The person most shocked by the tied first place in the wine grape category was, unexpectedly, not Matthew Higgins.
It was Professor Thomas Edward, the table grape judge who had personally scored them and the department chair of Viticulture & Enology at UC Davis.
He examined the grapes submitted by Redwood Farm once more, wearing a puzzled expression. Their plump shape without a single flaw, their deep grape aroma, and the intense sensation he felt when he put one in his mouth were all things commonly seen in Cabernet Sauvignon from To-Kalon.
“Astonishing. Truly astonishing...”
“You’re right. I looked into Redwood Farm, and I heard they went through terrible trouble last year because of powdery mildew, and the owner changed.”
Another professor who had participated in the judging chimed in beside Department Chair Thomas, equally surprised by the result.
“Is that so? Then in just one year, the owner changed and produced grapes like this? That Asian father must be quite skilled.”
“Indeed. He was Korean, and it seems Korea’s ability to cultivate wine grapes is far better than we know.”
Neither of them could believe that a boy who had only just turned twenty had grown grapes like these. To them, this was an entirely reasonable assumption. They knew all too well how important experience was in farming.
“Does Korea produce wine grapes as well?”
“That’s...”
“As far as I know, Korea mainly produces table grapes. That Korean farm owner must have studied abroad. Cabernet Sauvignon is a finicky fellow. Something like this can’t come from luck.”
“Hmm... I agree with you on that, Department Chair. In that case, I’m truly curious. As far as I know, the farm is located quite a bit south of Oakville, where To-Kalon is, so how did he grow them so well? Even in our research vineyard, it isn’t easy to find grapes this firm and rich in aroma.”
When To-Kalon’s land was divided into several parcels and sold, UC Davis was the one that took a portion of it. Naturally, then, UC Davis had a research vineyard in To-Kalon.
“When they challenge with wine made from these grapes next year, what do you think the results will be?”
At the department chair’s question, the professor who looked to be around forty tilted his head with a troubled expression.
“It will depend on whose hands they pass through, but if made properly, the Cabernet Sauvignon wineries centered around Oakville will have reason to be nervous. But making proper wine is just as difficult as growing grapes, so won’t that Asian farm owner try to sell them for quite a high price?”
At those words, Department Chair Thomas nodded.
“I suppose he would. That must be why he participated today.”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to visit that Redwood Farm sometime when I have the chance. Perhaps Redwood’s terroir is similar to To-Kalon’s, and that’s how such a result happened to come about.”
He knew there was almost no chance of that, but because he could not believe that an Asian had grown Cabernet Sauvignon this splendidly, he instead kept suspecting other possibilities.
“Yes. I’ll look into it when I have time.”
He was curious. If this result had come about despite the terroir not being similar to To-Kalon’s, then wouldn’t it be possible to hypothesize that top-class grapes could emerge from environments other than those dictated by cultivation methods?
Even now, he kept looking for reasons other than cultivation skill.
---
“Congratulations.”
Even at Sienna’s congratulations, Matthew’s expression did not change in the slightest. If anything, he looked bewildered, as if asking what there was to congratulate him about.
“For what?”
“You got first place, didn’t you?”
“Are you seriously making fun of me right now? I tied for first with grapes grown by some yellow monkey from a farm I’ve never even heard of, and you’re congratulating me?”
Sienna’s face stiffened.
“I didn’t know you’d take it that sensitively. But this is interesting. When I was being humiliated by that guy at first, you only found it amusing. What was it you said? Did you ask whether my dad had tried drinking it too?”
“...... Sorry about that. I apologize.”
Since he apologized, Sienna, though her expression showed she did not like it, said nothing more on the matter and turned her head. Then, as if something suddenly occurred to her, she looked at the Asian family in the distance and muttered.
“What’s she supposed to be?”
Just then, a girl with many freckles and reddish hair, who had appeared at some point, quietly approached and spoke.
“The female student next to Brian?”
At the sudden voice cutting in, Sienna turned her head, and the girl, who had braces on her teeth, smiled brightly and said,
“I’m Elaina, a freshman.”
“You know them?”
“We went to the same school. Vintage High School.”
“Ah... Who is she?”
“Chloe Harris. She’s the daughter of a family that owns a cherry farm of several hundred acres in Brentwood. She’s always stuck right beside Brian. Brian goes around pretending to know this and that about farming, you see.”
At that, Sienna’s gaze changed. At least here in California, she knew very well just how much power and wealth a family of large-scale farm owners with several hundred acres possessed.
“Is that so?”
“When we were in school, she was famous for following around the football players.”
No matter how much Elaina wanted to slander her, Sienna was not a fool. No, if anything, she was rather smart, and she could strongly sense the jealousy in Elaina’s tone.
“I see.”
She played along, but she did not believe what Elaina said. However, to confirm one particular statement, she checked again.
“But does he know a lot about farming? Brian, I mean.”
“Um... Well... He just pretends to know.”
As someone who had already once been on the receiving end of that “pretending,” Sienna knew at least that he was not merely running his mouth and showing off. She had already heard what sort of boy he was from Pierce Morgan, who was said to know the most about organic farming methods in the California region.
“Do you have... any proof? Or does he just go around talking?”
“I don’t know either. I don’t think I’ve heard of him achieving anything particularly impressive.”
“Really? Got it. Thanks.”
“If you’re ever curious about Brian, feel free to ask me anytime.”
“I will.”
When Sienna nodded with a gentle smile, Elaina seemed satisfied and moved away. As Sienna turned her head, the smile vanished completely from her face. Then she walked toward the blind test venue for selecting the best wine, the main event of this festival that would soon begin.
---
“Mom and Dad will be at the grape-stomping event, so you two go have fun.”
“... What are you talking about? I have to go to the blind test class.”
“Still, can you just leave Chloe behind? You can go together, and Chloe can stay by your side.”
At Mom’s words, Chloe nodded, absurdly enough.
“That sounds fun.”
“......”
It would be fun for you.
“Hm?”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Mom, impatient to hurry up and experience the grape-stomping contest taking place on the stage, took Dad and left. I had no choice but to take Chloe with me toward the wine judging venue.
“I’m not bad when it comes to wine either. Ever since I turned twenty, I’ve been learning by drinking a little at dinner.”
“Does your father not know alcohol is bad for your body?”
“You drink a lot too.”
“I...”
I was about to say that I didn’t drink now, but if I said that, I thought everything I said from then on would become inconsistent, so I simply shut my mouth.
“Don’t tell me Koreans look down on women drinking?”
“... It’s not like that, okay?”
Exchanging idle chatter with Chloe like that, we arrived at one side of the venue, an area covered with black cloth. UC Davis students had already gathered there and were chatting among themselves.
I took Chloe and approached the professor in charge.
“I’m sorry, but one of my companions came to the event with me. Would it be all right if she just stayed with me? She’s a plant science major, so we’re in the same college.”
The professor who had judged the grapes earlier with the department chair recognized me, smiled, and readily agreed.
“Go ahead. Congratulations on getting first place earlier.”
“Thank you.”
As Chloe and I blended in with the students, I felt strange gazes different from before.
“Is it because you got first place? Everyone’s watching you.”
Chloe whispered into my ear, and I shrugged.
“Well... I guess so.”
In front of the students, on a long table, were wine glasses lined up in a row and bottles of wine with their labels covered. Far off, the actual judges all had score sheets in hand, and with serious faces, they were sensing the aroma and taste of the wines as they assigned scores.
“Now, experience the aroma and taste one by one, write down your scores, and later submit your individual final score sheets.”
The students lined up in a long row and began tasting the wines one by one, assigning scores as they went. Strangely enough, Matthew Higgins was standing right behind me. He gave Chloe a smirk and a nod in greeting, but she smiled politely, returned the nod in a perfunctory manner, and turned her head away.
“If it’s all right, I want to try a sip too.”
“All of them?”
“Only the good ones.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”
I clicked my tongue, but since she asked me to recommend the decent ones, I tasted them one by one as we moved along and handed her only the wines I personally gave a score of B+ or higher.
“What about that one?”
“Not really... The aroma is light.”
“This one?”
“The alcohol is too strong, and the acidity is high too.”
“Then this one?”
“It’s not bad... but it doesn’t have any defining characteristics.”
The two of us passed by each wine while speaking quietly, and from the other side, the professor was subtly watching with concentration.
Then I stood in front of a certain wine. After I smelled it, tasted it, and assigned my own score, Chloe asked as usual.
“What about that one?”
“Want to try it?”
“Sure.”
Since this was the third tasting I had recommended, Chloe drank it with great anticipation, and the professor watched her with a frown.
“Hmm?”
Chloe tilted her head. Then, from behind me, I heard a snort.
“Don’t tell me you recommended that because you thought it was good?”
Since I had been recommending the drinkable ones all along, Matthew, who had been watching, was being sarcastic.
“Ah, this one... I gave it a decent score.”
“This? Is something wrong with you? What score did you give it?”
“That’s a secret...”
As I merely shrugged and smiled, the professor in charge approached.
“Will you show me?”
There was no reason not to, so I showed him the score I had written in my notebook.
The professor flinched in surprise when he saw the score, then pointed this out to Matthew.
“Do not discuss scores until the test is over.”
“I’m sorry.”
The students then continued assigning scores while holding back their curiosity. After more than twenty minutes, when all the wine scores had been checked, the professor in charge collected all the students’ evaluations.
With the students’ on-site class over and only the professor’s final words remaining,
“Brian?”
“Yes?”
The professor suddenly asked me,
“About Sample J, which Matthew asked about earlier. Why did you give it an A-? Ah, shall I ask Matthew first? Why did you give it a C+?”
At the fact that I had given it an A-, all the students looked surprised. And as if they agreed with Matthew giving it a C+, most of them nodded.
“In my view, the red hue was a little muddy, and the aroma didn’t burst out as much as the other wines. There was no reason to give it a high score.”
At his answer, the students again nodded as if they agreed. The professor then turned his face toward me.
“Let’s hear your opinion.”
How could I explain this while sounding less like an expert...? After scratching my head and thinking for a moment, I slowly opened my mouth.
“I remember reading in a book that if a wine has a red berry aroma and the tannins are soft compared to its color density, then the Pinot Noir is in an underdeveloped state.”
“Oh, you’re even predicting the variety is Pinot Noir? And?”
“It said that if the fruit aroma is simple and the tannins feel like they’re roughly scraping the mouth, then it isn’t immature, but rather in the stage before polyphenol polymerization. And if you get that impression, after two or three years pass, the flavor will find its balance, and from the raspberry aroma, you’ll be able to sense a complex blend of rose and cedar. At that point, it becomes completely different from what it is now.”
“So you’re saying that right now, it’s a bud before the flower blooms?”
“Yes.”
I had really racked my brain as much as possible to explain it simply. Of course, Matthew and the other students laughed in disbelief.
“Haha, that’s ridiculous...”
Unlike the students, however, the professor looked at me with an astonished expression.
“You tasted it yourself and found what you felt in an explanation you saw in a book? How does that happen? That’s impossible without countless experiences.”
As the atmosphere started to become strange, I brazened it out.
“I just felt that way, so that’s what I said... Ah, and in Korea, if your parents give you alcohol, you can taste a very small amount even as a teenager, so I don’t have that little experience. Just a very small amount...”
I had borrowed the line from the drama, “It tasted like dried persimmon, so I said it was dried persimmon...” and the professor had nothing to say. He simply looked at me with astonished eyes.
Only then did the students realize who was closer to the correct answer, and they covered their mouths with their hands in surprise.
“Is that for real? Was what he said the right answer?”
Matthew frowned as if it made no sense, but I showed him an awkward smile.
What would you know? Do you have any idea how many research assignments I’ve written by now...?
But I smiled awkwardly and said to Matthew,
“It’s all right. That can happen. After you drink about... a thousand bottles? You’ll be able to feel the same thing. Time solves things like that...”
I had meant to comfort him, but at the words “a thousand bottles,” Matthew’s face lost its composure for the first time and twisted.
I looked up an image of the Harvest Fair Wine Road.