Chapter 31: The Geyserville Fire (1)

TL: Hanguk

School classes were an extremely easy thing for me. For someone like me who had been an agricultural science PhD, basic classes like general chemistry, biology, physics, and calculus, and even something like introductory soil science built on them, were a piece of cake.

These days, my weekday routine was basically to cram classes into a few days, run around school going from class to class on those days, and then devote myself to farm work.

And because it was that time of year, I couldn’t even focus on school. From September onward is, in practice, the most important period for grape growers, and on top of that, there was another important event in September during this season.

A massive wildfire breaks out in early September around Napa and Sonoma in California. The reason I remembered this was that wildfires happen every year across California like a fixed annual event, and it just so happened that when I got into NYU, I had a memory of my parents evacuating from home and then returning safely.

And of course, I wouldn’t have remembered whether Napa Valley was included or not, so naturally I had to prepare.

“Please lend it to me for three days.”

A local cooperative located in downtown Napa.

There, I was trying to rent a service in the form of a custom operator, hiring equipment together with driving manpower.

"Three days? You'll have to pay 2,000 dollars."

“Please cut me a little slack. It’s too expensive. And there isn’t that much work. I just need you to till around the winery.”

“Hm... Just around the winery? How big are we talking?”

“Fifteen acres.”

At a size that wasn’t that big for a winery, he shrugged and said,

“Then let’s do this. Two days for 1,500 dollars. But I’ll make sure the work gets done properly.”

“Okay!”

As long as they did the work I wanted properly, it wasn’t bad for me no matter how many days it took.

The tractor I rented came starting the next morning and began plowing under the weeds around Redwood Farm, which connected to the mountain range. And seeing that, the workers on the farm expressed doubts. Their reaction was that I was spending money for no reason.

“I think it’s fine. In business, risk management is important.”

Instead, Dad and Mom actively agreed with my opinion. Mom, especially, cherished the grape clusters with a gaze almost like she was looking at her own children, so she said that about 1,500 dollars was nothing when it came to preparing for wildfire risk.

In fact, this wasn’t the end. One way or another, we cleared away everything around the farm that could easily burn, checked the weather frequently, and stayed on guard for unfamiliar people coming near the farm.

After firmly instructing my parents and the workers like that, I went to school the next day, and I couldn’t help being shocked during class.

“Huh? You went to this school?” I ran into Elaina during class. It was the first time seeing her since graduating high school.

But Elaina spoke as if it were utterly absurd.

“Are you an idiot? We were together at orientation.”

“That so? You too?”

"Where else would I go besides UC Davis?"

Thinking about it, as the daughter of the Silver Oak Farm owner, there was no reason for her to go to a different school instead of nearby UC Davis. It was the place that taught America’s best viticulture and enology.

“Right. How did I not see you?”

“Hmph! Whatever, and it looked like you already got on the upperclassmen’s bad side. Who do you think you are, nitpicking the Harrington family’s wine...”

“... That rumor already spread?”

"I was watching from behind when you and Siena were talking?"

“......”

I didn’t know since when Elaina’s presence had gotten so faint, but anyway, if she saw it, there wasn’t much I could say.

“I just happened to pass by and offered a word of advice. Anyway, if I’m giving you advice too, be careful because in this dry weather, a wildfire could happen.”

“Every year there are wildfires, it’s not like it’s a big deal...”

Because wildfires happen every year in California to some extent, Elaina didn’t care at all.

“I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about the grapes.”

Elowen Pike is a nasty person, but the grapes he grew aren’t guilty of anything.

“Whatever?”

“Ah, yes...”

Shaking my head at her cold attitude, the moment I saw Siena’s face far off in the distance, I hurriedly ran into the lecture hall and bowed my head deeply. I didn’t want to get tangled up for no reason, so as much as possible I avoided meeting her eyes.

By the time I finished class like that and got home, it was around 5 p.m., and there happened to be guests who had arrived at the farm.

When I went up to the winery, Dad standing at the entrance, and Mr. Frederick and Chloe were waiting with identical cowboy hats on. It wasn’t a sudden visit. The father and daughter had come because I called them.

“You’re here?”

"Mr. Woody here says the wine is entirely your responsibility and wouldn't show me anything."

After exchanging a handshake with him as he tossed out a joke, I said,

“That’s not exactly wrong. Please come in.”

“By the way, I saw a tractor going around, what’s that about?”

“The weather’s gotten dry, so I tidied up around the farm in case something like a wildfire breaks out.”

“Oh, to think you’d have that in mind... That’s not easy to do.”

“I’m just cautious.”

At that, Frederick’s smile grew even more satisfied, and for no reason he patted Chloe’s shoulder.

When I opened the winery door, stainless tanks stood in a line, reflecting a sleek silver sheen, and oak barrels that had finished steam cleaning were gathered to one side like a half moon. The finely carved grain on the barrel surfaces looked vividly alive, and it looked incredibly stylish.

“The reason I asked you to come first is because you were so curious...”

“Was I?”

“You kept asking through Chloe?”

At school, every time I met Chloe, she asked how the cherry wine was coming along. The third time she asked, I even said, ‘How would I know when I haven’t even gone inside the stainless tank myself?’

"I'm dying of curiosity."

“Yes, so now that the wine’s initial aging stage is ending, before moving the wine in the stainless tanks into oak barrels, I asked you to come so you could do a tasting once.”

“Oh-ho, really? Is there a special reason?”

I walked up to a huge stainless tank, held a cup under it, and opened the small spigot. A ruby-red liquid trickled into the cup, and just looking at it, it was dazzling beyond words.

“Stainless makes temperature control easy, and there’s almost no oxidation, so it preserves fresh fruit aromas. The risk of contamination by stray microbes is low, too. Especially for something like cherry wine where aroma is important, we have to use stainless no matter what, but once the initial fermentation is over, the story changes a bit.”

Frederick, who had only grown cherries and simply liked wine and didn’t have much professional knowledge, listened with his eyes shining.

“How does it change?”

Handing him the cup I was holding, I said,

“Wine isn’t juice. There’s the part where we add a bit more complex aromas, but because of the characteristics of oak barrels, minute oxygen gets into the barrel, which softens the tannins and strengthens the sense of structure. Go ahead and try it once.”

Frederick took the glass, and his expression changed from the moment he smelled it.

Without a sound, he held a sip in his mouth and rolled it slowly over the tip of his tongue. His eyelids lifted ever so slightly. It was the face of someone who had dealt with alcohol for a long time, not a farm owner.

After closing his eyes and savoring even the finish for about five seconds, Frederick drew a deep arc at the corner of his mouth and said,

“It’s incredible. To be honest, even at just this level, it’s good enough to count among the top class of cherry wines I’ve had so far.”

That would have to be the case. The combination of yeast I used would be something no winery in this era had ever tried. That alone would be enough to change the entire existing world of cherry wine that was nothing but sweet.

"What's it like? Me too!"

“Hey!”

When Chloe clung to him, Frederick widened his eyes as if it was a shame to give her his, and pulled the cup far away from his daughter. The sight of her clinging and flailing at tall Frederick.

“Haha, I’ll give you some, so wait.”

Dad, who had been watching, poured about half a glass for Chloe, who had been glaring at Frederick.

With an affectionate, “Thaaank you~", she took the cup, tried a sip, and her eyes went wide.

“Wow! It’s delicious!”

Since it was only natural that it tasted good, I shrugged and said,

“After we move it into oak barrels, it’ll go through an aging period of about three months. After that, we’ll gather owners of high-end restaurants in the California area for a tasting event and start selling in earnest, but basically the quantity itself isn’t large, so I think the stock will sell out quickly.”

I rolled over an oak barrel, connected the pump, and adjusted the angle of the racking arm. I pushed nitrogen through the hose once to drive out oxygen, and when I slowly opened the valve, a red stream slid through the transparent hose and went into the barrel bung. The sound of it running down along the wood echoed low with little ‘kok, kok’ knocks.

"How much is the quantity?"

“About 6,000 liters came out. It’s around ten tons of cherries, so it isn’t that much. When I calculated it for 750 ml bottles, I think it’ll be about 8,000 bottles.”

Ten tons sounds enormous, but with cherries, some have big pits, and when considering various losses, the liquid yield is usually about 60 to 70% of the raw fruit’s weight.

"8,000 bottles... Now that I see it, it's a bit disappointing."

Back then, he sent them over thinking he was doing quite a lot, but after actually tasting the wine that came out of the stainless tank, he regretted why he hadn’t sent more than that.

In fact, his farm produces nearly 1,000 tons of cherries a year, and when it’s especially good, it sometimes reaches 1,200 tons. Since the scale of his cherry farm comes to 200 acres, this level of harvest isn’t particularly unusual.

Just by looking at Frederick’s bitter face, I could tell what he was thinking, and I let out a snort of a laugh.

“Either way, I only made it because I didn’t want to leave the winery sitting idle, so I’m not that disappointed. And I’m just grateful that you joined in with me, Mr. Frederick, without any losses.”

The biggest reason I made cherry wine was that I didn’t want the winery to sit idle, but after making it, I realized another important advantage had appeared.

It was that I could raise the winery’s status.

When it’s recognized as a winery in the California region that can uniquely make this kind of special wine, that itself is completed as a brand. Especially if word spreads among high-end restaurants and food connoisseurs, its value rises to the point that people will come looking for it even from far away, or specifically seek out that winery’s wine.

“Even if you’re not disappointed, I’m a bit... full of regrets, that’s what.”

From the perspective of a producer who makes the primary raw material, when thinking about the profit gained after it passes through a skilled processor, it’s enough to make one jealous to tears. He would definitely be even more jealous if he found out that what I was thinking of as real money was Pinot Noir that hadn’t even arrived yet.

As if he truly envied this winery, he sipped the remaining wine little by little, then said,

“Just a little more...”

“Ah, yes. It’s delicious, right?”

“It’s incredible. To think cherry wine could have such a soft mouthfeel and such rich aromas. I can bring my friends to the tasting, can’t I?”

“Of course.”

That was why I called him on purpose.

“Good. Ah, and by the way, have you decided on the wine’s name?”

I hesitated and tilted my head. Come to think of it, I had been focused on making good wine, so I hadn’t thought yet about what to name it.

“Not yet...”

Frederick laughed as he swirled his glass.

“Then I’ll come up with one.”

“Aren’t you going to emphasize Brentwood or the farm name too much?”

“... I’m not. I’ll make it a cool name.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

At that moment, Chloe went up to her dad and spoke quietly.

“If it’s too weird, I’ll change it.”

“Haha, I’m counting on you.”

In the end, I filled one 750 ml bottle and put it in his hand for him, since he kept regretting it, and after sending him home, I looked up at the sky at the farm entrance.

“I should go to Russian River Valley around tomorrow.”

The timing for harvesting Pinot Noir had been set from the time we signed the contract, with the understanding that we would discuss it together. And for that harvest timing, I had to directly check the condition of the fruit, and I had already gone once a week ago and decided it needed more time.

Now it was time to go again.

"It seems like harvest time is approaching for the Pinot Noir—when are we looking at for ours?"

As I slowly walked up through the farm with Dad, I answered.

“Early to mid October? For the exact timing, I think we’ll have to check at the end of September. Right now we’re giving it about SWP minus 12 bar, but right before harvest we need to lower it further to about minus 14 bar.”

"That much?"

"Yes, just for about one or two days? It's about pushing them to extreme conditions before harvest, but you can't do it for long. If we do that, next year should also be fine without major problems..."

At that moment, something strange came into view far away.

"What is it?"

“Dad, that isn’t a sunset, is it?”

The red glow visible far away. It was late afternoon, around the time when an enchantingly beautiful sunset would set... but the color seemed a bit different?

“It’s a wildfire!”

Dad was startled and immediately ran down below. After checking the firebreak the tractor had created, I blankly stared at the red flames far in the distance. And without realizing it, I looked at the grape clusters ripening well and murmured,

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

*****

Note:

Image of the cherry harvest.