It was the morning after the Sotheby's auction ended.
Stan Kroenke sat alone in the study at Screaming Eagle Winery. The Financial Times was spread across the table, and its headline caught his eye.
‘Redwood's Heritage & Future Duo Sets New Record at Sotheby's Hong Kong Auction—Setting a New Standard for Fine Wine.’
It was so concise and impactful that he couldn't help but grasp its meaning even if he didn't want to read it. Sotheby's total sales, Christie's total sales. The two numbers were printed side by side, making the difference plain to see at a glance.
He lifted his wineglass, took a sip of Screaming Eagle, set the glass down, and looked at the article again.
It wasn't anger or frustration. Stan Kroenke had been in this world too long to feel such things. He had experienced playoff elimination several times while operating an NFL franchise,
and there were seasons when he failed to reach the NBA Finals. Losing itself was not unfamiliar.
However....
Just then, his cell phone rang. It was the Latour representative.
"Mr. Kroenke, Chairman Pinault would like to speak with you."
"Not now. Later."
"When would be a good time for you?"
"I'll call him."
Stan hung up and looked at the newspaper again. He could guess what Pinault would say. That although the result was disappointing, they had made the first move. That the Christie's auction had been held first. And that they should look for the next opportunity.
It wasn't wrong, but numbers don't lie. He tried to coldly assess the reality.
Stan scanned the bottom of the article again. It was the section analyzing the winning bids—a reporter's breakdown of the exceptional prices at the Sotheby's auction. The pairing of Margaux 1996 and Ether. The full transparency throughout the entire process. And the limited pre-order rights for Castello's first vintage.
Stan's finger stopped at that part.
Limited pre-order rights for Castello's first vintage.
The idea of bundling pre-order rights for a wine not yet released to the world as an auction condition. Not a fight of wine against wine, but a way of selling the future. He hadn't thought of that.
No, it was an idea possible precisely because it was Redwood, constantly attempting new things. Screaming Eagle did not expand. He had believed that Latour's history and Screaming Eagle's scarcity were enough.
But when the lid was lifted, they were not.
"Does wine, too, have to develop endlessly... I thought establishing the tradition was the end of it."
He felt that the world was changing. Even Screaming Eagle, which had reached the pinnacle—he could feel that people continuously wanted something new.
"Redwood... who knows what they'll bring out next."
He raised his glass, emptied the last sip, slowly set the glass down, and folded the newspaper.
As Stan left the study, he spoke to his secretary.
"Check the Rams' next game schedule for me."
"It's this Sunday."
"Good. I suppose I'll go there."
He needed to clear his head first. And then reorganize his thoughts.
It was nearly evening when I landed at Napa Airport.
The time difference between Hong Kong and Napa is fifteen hours. Not knowing what time zone my body was in, I carried my luggage and exited the gate, where I saw Chloe. Instead of waiting in the parking lot, she was standing right in front of the arrivals gate. Spotting me in her jeans and jacket, she raised her hand and waved.
For a moment, I remembered I had something to say, but I decided the airport arrivals gate wasn't the place for it. It didn't seem right to bring it up in the airport lobby under fluorescent lights with people coming and going. Besides, Warren was right there with her, wasn't he?
I pulled my luggage and approached Chloe.
"You're here?"
"Yeah. How was the flight?"
"Long. From Hong Kong to LA, then LA to here. The food was fine. But my body's so stiff. Well, I'm much better off than the old man, but..."
Just then, Warren cut in.
"Of course you are. Let's see how long you go without buying a private jet." "Please just wait until next year."
Chloe watched Warren grumbling with a smile.
"You must be tired. Still, I'm just envious."
"You'll have plenty of chances later. This guy will probably show you the whole world and then some?"
Warren patted my shoulder a couple of times, took the lead, and headed toward the parking lot. As we loaded the luggage into Chloe's car, Warren naturally climbed into the back seat, and I sat in the front passenger seat.
Chloe said as she got into the driver's seat.
"Hungry? What do you want to eat?"
"I'm fine. I ate on the plane."
"Really? Then let's stop by Redwood before taking me home."
"Hmm?"
The car started, and Warren excitedly rattled on about the Hong Kong auction from the back seat. How the winning bids had risen, what expression Oliver Baron had made, what Corin had said at the end. Chloe chimed in as she drove.
"$160,000 was the last one?"
"Lot 14 went for that, and Lot 15 went even higher. Brian, how much was the last lot again?"
"$170,000."
"Right, $170,000. Do you know what Corin's face looked like then? Pretending to be calm, but his eyes were completely different."
Chloe said with a laugh.
"What about Brian then?"
"This guy was expressionless. He always is. Though he must have been incredibly thrilled inside."
"I wasn't thrilled."
"Liar."
Before long, the car left the city and turned into Napa Valley. Looking out the window, vineyards lined both sides of the road. It was a completely different landscape from the dense buildings of Hong Kong.
The glamour of Hong Kong certainly hadn't been bad, but coming here definitely felt as comfortable as coming home.
As soon as we arrived at the Redwood office, Warren trudged toward the office. Even though his luggage had been loaded into his Rolls-Royce sedan, he didn't seem to have any intention of going home.
"Aren't you going to rest?"
My hope of finding a moment to talk with Chloe was dashed; Warren had work to do first.
"We need to talk about Castello. Marcus contacted me—Block C's grape condition is better than expected. He says this year's harvest is looking promising."
Chloe, who lived practically as family, naturally joined the conversation.
"By how much?"
"The sugar content is coming in higher than last year. Marcus said the precursor levels would likely differ too."
The three of us naturally started talking about Castello. I sat in a terrace chair, trying to gauge when this conversation would end.
"What do you think about the harvest schedule? I think the last week of September is right. Starting with Block A, wouldn't it be best to pick Block C last?"
"I think we should decide based on how fast Block C's sugar rises. If we pick too early, the precursor content might not have fully developed."
"Exactly. Then I'll have Marcus report weekly. And how will we allocate the tanks? Ferment them separately by block, or combine Blocks A and B?"
"We should keep them separate for now. Block C obviously goes on its own. We need to check the data first before we can set the blending ratio."
"Right. But do we have tank capacity? If we have to set aside tanks for Castello, they might overlap with the Redwood line."
"It would be best to use Castello Winery's tanks for this one. Next year's vintage can be done at the Redwood Winery once it's completed."
"We're aiming for completion next November, right?"
"Yes."
"Hmm... I see. Castello's facilities are good, but it's far, so it'll be hectic."
"I think we have no choice this year. That's why I'm trying to set a preliminary draft for the fermentation temperature design. Since Block C needs to precisely maintain the precursor liberation phase, I'm aiming to compress the fermentation period as much as possible."
"When will that draft be ready?"
The impatient Warren looked ready to roll up his sleeves and head into the aging room at any moment.
"Oh, come on, old man. You just arrived from Hong Kong. Didn't you say your back was bothering you?"
"So you're telling me to go rest in broad daylight?"
"You need to rest. Go on in."
I had been trying to find an opening this whole time, and the old man, who was usually quick on the uptake, seemed completely oblivious today.
"Ahem... Well, I suppose I have no choice."
"That's right. Overdoing it isn't good."
Perhaps sensing something odd, Warren looked back and forth between Chloe and me, gave a strange smile, and left the winery.
"Shall we have a glass of wine for the first time in a while?"
"Well..."
Just as Chloe was about to answer, my cell phone rang. It was Marcus.
Of all times...
I gave Chloe an awkward smile, told her to wait a moment, answered the phone, and walked to the end of the terrace. It was a report on the grape conditions in Block C's southern section, and Marcus started going into specific figures. Listening to him, it seemed like it would take quite a while.
Unable to just hang up, I answered quickly and came back to find two glasses of sangria placed on the table at some point.
"When did you make these?"
"Two days ago, the housekeeper called me over to cook, and there were oranges and lemons in the winery kitchen, so I made it then."
"What did you make it with?"
"Sylphid."
"Ah..."
She couldn't exactly be called a wine aficionado, so she preferred drinking wine like this, in sangria, rather than straight. Others might say it was a waste to make sangria with Sylphid, which people paid over $100 for in stores, but we could afford that much.
Pinot Noir in particular had low tannins and abundant fruit aroma, making it soft and easy to drink when made into sangria—the lightest and most elegant among red wine sangrias.
I sat down and looked at Chloe. Chloe was looking out at the vineyard. The sunset stretching long over the vineyard made for the perfect atmosphere.
Just as I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say, Chloe spoke with a bright smile.
"Can I go first?"
"Uh... Go first with what?"
Chloe set down her sangria glass and looked straight at me. The strange smile on her lips felt exactly like the smirk of a prankster before pulling a trick. Naturally, I asked, slightly tense.
"What's with that look?"
Chloe took a small shopping bag from her handbag and placed it on the table. It was a red shopping bag embossed with a luxury logo.
"Will you marry me?"
My heart hadn't pounded this hard even when Oliver Baron's gavel fell at the auction house.
"Huh?"
Chloe pushed the shopping bag forward and continued.
"There's nothing grand to explain. I've just known you a long time and want to keep knowing you for a long time. That's it. You don't have another woman or anything, do you?"
Really, so like Chloe. How could she say something so shocking so directly?
I looked at Chloe and burst out laughing.
"No. Absolutely not."
"Two days ago, your mother called me over and fed me, and she said the same thing. She said she'd love to have a daughter-in-law like me. She said we're practically family now."
"Th... that's true."
"So, how long are you going to keep me at arm's length? And you know I'm twenty-six now, right? It's the perfect age. You could call it the golden age of life. I wanted to let you know that the timing is very good."
She was speaking quite boldly, but the way she gradually avoided eye contact made it clear she was extremely nervous. Seeing that, a smile formed on my lips before I knew it.
I could feel that she was trembling just as much as I was.
"I had something to say too."
"Hmm?" "Actually... wait a moment."
I quickly ran down, took out a shopping bag from the luggage I'd put in the car trunk, and came back up.
"What's that?"
Catching my breath slightly, I placed the shopping bag on the table and gave an awkward smile.
"I was going to buy a ring in Hong Kong. But I didn't know your ring size. So I bought something else instead."
Chloe looked at me for a moment and burst out laughing. How long had it been since I'd seen Chloe laugh out loud?
"I knew the size."
Chloe took a box from her shopping bag. When she opened the luxurious red box, two rings were nestled side by side. They were white gold love rings. One was Chloe's. One was mine.
"How did you know my finger size?"
"I've known you a long time. And I'd been looking closely, just in case."
I picked up the ring and tried it on my finger. It fit perfectly. Chloe raised her eyebrows.
"It fits?"
"Yeah. It's exactly my size."
"Thank goodness."
"Give me your hand."
I took Chloe's hand and put the ring on her. Chloe raised her hand and looked at the ring. The sunset light sparkled on it. Both of us fell silent, overcome by the strange emotion, then Chloe was the first to speak.
"Then what's in that shopping bag?"
I took a small watch case from the shopping bag and handed it to Chloe. Chloe opened the case and looked at the watch, then discovered the Chinese characters engraved on the back.
"There are Chinese characters engraved?"
"It means ‘Every moment spent with you.’ It was already engraved. Someone engraved it in 1967."
Chloe looked at the watch for a long time before speaking.
"Nice."
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah. But is this a proposal gift, or just a Hong Kong souvenir?"
I flinched for a moment, then smiled awkwardly and said.
"Both."
Saying so, I fastened the watch around her wrist. She seemed pleased, tilting it this way and that in the sunset light, then came to my side and embraced me.
"I'm happy..."
"Me too..."
And so the two of us sat there for a long while, enjoying our happiness with the vineyard as our backdrop.