All of the Napa Valley wineries have finished harvesting, and another Napa Winemakers' Council has been held. This meeting of the Board of Governors was destined to be an extraordinary meeting from the outset.

Xiao Yifei drove to the council, an ordinary small building, if he didn't know the location, Xiao Yifei didn't dare to be sure that this was the council's place.

As soon as Xiao Yifei entered the door, someone asked him:

"What is the matter, sir?"

"I'm here for the council."

The staff was surprised: "Are you Xiao?" ”

No way, Xiao Yifei hasn't shown up here yet, and he's so young, even if the staff here have heard about the fact that a Chinese billionaire bought the Monterey Winery for hundreds of millions of dollars, and became a director by the way, they can't believe that Xiao Yifei, who looks like a college student, is a billionaire. In addition, to be honest, foreigners are really face blind when they look at Chinese, especially when they are not familiar, they look at everyone the same.

Xiao Yifei nodded, and then followed the path guided by the staff to the conference room.

The members of the council include behemoths such as Jialu, Constellation, Diageo, and big men such as Belinger, as well as those of Monterena and Aroju, as well as a few small shrimp representatives. But even if it is a small shrimp, the smallest net worth is millions of dollars.

But the venue is extremely simple, if Xiao Yifei wants to describe it, it is the kind of small hand-rubbing mahjong teahouse.

I saw that there were five small tables in the conference room, with 4 chairs on each table, but fortunately, there was not mahjong on the table, but a bottle of red wine and 4 wine glasses.

There were already a dozen or so people sitting at the small table.

Everyone's assets are different, but some people are only the manager and CEO of the winery, not the owner of the winery. For example, those behemoths are basically the directors of the person in charge here in Napa, but these CEOs only have an annual salary of 300,000 yuan in addition to share dividends every year, not to mention that the owners of big wineries such as Belinger are richer than them, even the medium-sized Bart and Xiao Yifei are richer than them, and even some small wineries have higher incomes than them. Therefore, this kind of meeting, everyone seems more casual.

Bart saw Xiao Yifei coming in and raised his hand to greet him: "Xiao, here." ”

There happened to be an empty seat next to him, and Xiao Yifei pulled out a chair and sat down. Bart introduced him to a few people next to him, all of whom were owners of small and medium-sized wineries, with the same interests, and basically spoke from the same position.

Xiao Yifei took the wine bottle curiously, "", it is actually the number one work, what's wrong, he gave the sponsorship fee?

Bart saw Xiao Yifei looking at the wine bottle and asked, "Do you want to drink?" ”

Xiao Yifei looked at it, and someone had already opened the wine bottle and was tasting wine there with a wine glass, so he also nodded and looked for it on the table.

"What are you looking for?"

"Won't you drink it, the 2006 No. 1 is $180, cheaper than yours but more expensive than mine. Try it. ”

This is the embarrassment of the Monterena winery, where the most expensive estate Cabernet Sauvignon is only $150 a bottle, and a good vintage can only be bought for $160. Lian Bo's wife's small brand brewed the most expensive at $250.

Bart took the bottle and said:

"Where do you need a corkscrew to open red wine, look at me."

As he spoke, he was about to take off his shoes. The old man next to him stopped and grabbed the wine bottle directly. While taking the bottle opener from the table next to him, he muttered:

"Don't show off, how can I still drink when I get touched by your stinky shoes."

Bart put his shoes back on, leaned over and said:

"You come to my winery in two days, I'll put on a show for you, and my wine is better."

Xiao Yifei didn't understand, and looked stunned.

Slowly sipping red wine, Xiao Yifei looked at the old man sitting in the middle and asked Bart.

"Who's that? Which winery's? ”

"That's David. Pearson, the president of our association, is the CEO of Work One. ”

Oh, no wonder there is a red wine from Work No. 1 on the table, he is the president of our wine merchants association.

Originally a collaboration between Napa's top winery, Robert Mondevi, and the French Grand Cru Château Mouton, a joint venture of the same name was formed, and after the sale of Domaine Mondevi to the Constellation Group in 2004, the company of Château Mouton. Baron de Rothschild Ltd. and Constellation Group jointly hold shares.

While sipping red wine, Bart whispered to Xiao Yifei to introduce the rules of the meeting. When everyone is there, the meeting begins.

First of all, the chairman of the council, David, knocked on the glass, and everyone consciously stopped the small meeting. David said a few opening words, and then said that he was welcome to join the new members, at which time Xiao Yifei consciously raised his wine glass and signaled.

In addition, David's speech focused on the development of the Sino-Singapore market, as everyone knows, this is talking about the Chinese market, and everyone glanced at Xiao Yifei at this time.

Before the financial crisis, the U.S. wine industry actually didn't care about the overseas market, because among the world's major wine producers, only the United States has achieved a balance between production and consumption, which comes from the production capacity and quality of the United States on the one hand, and the recognition of American wine by consumers on the other hand, that is, in the United States, you can drink any flavor of grapes, as long as you love the new world and have the same New World heart as American wine, then you can always go anywhere. Buy a delicious bottle of wine.

However, as the area under vine cultivation increased and production was liberalized, and after the financial crisis, the U.S. economy began to decline, and vintners finally realized the need to join a new wine consumption market, so the rising China became their first choice.

Americans are pleasantly surprised to find that each region of China is like an independent market, and in fact it is a unique taste formed by regional cuisine. They believe that American wine is in line with Chinese tastes, because both countries are food industrialized countries and are inextricably linked in terms of eating habits and taste preferences.

As a leader in California wines, Napa is naturally actively exploring the Chinese market. Xiao Yifei understands that everyone thinks he is like a mascot, and it is necessary to see if they can gain the favor of the Chinese market through him, so that Napa wine can beat French wine in the Chinese market.

After David finished speaking, according to the usual practice, Xiao Yifei stood up and said a few words, introduced himself, did not respond to the question of the development of the Chinese market, he now thinks about getting his wine good first, seizing the American market, and then talking about other things. Besides, he was already an ordinary little white-collar worker in China, where did he know any masters, even if he wanted to help, he couldn't do it.

The following meetings will be conducted in accordance with the established process.

The first is the Napa Sake Promotion Conference to be held in Kyoto, Modu, and Yangcheng next year. This presentation is actually for the behemoths and big guys, who are more worried about the state of sales in the United States.

While domestic wine sales are increasing year after year, production by these large producers is also increasing, and there are many foreign wine merchants waiting in line to enter the U.S. market. Under the impact of foreign wine, the Big Macs were the hardest hit.

Like Xiao Yifei's winery, the annual output is only hundreds of thousands of bottles, and the number of Arozhu is even less, so I won't mention the amount of these small wineries next to it. Some are even sold out just by selling at the winery, and are not interested in starting a foreign market at all.

As is customary, these presentations are also high-end tastings, accompanied by two or three representatives of the winery's owners, in addition to the winemakers' association.

After David said something, he clicked on Xiao Yifei again: "Xiao, what is your opinion?" ”

The meaning is too obvious, and he must want to play the card of Xiao Yifei, the face of China. But Xiao Yifei's goal in the last one to two years is to experiment with wines that have been optimized for taste without leaving a residue of strong optimization. Now is not a good time for Monterena Winery to enter the Chinese market on a large scale. And anyway, 90% of the winery's wine is also digested in the United States, and there is no spare capacity to enter the domestic market at this stage.

Rashly intervening in this matter can only pave the way for other behemoths with large production capacity, and if he is not careful, the forerunner will become a martyr, and he will not do such a thing. Moreover, he has already made a basic plan for himself in combination with the treasures of Paris and the treasures of the Nazis, and it is not in his plan to go to China next year.

"I'm sorry, I was an ordinary person when I was in China, and I didn't help anything about this."

A guy next to him chimed in. "Xiao, your presence is the greatest help."

Bart leaned into Xiao Yifei's ear and said, "Belinzhe's." ”

Xiao Yifei knew about it immediately, but he still refused:

"I'm sorry, I can't really help you with this. I don't know anything about my winery, and I don't have the energy to do anything else right now. Next year I plan to stay at the winery honestly and learn to be a real winery owner. ”

The owner of a small winery I just met next to me immediately helped:

"yes, don't be a director who can't even make wine. To make wine is to calm down and make it. ”

The scope of this blow is a bit large, and those behemoths and big CEOs are basically not immune. Although the words were a little ugly, Xiao Yifei knew that this person was helping him, and he immediately nodded his head to express his gratitude:

"Thank you, you're right."

On the issue of going to China to publicize, Xiao Yifei made it clear that he did not cooperate, and those people could only stare dryly. In the end, I found two random people to make up the numbers.

Then everyone judged the year again, and here again there is a disagreement.

Some wineries claim that it is a good vintage because it is so that their wine can be sold for a price, some think that the vintage is not good, and others are Xiao Yifei, it doesn't matter.

In the end, everyone thought that the tentative vintage should be ordinary first, and then wait for next year's charity auction of new wines.

After a few issues, it was time for the establishment of the sub-production area in Calistoga.

This issue has the greatest impact on Xiao Yifei and Bart, and the recognition of a new production area means that the wine of that place has its own characteristics, which is good for sales.

This topic has been working since the establishment of the Oak Hills sub-region in 2003, and it has become an issue every year. This year was proposed by Bart and Beau at the beginning of the year, so Bart took the floor, first talking about the peculiarities of Calistoga and then about the reconciliation that had been reached with the "Calistopa Cellars" (Llars) and the "Calistoga Estate", which had been the most objectionable, and that they had promised to change the label.

The association's evaluators then described the production and value of the grapes in Calistoga, and how much new profits could be generated for Napa after the establishment of the new appellation.

Originally, this topic was not a big problem, but Bart and Xiao Yifei were worried that because they heard that they were going to oppose the matter of reducing the concentration, those big wine merchants would show them the color of the store.

Next, I will talk about the directors and tell us their opinions, and the small and medium-sized distilleries must support them because there is an exchange with them. In addition, Diageo of the behemoth also supports the establishment of the Callistoga sub-region, which is understandable because their Stirling winery (yards) is located in Calistoga, and it is not small, with more than 1,000 acres within the new sub-region, and the winery and winery are within the new Calistoga sub-region.

But the most surprising of all was that two of the big wineries supported the establishment of the Calistoga appellation.

Just when Xiao Yifei was puzzled, Bart leaned into his ear and explained:

"They're on the edge of Napa County, and they want to start a sub-district."

Oh, I see, today they support us in establishing a new appellation, and in the future when they propose, we will agree with them.

With his own basic plan, and the big men did not obstruct it, this proposal passed smoothly and can be submitted to the county board of supervisors for approval.

Then there's the big issue, which lowers the requirement that 85% of grapes must come from Napa Valley to 70% on wine labels.

No sooner had David announced the opening of the discussion, and the meeting immediately turned into a debate.

The people at Château Belinger couldn't wait to act as a defense:

"If we lower the standard to 70%, then our wine production capacity in Napa will increase by 20%, which is good for everyone."

As soon as the opposition argued, he immediately retorted: "It's good for you, for example, you Belinzhe can justifiably use the grapes of the Samurai Valley to expand production." We're already one of the best wine regions in the U.S., and we don't need this method of increasing capacity. ”

"In the past decade or so, California has accounted for 90 percent of the U.S. wine trade, but today it has dropped to 70 percent, and we have to increase our production capacity to capture more markets." ”

The second argument is: "Why do I have to work so hard to keep the yield of the vineyard below 4 tons per acre, what is the difference between you doing this and increasing the yield from 4 tons to 5 tons?" ”

"We are now facing competition not only from the Old World but also from other countries of the New World, and we must expand our exports and create more opportunities. ”

The opposing side argued three times: "The high-end brand of Napa, which we have worked so hard to establish, cannot be let by you so badly." ”

The two sides quarreled inextricably, and David couldn't control the scene at all.

The question is simple. Large companies need profits, and lowering the bar and blending more exotic grapes is the fastest way to increase production.

However, small and medium-sized wineries oppose this, believing that it will reduce the quality of the wine and affect the interests of all wineries in Napa Valley, especially the quality of brands with small production and high prices, such as Arojo.

This kind of thing, Xiao Yifei will definitely not come out, he just watched quietly and applauded from time to time.

At the end of the vote.

Bart was the first to stand up and say, "Against." ”

Not to be outdone, the other party said, "Yes." ”

In this way, everyone alternated scores. Until 4:4.

Xiao Yifei also came to "oppose." "The score is 5:4.

Beringer's people did not show weakness and "agreed". The score is 5:5.

It can be seen that this time the small wineries are still working together, and they have also communicated well with a few neutral ones, otherwise they would not be so glued.

The score quickly reached 6:6.

At this time, a small and medium-sized winery stood up, just when everyone thought that the score would be 7:6 for the opposition to lead.

But one word came out of his mouth: "Yes." ”

suffered, his basic plate was dug into the wall, and now the other party is ahead. The rest of the chairman and Diageo had no comment. Even if the production of their work No. 1 is small, but some of them belong to the Constellation Group, it seems that this proposal has passed.

Bart glared at the man fiercely, and the green tendons on the back of his hand could be seen. Xiao Yifei was worried that he had broken the wine glass, so he pulled his sleeve.

As is customary, when David is the chairman, he must not vote first, and must wait for all members to express their opinions before voting. And, according to the bylaws, if the vote is tied, one of his votes must be abstentions. On this kind of issue, no one else will abstain from voting, because if you abstain, you will offend everyone at the same time. Other non-director brewers choose you to be a director because they want you to speak on their behalf, not to ask you to speak everything. As soon as you abstain, you will not be elected next time.

Now only Diageo's people are left, as behemoths, they must be in favor of lowering the standard, so that their production capacity can soar by 2% in an instant, and their performance can be much better.

"Against."

Ah, who, who said against?

David can't vote first, so it can only be a negative vote from Diageo's people.

Universally recognized behemoth, Diageo actually opposed lowering standards to expand production.

What happened? Everyone was dumbfounded.

You know, Diageo is a world-renowned liquor group, not only in wine, but also in spirits. Diageo has 2,000 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley, and it can only produce tens of millions of boxes a year, and 20% of the yield is not a small amount, how can they give it up? They have perfect sales channels, which can completely digest the increased production capacity by 2%.

Xiao Yifei and the small wine merchants on their side looked at Diageo's people, and the big companies next to him also looked at him, everyone hoped that he could give an explanation, but unfortunately he didn't say anything or do anything, as if the person who opposed the proposal just now was not him at all.

Well, a 7:7 draw, David could only abstain. This focus proposal did not pass.

The Big Macs and the Big Men lost, and the small and medium-sized wine merchants won. It's just that those who lose lose inexplicably, and those who win also win in confusion.

David went on to talk about the last question, which is the question of whether there will be one director for each sub-region in the future.

Since it was not introduced at the beginning of the year, and no one has put it forward as a formal proposal today, we will not discuss this issue today. However, since the Brewers' Association is an organization of Napa brewers as a whole, it is important to keep an eye on the movements of brewers, so since there is a topic in private, everyone should be concerned. And everyone should think clearly about the pros and cons. If someone raises the issue at the brewers' meeting next year, the association will have to deal with it, lest someone say that the association is incompetent.

After the meeting ended, Xiao Yifei and Bart looked at Belingzhe's people and wanted to pull Diageo's people to ask clearly, but he quickly got into the car and slipped away.

The two of them shook their heads, unable to figure out why, sighed, and drove away.