Chapter 44: Farm Upgrade (1)
TL: Hanguk
After the barbecue party ended and Brian left for home, Frederick came out of the house, sat on a bench, and was already sipping his third bottle of Cerasia.
“How much are you planning to drink, seriously?”
At his daughter’s voice from behind, Frederick didn’t even turn his head, just stared at the moon and said.
"My daughter, you were so pretty when you were little, but now all you do is nag."
"I nag because there's reason to nag. Mom's asleep drunk on wine, and Brandon, well..."
It seemed everyone liked the cherry wine well enough, because even Chloe’s mom and Brandon had already passed out. Chloe had drunk quite a bit too, her face flushed red, but she wasn’t completely wasted.
“Are you worried because of what Brian suggested?”
“How could I not be? This isn’t like paying 700,000 dollars, supplying cherries for ten years, and receiving a share of the profits. The farm’s future is on the line.”
Chloe sat down beside her father.
“I don’t see how it’s any different.”
“How is this the same? If the farming method changes even a little, the ecosystem changes completely. You didn’t forget how Mr. Raymond made a mistake with the fertilizer and the mites swarmed, did you? Even a small difference like that can decide an entire year’s harvest.”
“Dad, the one who made up for that mistake was Brian. And he pursues scientific farming more than anyone.”
"I know. That's why I'm worried. If anyone else had said something like that, I wouldn't have even given it a second glance."
"So what you're worried about isn't the profits but the possibility of failure, right?"
"Yes, profits have always been like this, so if things go well, what's there to regret about giving 30% for 30 years? I just need to sit back and collect 70% of the increased profits."
As Frederick agonized, Chloe leaned her head in.
“Just try trusting him. You were going to give it to me anyway.”
“You already think it’s yours? I’ll write it in the will. That I’ll hand Harris Farm over to Chloe. Delta Grove Orchard will go to Brandon, and. But not right now.”
“But think about it. What kind of farm do you want to pass on to your daughter? Do you want to pass on a stable cherry farm that doesn’t grow year after year? Or a cherry farm that grows every year? When you pass away, it’ll be my farm, so it’s not strange that I’m paying attention from now on.”
“If I could be sure it would grow, I wouldn’t be worrying. I could throw 700,000 dollars because I tasted the wine myself, but this... What on earth are you seeing that makes you trust that kid so much?”
Chloe thought hard about something, then answered.
“Um... passion for farming? Up to now, he hasn’t really talked about anything else besides farming. Pop music, games, sports, even girls, he doesn’t seem very interested. It feels like all his interest is focused on farming.”
“......”
“How could I not trust someone like that? If Brian says he’s going to help our farm, I get all excited. I’m just so curious how it’ll change...”
Listening to his daughter speak with sparkling eyes, Frederick realized there was nothing he could do. And oddly enough, he had to admit that what she was saying was convincing.
“Hoo, fine.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. This time, I should be the one to draft the contract. To be honest, I’m a little scared.”
“Draft it well. Brian won’t be easy.”
“I’ve been through that kind of thing more than you have. Hoo, I wish that Brandon were at least half as capable as Brian.”
At the mention of her oppa, Chloe’s expression changed in an instant and she snorted.
“Hmph! He couldn’t do it even if he tried his whole life.”
“......”
***
Sonoma County Harrington Winery.
Inside the winery aging room lined with oak barrels, Mark Harrington sat with a heavy expression. The wine in the glass in his hand shone a purplish hue, but he muttered in pain.
“No... this isn’t it.”
What he wanted was the three-month-old Pinot Noir he had tasted at Redwood Winery a few days ago. A balance he simply couldn’t believe. The tannins and acidity, the fruit aroma, were already evenly aligned. But the wine in his hand now, despite being made by Harrington with decades of tradition, was rough, and the fermentation scent had not yet faded.
In truth, this was how it should be. It made no sense for a three-month one to have such good balance. Even so, Mark just couldn’t give up. If it didn’t exist, that would be one thing, but hadn’t he actually gone, seen it, and felt it? How could he possibly give up?
In the end, Mark slammed the table and shouted.
“Andrew!”
A moment later, an old veteran with silvery hair came in. It was Andrew, the chief winemaker who had been making wine at Harrington Winery for over forty years. As always, he had his sleeves rolled up on a white shirt.
“Are you still agonizing over it?”
“That Pinot Noir I drank at Redwood back then. It was only three months old.”
"Yes, you said 3 months."
Hearing that, Andrew couldn’t imagine how flustered he was. If someone else had gone somewhere, tried a three-month Pinot Noir, and made such a fuss, he would have listened with one ear and let it pass. But the one who had tasted it himself and come back was Mark, so he couldn’t simply not believe it.
"The tannins weren't rough, the acidity wasn't sharp. The fruit notes were already harmonizing with the oak."
“Yes, I’ve already heard.”
He’d heard those words several times already. He had thought hard about whether it was possible, but even he couldn’t get a grasp on it at all. If he’d known the method, he would have used it long ago and raised Harrington Winery’s stature even more.
But he couldn’t pretend not to see the suffering winery owner, so after thinking it over, he mentioned the few hints he had at least managed to come up with.
“For now, there are a few possibilities. First, they may have controlled the fermentation temperature with extreme precision. Usually, yeast gives off heat as it ferments, and if you mismanage that, the flavor gets rough.”
“We have a temperature control system too. Do you think Redwood’s grape-sized winery equipment is better than ours?”
“That’s... unlikely. Second, we can consider the yeast. Not the commercial yeast we use, but they may have used a new starter. The kind that pulls out the aroma clearly and reduces fermentation stress.”
“... Is there yeast like that on the market right now?”
“Not as far as I know, but... to be honest, it would be accurate to say I didn’t try hard to look for it. We’ve been maintaining quality steadily with the yeast we’ve been using.”
On this point, Mark had nothing to say. It was famous as a winery that produced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ranked among the top three in Sonoma County, and Mark felt enormous pride in that, so he had never even had the thought of developing further from there.
With regretful feelings, Mark let out a breath.
“Then what’s the last one?”
“There’s oxygen management, but this part isn’t clear either... Usually, wine softens its tannins as oxygen trickles in little by little through the oak barrel, so I thought they might have used that type of technique more aggressively.”
“Damn it, then you’re saying you don’t know anything.”
“No. I meant that if we dig into those three things further, we might be able to find an answer.”
“Hah, to think I’d start studying wine at this age.”
“There is no such thing as being too old to learn. Thanks to you, boss, I should do some wine studying this time as well.”
With a bitterly self-mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, Mark stood up.
“Fine. Look up the latest papers, at least. UC Davis, Dijon in France, anywhere is fine. Scrape together every related material you can. And we’ll experiment too.”
“Understood.”
“We have to catch up. If we can’t catch up... it means we’re falling behind.”
“I’ll do my best.”
When Andrew left and the door closed, Mark, now alone, lifted his glass. Remembering the aroma of the wine he had drunk at Redwood yesterday, he brought it to the tip of his nose. But no matter how he swirled it, the wine in today’s glass did not produce that vivid fruit aroma and smooth balance from back then.
“Redwood...”
In his muttered words, his eyes flickered with frustration and, at the same time, a strange flame.
"What exactly did they do?"
***
UC Davis.
Just as I finished my last lecture, Physics, and was about to leave, I planted myself back down at the sight of Professor Thomas Edward opening the door and coming in. As he entered, he turned his head to look for someone, and his eyes met mine exactly.
"There you are. Other students may leave, but Brian, could you come up front for a moment?"
“Yes...”
When I awkwardly went up to the front, half the students left the lecture hall, and the other half, full of curiosity, stayed in their seats. They were curious why the department dean had come to find a first-year student in person.
Then the back door quietly opened and a few students came in, and among them were Siena and Matthew as well. The curiosity in the students’ eyes began to deepen even more.
“I’ve been busy, so only now do we get to talk.”
"If it's an important matter, somewhere quiet would be..."
"No. It's also something good for everyone to hear together. Those two friends over there can't contain their curiosity, and if I talk separately, they'll come find me and pester me, and I'll end up saying the same thing anyway, so it's better to talk here."
This old man is only thinking about himself. It’s ridiculous, because he isn’t considering my discomfort even a little...
“Haha, yes...”
“It’s because of the grapes grown at Redwood Farm... Have you ever seen the terroir of To-Kalon with your own eyes?”
Of course I had. When I was doing a wine research project at Cornell University, I’d once been invited to UC Davis’s research vineyard and gone.
“No.”
“As I thought... Then, perhaps. Could you go once to our research vineyard and tell us what’s different from your vineyard?”
“I’m sorry, but that... it’s a secret unique to our winery.”
At the disappointing answer, Dean Thomas’s expression frowned.
"I see... It's unfortunate, but I expected that. Then how about this? Students going on a field trip to your farm this time. This much should be okay, right?"
“That’s fine.”
Wineries typically operate tours for general tourists to supplement their lacking revenue anyway. The winery itself isn't shrouded in secrecy. The winery's production methods can't be known unless you watch them make it right beside them.
“Good. If we go this time, will we be able to taste that famous three-month Pinot Noir?”
So this old man’s goal was this?
"Haha, yes... Since there isn't a large quantity, I'll specially offer it only to you, Professor."
“Hahahaha! If you had refused even that, I would have been terribly sad. You’ll be contacted once the date is set. See you then.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
It was nothing special as a conversation, but because we did it in front of the kids, there were more people paying attention to me. When I hurried out like I was escaping, Armando happened to be waiting in front of the lecture hall.
“Oh! Popular guy! Popular with students! Popular with professors!”
"That's not funny."
“But today I’m a popular guy too! Do you know who I met today? On the way here...”
As Brian and his friend grew distant, Siena, who had been watching them from afar, was asked by Matthew.
“Why aren’t you talking about going to their winery?”
Siena turned her head and looked back at Matthew. Matthew was always calm and never lost his composure, but strangely, when it came to that Asian friend, he seemed unable to restrain his curiosity, which surprised Siena.
“Because I don’t want to talk about it.”
Matthew's gentlemanly face slightly lost its composure.
“You didn’t want to talk about it?”
“Yeah.”
“Would it be rude if I asked why?”
"...... My pride was hurt. So I don't want to talk... Ah, I get it now."
As she answered, Siena’s eyes suddenly looked like she had realized something, and Matthew’s eyes wavered.
“What?”
“Why you keep paying attention to Brian. Your pride was hurt too, huh?”
“Hah... it’s not like that?”
Despite his denial, the sparkle in Siena’s eyes didn’t change.
“Is it because of the wine evaluation? Ah, that’s part of it, but because of those grapes back then? Hmm... I’m curious.”
“What now?”
"The reason my pride was hurt was because I tasted Pinot Noir, our farm's main wine, at Redwood. But you saw the grapes but haven't tasted the wine. Cabernet Sauvignon."
“......”
“If Brian can pull off Cabernet Sauvignon well too... wow, I’m really curious what kind of expression you’ll make.”
“Do you want to see me lose?”
"I don't know either. My own feelings..."
Siena’s index finger traced along Matthew’s jawline with gentle pressure as it passed.
“There’s one thing I can tell you. I don’t like men I can’t respect.”
“I won’t lose.”
“Then that’s good.”
With a faint smile, Siena turned her body as is and disappeared into the crowd.
*****
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