The next morning, Harry Montis arrived at the winery.
As usual, the hulking man climbed out of his car with some difficulty and entered the reception room in a suit. After exchanging brief greetings and taking a seat, he got straight to the point.
“Brian, I heard about the Saudi proposal. Mr. Warren summarized it for me over the phone yesterday. I’ve reviewed all the materials.”
“How do you see it?”
“Mr. Warren’s assessment is quite realistic. The gray market, pump and dump, empty-bottle counterfeiting, politicization, and eventual winery acquisition—those methods have worked fairly well so far. It’s a typical pattern when outside capital comes in. But there’s one more thing I should point out.”
Harry took a notebook out of his bag.
“This is the legal side. The contract clause granting them exclusive purchase rights to 30% of production every year for the next ten years is dangerous in itself. It can usually be interpreted as a right of first refusal.”
“A right of first refusal…”
“Under American business contract law, a trading partner with long-term exclusive purchase rights can later claim the right to purchase first in the event of a company sale or equity sale. Case law has developed that way. In other words, if you try to sell part of the winery’s equity five or ten years from now, they could claim that they have the right to buy it first. Of course, if you have no intention of selling the winery, it won’t be an issue, but you never know what life will bring. It’s better that you’re aware this risk exists.”
Hearing that made the shock even greater. The final trap Warren had pointed out yesterday—the winery acquisition—might not simply be “a risk that could appear someday,” but a “trap already laid out legally.”
“Do you think they inserted the ten-year exclusivity clause with that in mind?”
“I can’t say for certain. It could simply be a means to secure 30% of the volume every year. However, lawyers of their caliber would have no way of not knowing the legal implications of this clause.”
“So it depends on how you look at it?”
Harry smiled faintly.
“If it were me, I’d consider it intentional.”
If that was Harry’s opinion, now that trust had been established between us, then I agreed as well.
Harry then closed his notebook and added briefly.
“I’ll sit in on Tuesday’s meeting too. And it would be best to decide one thing beforehand. Our bottom line.”
“Our bottom line…”
“There’s a high chance they’ll play the card of raising the price or adjusting the terms in their second proposal. If we don’t want to be shaken then, we need to decide in advance what is acceptable and where the line is absolutely drawn. Otherwise, we’ll end up making an impromptu decision during the meeting, and that’s the most dangerous thing.”
Warren, who had been listening beside us, nodded.
“That’s right. Negotiations for a major deal should already be over before you enter the meeting. If you decide things at the table, you’ll get dragged into their pace.”
The three of us exchanged opinions for a while, and the conclusion was simple.
We would reject the advance allocation of 1,000 cases under any circumstances, and we would also reject the ten-year exclusive purchase right. However, after the release, we could consider giving them priority allocation of up to 200 to 300 cases through the normal process. That was the negotiable line we could offer.
Harry wrote down the agreement in his notebook and added briefly.
“At this level, they won’t be able to take it as a complete rejection. Given who the other party is, if we reject them outright, they may feel that the royal family’s pride has been damaged and become troublesome in various ways. If we settle it at this level, both sides will have retreated moderately, so they should accept it as well.”
A few days passed after Harry left.
In the meantime, Harry sent over a brief report on the identity investigation of the Saudi side’s representative. It was summarized in an email.
Hassan Al Rashid was in his late fifties and had studied economics at Oxford in the United Kingdom. He was said to have twenty years of experience as an asset management adviser for members of the Saudi royal family. He had primarily served one branch of the House of Al Saud, and that branch was presumed to be actively investing in global luxury assets such as hotel chains, real estate, and equity in luxury brands. However, the report said it was difficult to determine from public information exactly which prince it was.
Harry added a short analysis over the phone.
“Brian, we haven’t pinned down their identity completely, but the big picture seems clear. There’s a high possibility this is part of building a global luxury asset portfolio, with winery acquisition as their target. Hotels, real estate, luxury brands, and then wineries next. It matches exactly the pattern Mr. Warren pointed out.”
“Yes… I understand.”
“There’s a chance the identity of the person he serves may be partially revealed at Tuesday’s meeting. In their second proposal, they may use the card of saying, ‘This is someone of such standing, so please trust us.’ If that identity is revealed, it will greatly help us analyze their intentions.”
Once again, I felt that a person truly needed a good lawyer and an elder who could offer advice by his side.
That evening, a report came in from Daniel in Bordeaux via satellite call.
“Master, the fungal penetration stage is progressing steadily. The grey rot level has been stable at around 4% for a week, and only a few areas are approaching 5%, but I don’t see any major danger. I think we’ll have results by the end of September.”
Grey rot refers to gray mold disease, a type of Botrytis cinerea fungus.
Depending on how this fungus develops, it is divided into Noble Rot and Grey Rot, and Noble Rot is the noble rot disease. Through proper humidity and proper drying cycles, tiny holes form in the grape skins, and moisture slowly evaporates. This concentrates sugar, glycerol, and special aromatic compounds, providing the foundation for the world’s finest sweet wines.
Conversely, when the fungus cannot be controlled due to excessive humidity, rain, and lack of sunlight, it becomes grey rot. In that case, the grapes simply rot, or their skins become covered in gray mold and the fruit inside deteriorates, producing off-flavors like vinegar and rendering them unusable for winemaking.
As Daniel reported, if grey rot was occurring at less than 5%, it could be seen as being properly controlled. Once it exceeded 5%, control would begin to become difficult; past 8%, the vintage would be endangered; and past 10%, that year’s vintage would essentially have to be considered a failure.
“You’re doing well.”
Although I had entrusted it to him and returned, the work Daniel was doing right now was by no means easy. No matter how artificially the environment had been created, Botrytis cinerea was never an easy fungus to control.
Even on the same row of the same estate, each cluster progressed at a different rate, and the fungus could change unpredictably with even the tiniest variable. The fact that he had kept it down to 4% showed that his instincts were quite excellent.
“Hahaha! I told you, I’m practically staking my life on this place!”
“What about the Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon?”
“The Sauvignon Blanc has almost finished veraison. The clusters are small, but that’s natural because the vines are young. I measured the sugar content, and it’s around 19 to 20 Brix. I think it’ll rise to 22 or 23 within this year. Judging by the condition, we’ll likely be able to harvest between late September and early October.”
“Late September to early October… That sounds appropriate.”
Sauvignon Blanc ripens early to begin with and is usually harvested from early to late September, but since these were third-year vines, they needed more time. Daniel had mentioned late September to early October with that in mind, so it was fair to say he had judged the timing accurately.
“What about the aromatic compounds?”
“That’s the most interesting part. I tasted some clusters myself yesterday, and for a first vintage from young vines, the aroma was unusually rich. Passion fruit, grapefruit, even a slight boxwood note came through. It made me wonder if the distinctive character of Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc was already showing despite the vines being young!”
Passion fruit, grapefruit, gooseberry, boxwood… These were the aromas possessed by the finest white wines of Bordeaux’s Pessac-Léognan. For young vines to show that level of concentration in their first vintage was a strong signal that the terroir was truly excellent.
“What about the Sémillon?”
“The Sémillon is good too. It’s undergoing veraison, and I’m expecting harvest around late September. However, the young-vine effect is more pronounced in the Sémillon… The first vintage may be a little simple in aroma. Still, it’ll be good enough to use in the blend.”
“What about yield?”
“As you know, it’s a trial harvest… I’m estimating about 15 to 20 hectoliters per hectare. That should come out to around 3,000 cases combined, right? It would be best to vinify the first vintage as a trial and look at full-scale production from the fifth year onward.”
Because we were growing grapes on an enormous estate of as much as 150 hectares, even though it was only a trial harvest, the volume came out to 3,000 cases. If we began harvesting properly and producing wine two years from now, at least 30,000 cases should be possible.
It was a scale entirely different from Napa Valley.
“Understood. The harvest schedule on this side will be around that time too, so I’ll make time to go to Bordeaux without overlapping with it. Please send me the vinification schedule separately.”
“Sounds good! I’ll send you the daily measurement data!”
After hanging up with Daniel and finishing my work, I went to my parents’ house, and Chloe arrived right on time.
“Mother! I’m here!”
As soon as she opened the door, she called out to my mother at the top of her lungs. In her hand was a printed wedding invitation.
“The invitations are out? Let me see.”
The printed invitation had a wine-colored background with an illustration of grapevines. Now that the design had been printed on paper, its texture looked far richer than it had on the screen.
“It came out well.”
“Right? The print quality is good.”
We sat side by side on the living room sofa and looked through the invitations one by one.
“The mailing list is almost organized. One hundred twenty on our side. What about yours?”
“My mother will organize the Korean relatives, but we can probably keep that number on the smaller side. I have quite a few connections in the wine industry, though, so that needs some sorting out. At the very least, wouldn’t it be over seventy or eighty people?”
Redwood Winery now had many estates, and there were more than a hundred people attached to them. On top of that, there were many people I had gotten to know for various reasons, and if I considered notable figures in the wine industry as well, it might exceed a hundred.
“Then we should plan for more than two hundred people in total?”
“That’s right.”
Chloe placed the invitation on her lap and stared up at the living room ceiling for a moment.
“Whew~! There are only three months left now.”
“It really went by fast, didn’t it?”
“I know. We met in our senior year of high school, and how many years has it already been? Now there are only three months left until the wedding. Time really flew.”
She leaned her head against my shoulder, and I held her hand as I said,
“Back then, I really thought you were a mean kid.”
“Hehe, I wasn’t mean, okay? I was just… very clear about what I liked and disliked. But I liked you from the very beginning.”
“You liked me from the very beginning?”
As I looked unconvinced, she hugged my arm and said,
“You may not believe it, but it’s true. It was just… your eyes, strangely full of certainty, kept coming to mind.”
“Oh-ho, so you fell for me at first sight.”
“Rather than saying I fell for you at first sight… Well, fine, let’s say I did. Then what about you?”
She abruptly looked up at me, and I ended up quietly averting my eyes.
“Well, I…”
“Hah! So I wasn’t your type?”
“I didn’t think you weren’t. Really.”
At that moment, the voice of salvation rang out.
“Come eat!”
“Yes!”
Avoiding her sharp gaze, I quickly fled to the dining table. As Chloe trotted after me, pestering, “Who was it? Who did you like that much?” I found myself smiling without realizing it.