When Chloe arrived at Napa County Airport, she was so excited her mouth fell open in a wide grin.
“We’re taking a private jet...!”
“Are you that happy?”
“Of course I am.”
Chloe, who was clinging to my arm, had finished harvesting the pears, so she followed me with a light heart. If I had left her behind in Brentwood again this time, she would surely have cried.
“I’m certain you’ll be satisfied with the comfort of the private jet.”
Andrei, the huge man who had come to pick me up before, spoke to Chloe with the utmost courtesy. It was true that men like him looked frightening, but if you paid them enough, they became reassuring.
Guided by Andrei, we entered the inner part of the runway, where a sleek yet imposing aircraft was dazzling in the sunlight, radiating a brilliant silver sheen.
“Wow... what model is that?”
Chloe, standing beside me, asked in a daze. Her father had farmed cherries for many years and enjoyed a comfortable life at Deer Ridge Country House, but in his everyday life he was simply a farmer who drove an old pickup truck around the orchard, covered in dust. Of course, he had now earned enough money to put most wealthy farmers to shame, but that did not mean he spent it recklessly.
Perhaps that was less due to her father’s influence and more because she often came over to my house and got nagged by my mother. Whenever she saw Chloe, she always earnestly told her that money earned while young had to be saved well.
To her, the sight before her must have seemed like a scene from an unreal movie. Andrei answered with a look full of pride.
“It’s a Gulfstream G550. It is one of the most trusted private jet models in existence, and is called a home in the sky. Please board, both of you.”
Beside the stairs, a long red carpet had been laid out, embroidered with the golden crest symbolizing Viktor Karloff. Flight attendants in full uniform bowed politely, and Chloe took a careful step forward while holding tightly to my arm.
The moment we entered the cabin, the subtle scent of agarwood and the smell of the finest new leather made the corners of Chloe’s lips curve upward, and she practically bounced on her feet at the interior, which looked like a luxury penthouse.
“My God... Brian, is this really the inside of a plane? Is everything on the floor carpet?”
Chloe whispered as she sat in a custom-made seat upholstered in Hermès leather. I gently wrapped my hand around hers. Then Andrei approached and offered us two glasses of champagne.
“This is Krug champagne, vintage 1988. Mr. Viktor prepared it especially to celebrate your trip to New York.”
We raised the glasses, where golden bubbles rose delicately, and clinked them together. With the gentle vibration announcing takeoff, the aircraft left the ground of Napa in an instant. Outside the window, the vineyards and orchards we
loved gradually shrank and disappeared behind the clouds.
Once the plane entered stable cruising altitude, Andrei spoke politely to Chloe.
“Lady Chloe, a shower room and dressing room have been prepared in the master bedroom at the rear. Mr. Viktor has prepared outfits for tonight’s party in advance through the finest boutiques in New York. Please rest for a while and get ready.”
Chloe looked at me in bewilderment, and I nodded with a smile. After she followed Andrei to the rear, I also headed to the dressing room. There hung a navy bespoke suit that seemed to have been made with exact knowledge of my physique. The finest wool fabric felt softer than silk beneath my fingertips.
A short while later, after showering and changing into the suit, I stepped out into the living room and could not help but stop in place.
Standing there was not the farmer Chloe I knew, but a dazzling goddess. I had no idea what brand the outfit Viktor had prepared was from, but it was definitely an outrageously expensive midnight-blue dress. The dress softly revealed the line of her shoulders and matched perfectly with her healthy skin tone, and around her neck hung a necklace that shone with a subtle glow.
“How do I look... Brian? Is it too much?”
At the sight of her shy smile, I approached and kissed the back of her hand.
“Too much? You’ll be more dazzling than any wine gathered at tonight’s party.”
The G550 carrying us flew across the American continent in an instant. Watching the sunset above the clouds while enjoying the finest champagne was truly blissful.
“Mr. Brian, we’re in New York.”
I opened my eyes at Andrei’s low voice. Outside the window, the dazzling nightscape of Manhattan spread out before us.
After getting off the plane, we immediately got into the black Maybach waiting for us. Our destination was 57th Street in Manhattan: Viktor Karloff’s high-rise residence overlooking Central Park.
When the elevator reached the penthouse floor and the doors opened, I saw New York’s influential figures gathered in the hall, dressed in tuxedos and gowns. And at the center of it all, Katerina Karloff approached us with elegant steps.
“Welcome, Brian. And... you’re Miss Chloe, was it? You’ve dressed up even more splendidly than I expected.”
Katerina’s gaze was kind, yet within it shone a sharpness like the eye of a businesswoman testing her opponent. She looked Chloe, who was linking arms with Brian, up and down with a peculiar gaze, then led us to the large table in the center of the party hall.
“I don’t like her eyes.”
At Chloe’s whisper, I whispered back into her ear.
“Me neither...”
We exchanged glances and let out small laughs, then followed Katerina as if nothing had happened.
“The people gathered here today are members of the Nordic diplomatic corps, officials from the Nobel Committee, and critics famous in New York for their sharp tongues. Brian, I truly hope the wine you boasted about, the one that skipped through time, can leave an impression worthy of the gods of Bordeaux. It would be good for me and for my father if it does.”
“The wine will give the answer, not me.”
“Was the name Eether?”
Ether is pronounced “Eether” [ˈiːθər] by Americans.
“To be precise, it’s Aether. When I was coming up with the name for the wine, I was inspired by physics and ancient philosophy. So, strictly speaking, I intend for it to be called Aether, with the Latin pronunciation.”
It was common for wine names to draw inspiration from Latin. Representative examples included Opus One, which in Latin meant Work No. 1, Insignia, meaning the plural of emblem, and Continuum, signifying that the winemaking tradition of the Robert Mondavi family continued from generation to generation.
And, of course, the cases in which the wine would be shipped contained all of this information. In the world of wine, it was not at all strange to convey such stories along with a high-end wine.
“Ah, Aether...?”
She nodded and began walking again.
“Let’s go. Father is waiting.”
Following Katerina, we headed deeper into the party hall, to a private lounge where the night view of Central Park could be seen in its most vivid dimensions. The noise from the center of the hall gradually grew distant, and soon I saw a huge man sitting with his back to the window.
It was Viktor Karloff. He slowly turned around, swept his beast-like gaze over us, then stood up with a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha, Napa’s young genius has come back after so long. I heard from my daughter about what happened at Belle Époque. And is this the beautiful orchard owner?”
After embracing me warmly, he gave Chloe a slight bow.
“Yes. Thank you for sending the private jet. The trip here was very enjoyable.”
“That much is nothing. This young man’s value is no ordinary amount, you see. And the pears you grew were quite impressive. I tried them myself... They certainly were something else. Is it because you’re this fellow’s girlfriend?”
“I received a lot of help.”
He looked at me with a faintly impressed expression.
“As expected... your skill in farming things other than grapes is also exceptional. They say true geniuses are not outstanding in only one field, and perhaps they were speaking of someone like you. In any case, let’s skip the idle chatter...”
His eyes flashed sharply.
“I heard your goal is to have this wine served at the Nobel banquet at the end of the year. Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“Well... I still have some friends I can contact, so it isn’t as if I can’t try speaking to them. But for that to happen, the quality of the wine itself must be outstanding... It’s not that I don’t trust you. The problem is that the opponent is the gods of Bordeaux.”
“I’m aware.”
“Good. Seeing that calm look in your eyes puts me a little at ease. In any case, this is New York. Capital is coldhearted, and the tongues of critics are sharper than vipers. If the wine you present today falls short of expectations, there will be no meeting with my old friends. That would also damage the honor of my family.”
“Naturally.”
“You’re as confident as ever. Just what kind of wine could it be...”
He gave a hollow laugh and rose from his seat.
“I’m far too curious to endure it any longer. Let’s hurry and go see for ourselves.”
“Of course.”
In the banquet hall, thirty cases of wine brought by private jet had already been prepared. Of course, I had no intention of using all of it for tasting. Most of the remaining wine had been placed there so that the invited guests could buy it.
I could have given it away as gifts, but the reason I deliberately chose not to was not only because I had confidence in the wine, but also because I was determined not to go out of my way to curry favor with the people here.
Together with Viktor, we went back out to the center of the hall. As soon as Viktor appeared, the noisy atmosphere of the party hall instantly settled into calm. By coincidence, Anthony Gould, the critic from the New York Wine Times who was present here today as well, and the Nordic diplomats all focused their attention on us at once.
I checked the aroma of the Aether wine, which Andrei had already opened and placed in a crystal decanter. Then I carefully picked up the decanter.
Aether was a wine in which anthocyanins and tannins had been extremely concentrated, so the compressed energy trapped inside the bottle needed time to meet the air and be released. In particular, a wine barely a year old could have reductive aromas, a closed state, so it required the process of decanting to forcibly open up the waves of its fragrance.
Seeing that, Viktor raised his glass.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today you will taste the most controversial pinnacle Napa Valley has reached. Some will call it a miracle, and some will call it magic. Brian, begin.”
I calmly began pouring Aether into Anthony Gould’s glass first. The deep violet liquid flowed down the clear crystal glass. With barely a year of aging, it should have been utterly impossible... yet it possessed a deep, luminous hue like an old vintage aged for decades.
Speaking in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, I addressed Anthony, whose eyes were filled with expectation.
“This is a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. By ordinary common sense, this wine should now be scratching at your throat with harsh tannins. But please confirm for yourself how Napa’s technology has compressed time.”
The moment the critics swirled their glasses and smelled the aroma, strange murmurs flowed through the room.
Because there was none of the sharp acidity or unpleasant smell of unripe tannins normally found in a first-year wine. Instead, the deep, profound scent of blackberry, something one could only sense from old vines several decades old, and the precisely designed structure of the tannins struck the nasal passages.
As it happened, Anthony had recently experienced Castello’s Emperor wine, so he could not shake the strange sense of comparison. The structure, aroma, and acidity that flowed from overwhelming concentration had left an indelible memory, so he had some doubts as to whether the wine before him could truly surpass Emperor.
Of course, there had been something a little puzzling about Emperor at the very end... but still, the intensity at the beginning was not something that could ever be easily forgotten.
“Please taste it.”
At least in terms of aroma, it was not inferior to Emperor, so Anthony slowly brought the wineglass to his lips.