Chapter 61: Alumni Wine Showcase (4)
TL: Hanguk
Robert Mondavi held up his glass and tilted it toward the light for a moment. Even with his fading eyesight, the habit of reading a wine's color remained. He brought the glass to the tip of his nose, very slowly. As he drew in a long breath, his wrinkled face twisted subtly. Then he closed his eyes.
After a pause, he parted his lips.
"A student?"
"Yes."
"You made this wine?"
"That's right."
"Why isn't the label properly affixed?"
"It still needs more time. I think it needs about three more months."
He nodded, then drank the rest of the wine. He held it in his mouth for a long while, savoring every last note of the aroma, then fixed his gaze directly on me. A piercing look, as if he meant to dig out everything inside my head. But I met that gaze calmly.
"The blending is distinctive. Something different from what's come before?"
"You could certainly feel that way."
At that cryptic answer, the creases around his eyes deepened further. And then, finally, a quiet murmur of admiration escaped him.
"Remarkable. Even unfinished, the shadow of what it will become is already visible. The rough edges that time would normally have to carve away, this wine is already shaping on its own. Redwood Winery, you said?"
"That's right."
"You'll be a formidable rival to our family."
Everyone was stunned by Robert Mondavi's final remark. Mark, who had been watching from the side, wore a look of disbelief for a moment before eventually nodding.
"So this is what you dragged me all the way here to see?"
"Wasn't it a worthwhile experience? And it's still an unfinished wine. Let's not overrate it."
"For now, maybe. But what am I supposed to do when I can see its future?"
Robert Mondavi and Dean Thomas turned and drifted away, murmuring to each other as they went. The moment those two revered figures disappeared, people rushed forward, thrusting out their glasses.
"Can I have a pour, please!"
"You know I was third in line, right?"
I quickly raised my hand and tried to calm everyone down.
"Easy, easy. And I don't have much wine left, so I can't give everyone a full serving."
But hearing that supplies were limited only whipped people into more of a frenzy, and I was swamped pouring glass after glass. Watching this unfold, Mark turned to head back to his own booth with Siena. But then,
"Mark!"
Mark turned to find himself face to face with Joseph Higgins, the owner of Castello Vineyards.
"You tried that wine earlier, didn't you?"
"I did."
"What was it about it that made old Robert heap praise on it like that?"
Joseph Higgins was a man who openly wished for the day his Higgins family would surpass the Mondavi dynasty. Mark knew that all too well, and since he himself harbored similar ambitions, he didn't think poorly of Joseph's drive.
"Hmm... how should I put it... It was like the feeling I had when I first tasted Opus One."
Opus One, the Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend born from the collaboration between Robert Mondavi and France's Baron Philippe de Rothschild, had been considered legendary from its very inception.
"That good?"
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying it's that level of perfection. There are clearly parts that haven't been refined yet, since it hasn't had enough time. But the balance is unimaginable for something only six months old. It carried the weight that a Cabernet Sauvignon should have, and above all, the blending that gave it that complexity and depth..."
"Hmm..."
"I don't know where this wine's potential tops out. Because the flavor was awakened early, it might never reach its absolute ceiling. What it is right now could be all there is. But in under a year, it's achieved what most wines need six or seven years to develop."
"So you're saying the floor is exceptionally high?"
"Exactly."
Even after hearing Mark's explanation, Joseph Higgins looked far from convinced. What struck him most was that Mark's expression was still rigid.
"Honestly, I can't believe any of this is real. Bringing out a wine without a proper label to an event like this is baffling enough, but you're telling me it's a wine that impressed both you and old Robert Mondavi? And a twenty-year-old freshman made it? Do you remember what you and I were doing at twenty?"
"......"
"I don't know about you, but I was sneaking wine and messing around with girls. Those were the days, of course, so don't you go doing the same."
"I wouldn't."
Having fired that warning at Matthew, who'd been standing quietly by, Joseph continued.
"First of all, there's no way a twenty-year-old freshman actually made that. How much wine could someone that age possibly have tasted? He probably brought a wine that's about to be released and deliberately removed the label. Or he's pushing back the release date to make a splash at events like this."
"It's not impossible."
"And that wine, mark my words, it was luck. Like the 2003 Château Phélan Ségur. A Miracle Vintage, that's what it was."
When a wine that typically received mediocre reviews produced a singularly outstanding vintage in a particular year, that year's wine was called a "Miracle Vintage."
"I don't think so. I've tasted the Pinot Noir from that winery, together with Siena. Of course, there's a chance his father made it. But the point is that it came from that winery."
Joseph's face, which had been stubbornly skeptical, turned serious at the sight of Mark answering with his hand on his daughter's shoulder and his expression set like stone.
"Is that so? It was that kind of experience back then too?"
"Similar. Though today was more of a shock... But what matters is us. The Castello Aurora Blend you presented today was excellent, truly."
"......"
"I need to get back to my booth, so if you'll excuse me..."
As Mark walked away, Joseph couldn't bring himself to ask which of the two wines was better. Even if he had asked, he probably wouldn't have gotten a straight answer, but more than that, he was afraid of what the answer might be.
Watching Mark's retreating figure, Joseph turned to his son Matthew.
"Do you know anything about that kid? I saw you go over and talk to him earlier."
In truth, if anyone looked more shaken than Joseph, it was his son Matthew. From the moment Robert Mondavi had appeared on the scene, he'd been so stunned he could barely breathe.
"Well... he's a freshman, but he's kind of unusual."
"How so?"
Under his father's sharp gaze, Matthew dug through his memory.
"At the first orientation, he tasted a wine Sienna had made and immediately said the fermentation temperature had been off..."
Joseph cut in at once, incredulous.
"What? He identified a temperature issue from a single tasting?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah... he did."
"Why didn't you tell me about this? Never mind. That wine... does Sienna still have any? If it was made at school, there should be some left."
"No. After orientation, everyone kept sipping at it over the course of a month, so..."
Wine sitting around at a university and students not touching it would have been the unbelievable part.
"Damn it... What else?"
"He tied with me for first place in the grape category at the Harvest Fair."
"That was his entry? Well, your foolish stunt turned out to be useful after all."
At the time, Joseph had scolded Matthew harshly for what he considered a pointless endeavor. It was a competition for small grape farms, and entering it to show off good grapes was as undignified as an adult flexing their strength in front of children.
Joseph looked over at the young Asian man who was now waving people off, saying he had no wine left, and regretted that his pride had kept him from going over to taste it himself.
Meanwhile, Mark and Siena had returned to the Harrington Winery booth, but even as visitors flocked to them, neither could relax the tension in their faces.
"Was it really that shocking? More than the Pinot Noir you tasted back then?"
Mark pulled his daughter behind the booth, away from the crowd, and spoke in a measured tone, his expression easing slightly.
"This was different. Back then, it felt like he'd gotten the best grapes from a great vineyard and worked some kind of magic we didn't understand."
"And this time is different?"
"Very. Pinot Noir inherently takes less time to complete than Cabernet Sauvignon, and on top of that, the characteristics of a Single Vineyard wine were distinct. But this time... this involved mature blending technique."
"Ah..."
Siena nodded as though she understood, but Mark, sensing she hadn't fully grasped it, went deeper.
"Listen. If a Single Vineyard wine captures the full personality of a single vineyard, a blended wine combines the strengths of multiple vineyards to realize exactly the flavor the winemaker intended. The scalability becomes enormous. And the winemaker's personal reputation rises with it, elevating the entire brand to another level."
"That's incredible."
"It is. The problem is that I can't believe a twenty-year-old Asian kid is the one doing it."
He thought back to his earlier failed attempt to secure a forward purchase of the Pinot Noir through a distributor, and concluded he'd been far too complacent. He should have found a way to lock down Redwood's Pinot Noir, even if it meant taking a loss.
"Don't be too disappointed, Dad. The whole country is going crazy over Pinot Noir right now."
Most of the people crowding their booth had been drawn in by the allure of Pinot Noir after watching the movie Sideways. It said everything that even current students were gravitating more toward Pinot Noir booths than any other winery's offerings.
"Siena, I'm not disappointed. What I feel, precisely, is unease. Whether it was that Asian kid or his father, they took Pinot Noir they didn't even grow themselves and are riding this wave, growing during the best possible time. I'm watching a competitor grow right before my eyes."
During that period, Mark had been dropping by the UC Davis labs regularly, trying to figure out how Redwood Winery had awakened such flavor in a Pinot Noir that was only a few months old. Unfortunately, nothing definitive had emerged. He'd picked up a few hints at best, and even those were uncertain.
"I can't believe my dad feels threatened by a twenty-year-old."
"Don't worry. Your dad will find a way. Every now and then, a genius comes along who breaks all the rules. I never imagined one of them might be a winemaker, but... I suppose I'll have to accept it."
Calm, yet never losing hope for the future. Watching her father worry about what lay ahead and steel his resolve even in the middle of such a successful showcase, Siena felt a nameless emotion begin to stir deep in her chest.
"Aaaaargh! All that happened while I was gone! I should've just stayed here!"
I was debating whether to just head home since the wine had run out when Armando came back. Somehow he'd already heard about what had happened, and he was shrieking in anguish.
"I didn't know something like that was going to happen either."
"What did Robert Mondavi say? Word for word, don't leave anything out."
"It wasn't a big deal. He basically said it was better than he expected, that's all."
"That's really all? He said it that dryly?"
"I'm telling you. What, you think he recited poetry to my face or something?"
"Well, I guess that would be a bit much."
"Yeah, it would."
I'd packed the empty bottles into the box and was clearing the table to leave when someone stepped right in front of me.
"Are you Brian?"
I looked up to find a girl who stood about half a head taller than me, looking down. The sheer commanding presence... If I hadn't already been accustomed to Jacob, my shoulders might have instinctively shrunk.
"Yes?"
"The Dean is looking for you. Want to walk over together?"
"Yes..."
And so, like people being hauled off by the police, we followed her to the department office.
"Professor, I've brought Brian."
"Send him in."
I opened the door and stepped into the Dean's office, and to my surprise, Robert Mondavi was seated right there beside Dean Thomas. Armando, who had followed me in carrying the box, went wide-eyed and jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow. I could feel how wildly excited he was.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, have a seat. Is he a friend of yours?"
"Yes, this is Armando. He's studying agriculture. And for the record, he loves grapes and wine second only to me."
"A fine attitude. Then sit down, both of you."
Armando grinned sheepishly and took the seat beside me. I paid him no mind and turned to the Dean.
"What did you call me in for...?"
"You heard about it before, didn't you? Through Sienna, the request to take on a course at the Winkler Dinner."
"Yes, I did."
"Will you be using the wine you presented today?"
I shook my head firmly.
"No. I don't think it's appropriate to serve an unreleased wine as part of a dinner course."
The showcase was one thing; I'd squeezed in as a last-minute addition. But the Winkler Dinner was an event where people paid good money to enjoy food and wine. I couldn't charge people for an unfinished wine.
"A shame. I was curious to see the pairing."
"Ha, I'm sorry about that. I'll make sure it's released before fall is over."
"I'll be first in line to buy."
"Thank you."
"Never mind the thanks. The one who actually has something to say isn't me. It's this gentleman here."
Dean Thomas gestured to Robert Mondavi sitting beside him. I turned to look, and he was gazing at me with intense curiosity, like a child who had just discovered a fascinating new toy.
*****
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