Chapter 39: Redwood Winery (2)
TL: Hanguk
A large SUV that had been heading down Highway 101 from Healdsburg took the exit onto Highway 12 toward Napa Valley. Mark Harrington, who was driving, kept one hand on the steering wheel, stared ahead, and spoke quietly.
“Siena. Do you know why I’m going to the tasting today?”
"Isn't it because you're curious?"
"Half right and half wrong."
Siena, sitting in the passenger seat, turned her head toward her dad.
“If being curious is half, then what’s the other half?”
"To succeed in business, knowing what you're good at is half of it, and figuring out what your competitors are good at is the other half. If you leave that out, you can never make it to the end."
“Don’t tell me you already see Redwood Winery as a competitor? Didn’t Mr. Pierce say Redwood is 15 acres? It’s not even a tenth of our vineyard.”
By scale, it wasn’t a tenth, it wasn’t even a twentieth. Calling a place like that a competitor made even Siena, who already thought Brian was anything but ordinary, feel it was a bit much.
But Mark let out a snort of laughter and said,
“Siena, when you do business, you can’t overlook even the smallest part. Especially for a place like ours, this isn’t manufacturing or electronics where you win with scale. We’re wine, where we have to win with brand. Even a small winery, depending on what it makes, can create value that threatens us.”
"Hmm... I understand."
Siena crossed her arms and nodded.
“Small wineries are nimble. The smaller the scale, the more creative and premium a brand they can build. So you can’t underestimate them. This whole Redwood cherry wine story. Honestly, it’s... puzzling and it makes me curious. If you listen to what Pierce says, he’s not a foolish guy, but I can’t help thinking, ‘Why cherry wine, of all things?’ If it’s similar to any other existing cherry wine, then it doesn’t matter, but if something is different, we need to watch it carefully.”
“And if we watch it carefully, what changes?”
“Haha, sometimes I wonder who you got that cynical personality from. Your mother isn’t like that.”
“I probably inherited it from someone in the generations above you.”
“Well, it would be good if you develop it in a positive way as a business mindset, but that kind of cynicism isn’t constructive.”
“Got it. I’ll try to fix it.”
“Yeah, that’s a good attitude. To answer you first, a large place like us has plenty of capital. And a small but capable place, even if it has abundant potential, doesn’t have much money. The driving force behind our vineyard’s steady growth for nearly a hundred years is that we’ve valued land as the greatest asset and kept absorbing wineries with strong technology. You know that too, right? In Sonoma, there’s no place that puts out a wider variety of wines than we do.”
“I know.”
That fact made Siena’s shoulders lift. In truth, that was exactly where she felt a strong sense of pride.
"That's thanks to your grandfather, and the grandfather before him. Your grandfather's skills were good, but whenever he discovered good technology, he would pay big money to bring it into the family no matter what. Doing that has two advantages. One is that the family's technical capabilities increase, and the other is that competitors decrease."
“Then if Redwood Winery’s technology is good, you’re even thinking about acquiring them? That’s... not fair competition, is it?”
Seeing his daughter’s face tighten slightly, Mark used his other hand to stroke her hair.
“Siena, there’s nothing perfectly fair in this world. Even you being born as my daughter isn’t fair compared to children born into other poor families.”
“That’s true, but...”
“And you need to understand this. At a glance, it looks like we’re the bad ones for trying to buy technology with a huge sum, but if you step closer and look carefully, you’ll find the side being offered the money likes it even more. Small farms struggle under loans, living expenses, and labor costs. And they always dream of a jackpot that could happen someday. We’re giving them that jackpot they want so badly. Of course it’s a bit less than that jackpot, but they’re more than satisfied with a huge amount of money they can get right now.”
“That’s true. I didn’t think it through.”
“Right. You’re smart, so you don’t make your dad worry.”
But Siena deliberately put on a sulky face and looked out the window.
"Tch, but you still only favor my brother."
“What are you talking about? I love your brother and you equally. It’s just that your brother is much older, so he does more work. Once you graduate, it’ll be different.”
“Really?”
“I’m telling you.”
Only then did Siena’s face brighten a little more.
***
At the entrance to Redwood Farm.
In the small gravel-covered parking lot, black SUVs and silver sedans were already packed tightly together. There were far more vehicles than I had expected.
“This way. The tasting is in 20 minutes, so you’re welcome to look around the farm.”
Armando, quick-witted and courteous, guided the restaurant owners and sommeliers at the farm entrance.
“How many glasses do we need? If I’d known this would happen, should I have prepared more glasses?”
“We bought enough. If you go further inside over there, there are unopened glasses in boxes.”
“Oh, okay. Got it. I should tell your mom.”
As buyers flooded in like this, Dad hurried to get ready to welcome the guests, his face lit up with excitement.
"More people came than I thought."
I’d contacted all sorts of places, but most of the restaurants I reached mainly answered, ‘we'll think about it'. Usually, when someone says they’ll think about it, it means they’re refusing, so I hadn’t expected much. But for some reason, far more places attended than I’d anticipated.
Outside the winery facilities, the folding tables we’d prepared days ago were lined up neatly on both sides. White linen cloths were laid over them, and in the middle, small glass vases were decorated with wild roses and olive leaves.
“Hello. I’m Woody Choi, the farm owner of Redwood Farm.”
Naturally, the one formally greeting the guests was Dad.
“I’m Theodore Goodwin from Blaze Bistro. I drove two hours because I heard it’s a top-tier cherry wine unlike anything I’ve tasted before. I’m looking forward to it.”
The visit from Blaze, a Michelin one-star seafood restaurant in San Francisco, was meaningful enough just for making Redwood Winery known, regardless of the outcome.
I thought that if it had been a different wine, it might not have drawn interest at all. It was clear that curiosity about a cherry wine unlike the usual ones had brought him all the way here.
“I’m sure the two-hour drive won’t be wasted.”
After that, ‘La Fiorentina', known for serving an Italian full-course meal in downtown Napa and especially praised for its pairing menu, also joined, along with the owner of a natural wine bar called ‘The Wine Gallery Bar', which was popular with younger people in Sonoma County.
In addition, representatives from well-known restaurants came one by one to shake hands with Dad and take their seats, including 'Le Jardin' specializing in French cuisine, the upscale steakhouse chain 'Highland Grill', and 'Vineyard Table' which operates wine tour courses in Santa Rosa.
And then...
“Nice to meet you. I hear your child and mine are in the same major. I’m Mark Harrington of Harrington Winery.”
The handsome white man was a head taller than Dad.
“I’m Woody Choi. All the restaurants Mr. Mark introduced have arrived. I don’t even know how to thank you.”
But Mark looked at the bustling scene in front of the winery and gave a strange smile.
“This much thanks is unnecessary. It looks like you asked many other places besides me?”
This time, I answered from beside him.
“I contacted some places separately. I wanted to talk with as many clients as possible at this tasting.”
“Right, I heard you gave advice to my kid? I was very impressed. Thanks to that, Siena got to learn what she was lacking about winemaking. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing to thank me for. Please, come on in.”
When I gestured inward, he walked toward the tables set up inside with Siena, wearing a smile I couldn’t quite read.
There were more guests.
“Brian! This is huge, isn’t it? So many people came to the tasting?”
Chloe came up with a bright smile, wearing a radiant white-toned dress, and behind her, the massive Frederick followed up.
“Hello.”
"Having this many people gather at a tasting must make you quite nervous. I'm really looking forward to today."
“Thank you for coming again.”
Dad and Frederick hugged and talked about something. Then Chloe lightly jabbed me in the side and said,
“You’re not even responding to what I said?”
“In the East, it’s polite to greet adults first. You rude Westerner.”
“Tch, they say when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
“Well said. At Redwood Winery, you have to follow the laws of Redwood Winery. Welcome.”
Chloe followed behind me with a strange expression, as if she couldn’t win with words. Frederick, the owner of the cherries, and Chloe had seats already assigned, so they sat in the designated seats at the very front.
Since it was still before the tasting, people looked around inside the winery. One side lined with stainless fermentation tanks, oak barrels arranged in a half-moon shape, and even the winery walls freshly wiped down for today. It was a simple facility, but for those with a strong interest in wine, each and every thing was something to pay attention to.
A few chefs pulled out notebooks and wrote something down, and people who looked like shop owners or managers talked quietly in low voices.
“Then since it’s time...”
When Dad drew the wine from an oak barrel into a large stainless decanter, everyone focused their gaze on it at once.
“Thank you again for coming such a long way. This is Redwood Winery.”
Clap clap clap!
Applause burst out, and Dad bowed his head with a bright smile. Then he lifted his head again and, pointing at the stainless decanter, said,
“What we’ll be offering you today is a little special. It’s the first cherry wine we’ve made. When you think of wine, you’ll probably think only of grapes. But Brentwood cherries have a good balance of sugar and acidity, and when the juice concentrates during the fermentation process, they can show aromas and flavors as distinctive as grapes... no, in some ways, even more so.”
Dad held up the red liquid he was pouring into a clear glass. The ruby color caught the sunlight and sparkled.
“This wine is not a sweet dessert drink. Rather, it’s dry, yet it carries cherry’s crisp signature aroma, with subtle notes of rose and red fruit. We added more structure through oak aging, so it should work well both as a light aperitif and paired with dishes like meat or cheese.”
If a twenty-year-old stepped forward at a gathering like this claiming he made the wine, it would raise doubts, so I intentionally put Dad out front. People were already focusing on Dad’s explanation, getting drawn in.
I stood at one side of the prepared table and served the cherry wine with Dad. The moment I carefully poured from the stainless decanter, the red liquid flowed into the glass and glittered under the sunlight. Ruby and deep crimson overlapped as it spread.
“Please try a glass each.”
With a bit of curiosity, people brought the wine to the tip of their noses. Naturally, the aroma spread out into the air at once, filling the space with ripe cherries, a faint rose, and soft vanilla and spice that seemed to have seeped in from the oak.
“Ooh.”
Someone’s amazed exclamation didn’t feel awkward. And then tasting and exclamations followed, sip after sip.
“Wow... this is cherry wine?”
“Incredible.”
No one could hide the surprise on their faces, and someone downed it in one go and even asked for more. Mark and Siena in particular were clearly stunned by the taste of a cherry wine they’d never had before.
“It’s definitely different...”
Feeling that the abilities of that Asian father and son were anything but ordinary, Mark decided he needed to make a move after the tasting ended.
Just as people’s astonishment still hadn’t faded, someone suddenly sprang to their feet. Startled, I looked and saw it was Frederick, the owner of the cherries.
With everyone watching in surprise, he suddenly approached me where I was standing beside Dad, and, like a school bully shaking someone down, he set a thick hand on my shoulder. Then he said quietly,
"Can we talk... for a moment? Quietly."
So I couldn’t keep watching the owners’ dopamine-bursting reactions, and like an innocent student caught by a bully, I was quietly dragged into the winery. And from a distance, Mark was watching the scene with a flustered expression.