren nodded, then remembered what Brian had said a few days earlier. That he would check the soil condition and the state of the grapes at Silver Oak and set plans afterward.
“Then I should go take a look at Silver Oak.”
“Haha, please do.”
Silver Oak was not very far from Redwood, so Warren set off at a leisurely pace. With harvest season not far off, walking between vineyards heavy with clusters of dark grapes was enough to fill him with happiness in itself.
After walking for quite some time and arriving, he saw a middle-aged worker taking down the farm sign.
“You’re here?”
I had been talking with the worker in front of the Silver Oak office, and after waiting for Warren, who was walking up from afar, I greeted him.
“So this place will now formally become Redwood as well.”
“It’s the natural course of things.”
“Has all the existing equipment been cleared out?”
“Yes. They cleared it out so thoroughly there’s hardly anything for me to touch... But it’s too old and full of bugs, so I’m just going to demolish the office and move the winery facilities over to our side.”
“Is that so? Then Redwood Winery will need to be expanded.”
“We were actually talking about that. We have to get the designs drawn up and report it to the state government...”
“What about the wine in the tanks?”
“The quality isn’t bad, so I’m thinking about it. I’m considering moving it into oak barrels, aging it for a year, and putting it into next year’s Echelon.”
“Oh-ho... If not that, then...”
At his expectant look, I shrugged.
“You want to say we should make it into brandy, don’t you? Let’s wait a little for now. It isn’t finished yet.”
The new brandy, unexpectedly, still had not been completed even after the low-temperature distiller had come in. The brandy, which had seemed perfect in theory, had run into problems when the actual result came out with its balance skewed.
But neither Warren nor I were greatly worried. Whether wine or spirits, when making alcohol, this kind of process was something one inevitably went through. Hadn’t I also experienced countless failures before my regression?
“I guarantee it, a month will be enough at most. We’ll find the answer before then.”
“I know. For now, I won’t put it into oak barrels, so let’s finish it before then and decide. In any case, to move the tanks, we need approval from the state government, so we can’t move the facilities right away.”
“Right, right.”
Warren nodded, looked around the surrounding vineyards once, and asked,
“When did you set the harvest date?”
“I think we’ll need at least another week. Maybe around two weeks if it’s longer? From the looks of it, I don’t think they applied SWP last year. So this year, I’m planning to apply water stress at the end... I think this October is going to be really busy, since we’ll have to bring the equipment over.”
Warren’s eyes widened.
“Without buying more?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve decided to turn over all the soil, then?”
“That’s right. The terroir isn’t bad, but if you ask whether it’s significantly better than Redwood’s, it’s not. Besides, what’s worse is that over thirty percent of the vines have already entered old age.”
“The condition of the grapes must be all over the place.”
“Exactly. There’s quite a gap between the ones in good condition and the ones in bad condition. If we’re going to do it like this, I’m going to just clear everything out, rework the soil, and start planting saplings next year.”
At the bold decision, even Warren clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Hoho... If we simply maintained this land and made wine, we could earn millions of dollars a year...”
If it had been Elowen Pike, the former owner of Silver Oak, perhaps not, but if it were me, I could certainly create that much value with this wine.
“But if we devote five years to it, after that, we’ll be making tens of millions of dollars.”
“Are you truly that certain?”
“Of course. And you also want to see me turn over this land, don’t you, Mr. Warren?”
“Hahaha! That’s right, that’s right. I intend to watch closely from the side. How you build the soil, and what organic matter and microorganisms you put to work inside it. I’m already looking forward to it. I’ll say this in advance, but you can’t come alone like today. You must come with me.”
“Understood. But these days you’ve been busy making brandy...”
“Can’t be helped, can it? Then I’ll do the brandy in the evening...”
“No, no...! I might end up saddled with the disgrace of making an elder collapse for no reason, so when I come to Silver Oak, I’ll make sure to tell you in advance.”
If he overdid it and collapsed, it was obvious Redwood would be condemned throughout Napa Valley as a winery that abused the elderly.
“Naturally, you should. Then the grapes on the eighteen acres we bought and developed in advance over there will come out about three years earlier. You’ll develop this place exactly the same as that one, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And Ironwood Cellars will remain as is?”
“I think it would be unreasonable to develop every piece of land to high quality. There’s the money that goes into soil preparation, of course, but we also need steady sales for the winery to operate stably.”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
After that, I discussed the design with the winery-specialized construction company that had come from outside, then returned to Redwood with Warren. Before we knew it, it was already past one, and it was time for lunch.
“Perfect. Very good.”
Warren rubbed his palms together, his eyes sparkling in front of an oak barrel.
“What are you so pleased about?”
“With the plain roast chicken your mother will soon bring and a Pinot Noir, it will be a finer lunch than at any restaurant.”
Mom was an excellent cook, and by now, she had become rather good at Western food as well, not just Korean food. Among those dishes, roast chicken was not particularly difficult, and after Mr. Warren joined, Mom personally prepared lunch every time, saying that an elderly gentleman needed to eat well, if nothing else.
Since today had been set as the first time to taste the Grendel Hill Pinot Noir, the dish had naturally been decided as roast chicken to pair with it. Of course, I had already tasted it, so I wasn’t particularly moved. It was just that it had come out well enough not to fall short of Sylphid. Of course, since the soil was different, its character was slightly different as well.
Lightly tapping the oak barrel with his palm, he carefully poured the red wine into a glass with a sampler. Following the clear ruby liquid, Warren’s greedy gaze flickered.
“The color... is light, but not murky.”
Without smelling it first, he tilted the glass and let the light pass through it, staring at the rim for a long while before finally bringing the glass slowly to his nose.
“Mm... raspberry, pomegranate... the violet is clearer than in Sylphid. But the spice has moved to the background.”
He took a sip and stopped speaking for a moment. During the brief time he rolled the wine over his tongue, I quietly waited for his impressions to end.