Chapter 238: Napa Valley's Wine Festival (Part II)
The cellar was some distance from the restaurant, and Mr. Harlan walked slowly with a cane, and Zhang Bin was by his side.
"Mr. Harlan, don't you feel lonely when you live alone?" Zhang Bin asked.
"Actually, I'm used to it, and I don't think that from this month, my life has revolved around this estate, picking grapes, making red wine, and being busy until the end of the year, and when I have nothing to do, I will go to Washington to spend time with my family, or when they are on vacation, come to the estate for a vacation, isn't it great?" Harlan said with a smile.
When I went down to the cellar, I saw rows of large wooden barrels stacked inside.
"By the way, are you done with the wine you were given last time? Would you like to send some more this time?" asked Harlan.
"No, there was already a lot of wine last time, and there are still a lot of them," Zhang Bin said.
"If you don't have it, you can tell me, you know, I don't have anything else, there's a lot of wine", Harlan walked to a wall, pushed the door card, and with a bang, the two doors suddenly opened to both sides, revealing the red wine stored inside.
Many, many of them, in bottles of different sizes, are stored in a compartment, and each bottle has a label indicating the year in which it was made and what quality of grapes it was made.
"You bring the ladder and help me get it," Harlan said, pointing to the two floors above.
Zhang Bin took the ladder, climbed up and took two bottles of red wine, one liter, 86 years old.
Harlan took the wine and said with a smile: "In 86, Harlan Winery made red wine for the first time at that time, just in a good year, the quality of the grapes was good, but unfortunately there were not many grapes that year, and there were not many in total, and now there are not many left, and it is estimated that it is enough to drink these years."
"By the way, do you want to drink champagne?" Mr. Harlan said with a sudden smile, casually put two bottles of 86-year-old wine on the lattice, and led Zhang Bin to another wall.
This time, the two doors were locked with a key, and they opened into another cellar, which contained champagne, in small wooden barrels, and a stopper underneath, and when it was opened, the champagne flowed out.
"Do you have champagne here?" Zhang Bin was a little curious, he always thought that Château Harran only had red wine, but it was not surprising to think that champagne was also made from grapes.
Although the champagne is also made with grapes, it is not the green grapes that Zhang Bin saw this morning, but mainly uses white grapes, mixed with some red grapes, and the freshest grapes are used.
Mr. Harlan laughed: "It's not right to say champagne, it's actually just sparkling wine."
"Sparkling wine?" Zhang Bin was a little puzzled, what kind of wine is this?
"Because champagne is more complicated than red wine, it is difficult to make authentic champagne, and only the French 'champagne' is called champagne, and the outside can only be called sparkling wine at best," explains Mr. Harlan.
Zhang Bin nodded, indicating that he understood.
"Can I get two barrels of this?" Zhang Bin asked, relatively speaking, it was actually better to drink champagne when they were with Song Zhichao.
This is made by myself, and it is definitely more reassuring than the champagne bought outside.
"Of course, no problem, I've made hundreds of barrels this year, and I've got some of the old vintages, so why don't you try some of them, it's very exciting," said Mr. Harlan generously.
After breakfast, it's time for the annual Napa Valley Wine Extravaganza, where the wine is scented everywhere throughout the valley.
Two side streets, a bit like a small town, with bars, restaurants, and even a police station.
On both sides of the street, wineries are lined with red wines, and on this day, Napa Valley is open to all visitors.
The red wine here is all free today, and you can enjoy it here for one day.
There are a lot of people, including wealthy businessmen and ordinary people, everyone is either hobby or lively, in short, they are willing to walk around Napa Valley on this day and drink free red wine.
The owners of the manor warmly greeted every guest who came to taste their own red wine, for them, whose red wine consumes more, indicating that the quality of the wine is good, and it may be able to sell for a good price.
Zhang Bin took Zhou Jingyu around next to each other, and the first place he drank was Will from Leland Winery he met before.
Will still had an impression of Zhang Bin and beckoned him to come over and taste it.
Zhang Bin actually doesn't know much about red wine, but he only needs to know one truth, that is, praise after drinking.
After looking at all the wines, he tasted them twice.
In the end, Zhang Bin took Zhou Jingyu back to the place where Harlan Winery was located, and they needed to do something for Mr. Harlan.
The wine tasting lasts until 5 p.m.
In the United States, people do not have the habit of working at night, and for them, the evening is a time to rest and spend time with their families.
In the afternoon, the annual Napa Valley Wine Auction took place at a bar in Napa Valley.
The bar counter is used as an auction table, and then two or three tables below are put together, and each winery owner sits in the corresponding position with his own guests, sitting in a circle, this kind of auction method, Zhang Bin has seen this kind of auction for the first time.
The table was filled with some local fruits and food for the guests to enjoy.
At the bar, Zhang Bin spotted several Asian faces, but did not greet them, as he was not sure if they spoke the same language.
The winery owners hugged each other and joked about each other, and the atmosphere was lively.
When everyone arrived, the auction began.
After tasting by the master wine connoisseurs, the red wines of the 20 wineries were finally selected for auction today, with a reserve price of one US dollar, and the price was shouted by themselves.
All proceeds from the sale of wine here will be used for charity.
Therefore, every winery owner is very concerned about how much their wine can fetch at auction.
From the first wine auction, the atmosphere has been high, and until the sixth wine, the price has not been less than 5,000 US dollars.
Johnson auctioned off a bottle of red wine for $12,000.
The Hawkes have been unbidden.
The twelfth red wine is from Harlan Winery.
It was bought by a bearded man for 36,000 dollars.
For the penultimate winery, the red wine of Belin Winery, Zhang Bin asked for a price of 25,000 US dollars.
There is no direct correlation between the price of the wine and the order in which it is produced, it is the order in which the farmers smoke it themselves.
"Very well, this guest at Harran Winery has paid 25,000 dollars, and no one has bid more", exclaimed the auctioneer excitedly.
Hawkes has never made a move, and Zhang Bin knows that it is imperative for people to get the last red wine.
I heard that it is Deer Leap Winery, and in Napa Valley, Deer Leap Winery is one of the most famous wineries.
Zhang Bin finally bought the bottle of red wine from Belan Winery for $30,000.
"Thank you for your generosity", the host said loudly to Zhang Bin, and everyone applauded.
For those who are generous at this time, everyone is very respectful.
In the final auction, Hawkes paid $55,000 for the last bottle of wine in today's auction, which is this year's wine king.
"It's a great pleasure to see that the guests of Harran Winery have donated a total of $97,000 to charity tonight, making them the kings of charity today, let us applaud them and thank them for their generosity."
A grand event of red wine has come to an end.