Following Highway 29, Ferrari drove past the small town of Calistoga and turned onto a forest path.

A large area of tall and dense woods, no blue sky can be seen, only jagged sunlight through the gaps in the branches and leaves, and further on, the woods are followed by low bushes, and soon the bright sunlight makes people mistakenly think that they are about to arrive, who knows that the road is getting smaller and smaller, but fortunately the path is gradually widening, and the end of the road is ahead.

This is really "the mountains and rivers are full of doubts, and the willows and flowers are bright." ”

When he came to the winery, Xiao Yifei's observation angle was different from that of ordinary people, and the first thing he looked at was the parking lot. When he found out that their parking lot was also one in the east and one in the west, Xiao Yifei was happy. It seems that the old wineries are like this, and they have not been planned in advance, and Xiao Yifei now has a vacant land provided by the racecourse, and he can take the opportunity to integrate the existing parking lot of the winery.

Xiao Yifei did not go to the reception center and tasting room first, but shook around the outside first, and found that there was another brand, "J Davis Winery".

At the entrance of the reception center, there is a small pond with some water lilies in it, and in the middle of the pond stands a sculpture of a frog in a tuxedo and a bow tie standing on one foot in the water, holding a champagne bottle in one hand and a flute-shaped champagne glass in the other.

After clicking a few pictures on the pond and frogs, Wang Nan couldn't wait to pull Xiao Yifei to the tasting room. It's the off-season for all wineries, and the tasting room at the Brewing Borg is empty.

I'll go, it's too expensive, the wine tasting actually costs 35 dollars, and our Monterena is only 25 dollars. It's expensive and hard to find, and it deserves few tourists.

Xiao Yifei complained while handing over two wine money.

Entertained Xiao Yifei and poured them the first glass of wine, Xiao Yifei tasted it, not bad.

As they tasted their second glass, a sleek brown woman in her thirties walked into the tasting room.

"Shaw. Welcome to our winery. I'm the winery tasting room manager Lisa Beardsley. ”

"Hello, do you know me?"

"You're our Calistoga man of the year and everyone knows you. Sorry, Hugh wasn't at the winery today, and the CEO Fred went out with the other executives to talk about business. ”

"It's okay, I'm just bringing my friends to play. Nothing else. ”

"Then can I have the honor of being your tour guide?"

Khan, the gringos are also very nice to say flattery:

"Then I'm bothering you."

The next cellar tour was conducted by Beardsley himself and Xiao Yifei.

"Maybe Mr. Xiao doesn't know that our wine cellar was dug by Chinese workers back then."

Chinese workers have a lot to do with wine production here in Napa, and many wineries have been established with Chinese workers. In addition to their wine cellars, the cellars at Château Belinger were also excavated by Chinese workers.

As soon as I entered the cellar, I heard the sound of a knock. On the shelves on both sides of the wine cellar, there are densely packed wine bottles, all of which are placed at an angle of more than 30 degrees with the mouth downward. On the human side, there are round bottle bottoms. It's like countless bazookas facing you, and these shelves are not one or two, the entire cellar is basically full of them except for the passages. If this person with dense phobia comes, it is estimated that he will faint immediately.

The wines in the cellars of Château Monterena are either aged in oak barrels, or bottled and left in piles with protective film, never in bottles.

"What's the matter with these bottles?"

"They're doing a secondary fermentation, which is the time when the sparkling wine is bubbling."

After Beardsley's explanation, Xiao Yifei finally understood the basic brewing process of sparkling wine.

The beginning stage is similar to that of making still sake. Fermentation in fermenters to convert the sugars from the musts into alcohol. Then it's different. Depending on the vinification method, some are aged in oak barrels for a period of time before bottling, while others are bottled directly.

Before bottling, the wines are added with a moderate amount of sugar or unfermented grape juice, as well as new yeasts. In this way, the yeast and sugar in the bottle undergo a second fermentation, and the resulting carbon dioxide dissolves in the wine to form bubbles.

After a brief explanation of the brewing process. The three of them also came to the place where the knock sound came from.

An ordinary American old man in his 50s met Xiao Yifei and them:

"Lisa, are you coming down to play?"

The old man did not stop moving his hands as he spoke. I saw that his skillful hands each grabbed a wine bottle, quickly rotated them at an angle and then put them down, and the bottle made a soft thump. Then he moved his hands to the bottle next to him, and with another thump, he moved his hands again.

After repeating this, he quickly finished a shelf in front of him.

"This is Shaw from the Monterena Winery, who came to play with a friend to us. Shaw, this is our cellar's shake supervisor, Romon Vieira. ”

"I know, Xiao, a rich man in China, you are welcome to come to the cellar to play."

Romon seems to have a very bold personality.

"Romon what are you doing here?"

It turned out that the reason why the bottles were poured 30 degrees and placed on the shelves was to allow the dead yeast corpses to gather at the mouth of the bottle. And every once in a while, the bottle must be rotated at a certain angle to prevent the yeast corpses from sticking to the walls of the bottles, and it will not be possible to get their corpses out in the future, which will affect the perception of consumers.

After speaking, Luo Meng also took out a bottle of sparkling wine and let Xiao Yifei see it.

I saw that at the mouth of the bottle, there was indeed a pile of white flocculent in the wine. If this thing sticks to the bottle, it does make consumers feel disgusting.

Xiao Yifei thought about it, and he didn't seem to be able to find any good way to get rid of them.

"So how do you get it out then? When the bottle is opened, the wine is poured out? ”

"It's definitely going to be opened, but it's not that simple, and now we don't have a production line, so I can only tell you about it. You see, these flocculents are at the mouth of the bottle, and when the time comes to put the bottle upside down in salt water at minus 25 degrees Celsius, so that the wine at the mouth of the bottle is frozen, these flocculents will be frozen in the ice. Then we use the machine to quickly open the bottle, and under the internal pressure, the ice from the mouth of the bottle is ejected so that there are no yeast corpses inside. ”

"It's a great idea. Who invented this? ”

"Are you asking about vibration or freeze removal?"

"Both."

"I know the vibration method was invented by Madame Veuve Clicquot, and I don't know who the freezing removal method is."

Madame Veuve Clicquot, Xiao Yifei heard the name of this great woman again. It turns out that she not only coined the name Veuve Clicquot champagne, but also invented such a good way to remove yeast.

Before Madame Veuve Clicquot invented the vibratory bottling method, it was difficult to remove the sediment produced during the fermentation of champagne. Workers clumsily poured wine from bottle to bottle to remove the dross that had accumulated at the bottom of the bottle. But do it. The precious bubbles in the champagne escape, and the palate is much less aftertaste. It's like a chronic disease that affects the leap in the quality of champagne.

Madame Veuve Clicquot vowed to solve this problem, and after several explorations, she finally came up with the "bottle transfer method", which was almost revolutionary for winemaking. She drilled holes in the table and placed the champagne bottles upside down so that the scum at the bottom would slowly sink to the rim, and the only manual work required was to carefully turn the bottle so that it didn't stick to the bottle.

Legend has it that the first champagne table was made by Madame Veuve Clicquot from a table at home. Whether it's true or not. One thing is certain, Madame Veuve Clicquot succeeded. The clarity of the wine has made Veuve Clicquot champagne popular all over the world, and people would rather wait in the harbor for the Champagne of Madame Veuve Clicquot from afar than buy a bottle of wine from another brand even if it is from the same origin.

I believe this is one of the reasons why Madame Veuve Clicquot is known as the "Mother of Champagne".

Seeing Luo Meng chatting, he turned the champagne on the shelves below, and Wang Nan was also interested.

"Can I try it?"

Romon did not hesitate to accede to her request and enthusiastically instructed her on the main points.

"Be light when you catch it. The range of motion should be small, and only one-eighth of the rotation is required. Put it back lightly too. That's it. ”

After speaking, he was a series of voices with a bang.

Poor Wang Nan is still struggling with the third bottle, and Luo Meng has already managed a shelf.

She didn't count her busy work, and she also found something for Xiao Yifei:

"Take a picture of me, what are you doing standing stupidly."

Xiao Yifei could only point at Beardsley's camera. When you enter the cellar, there is a sign on the wall that says you can't take pictures or wear perfume.

"It's okay to take a few fewer photos."

So Xiao Yifei picked up the camera and clicked a few photos.

The entire cellar is a kilometer long, but it is basically filled with wine and wine. Out of the cellar. Beardsley took Xiao Yifei and them to the reception room. The tasting room hostess brought Xiao Yifei their third glass, which was a glass of rosé champagne. Beardsley also held a glass and looked at the photos on the wall to explain the history of the winery to Xiao Yifei.

Among them, Xiao Yifei saw the famous "toastpeace" photo. Wang Nan and Xiao Yifei immediately discovered that something was wrong.

"Well, he's ......"

Wang Nan looked at the photo and just wanted to say, but was immediately stepped on by Xiao Yifei's foot. She looked back at Xiao Yifei suspiciously, but didn't say anything. Didn't ask anything.

Fortunately, Wang Nan spoke Chinese just now, and Beardsley, who did not understand what was happening, continued to explain. In addition to the photographs, there are also Nixon writings

"To Jack Davis of World Brewing Borg, as you can see, this is a good vintage. Richard Nixon"

Roar, this is a, President Nixon's handwritten letter of praise.

Then Beardsley pointed to the two cups and said:

"That's the wine glass that was used at the time."

Just kidding, the wine can be said to have been brought over by Nixon, so should the wine glass be brought over and brought back.

Xiao Yifei compared the wine glasses in the photo with the two wine glasses displayed at the bottom of the photo, both of which were common saucer-shaped cups or bowl-shaped cups at that time.

This glass has a shallow, open and large-diameter rim. The aim is to make it easy to stack champagne glasses in a tower for celebrations or weddings, so that the champagne liquid can flow along the tower into each glass. However, the open mouth of the glass made the bubbles dissipate quickly, and even the delicate and elegant aroma of champagne disappeared, so this glass shape gradually lost the market.

The gossip says that the shape of the cup was modeled after the breast of Queen Marie, the wife of King Louis XIV of France. It is also said that there is an "official situation of the emperor?" The "woman" is known as the breast design of Madame Pompidou. But these are fakes, because the glass appeared 100 years before these two men. And if these two are like this, it is estimated that the king of France will cry.

"It's a good wine and a beautiful color. I'm going to buy five boxes. ”

Wang Nan held up the rosé champagne in his hand and gestured.

Xiao Yifei broke out in a cold sweat.

"Where are you going to send the champagne you bought?"

Wang Nan blinked his eyes:

"I sent it to school? Oh no, I didn't drink much before I was killed by those classmates. Sent to home? But I won't go back until the summer vacation. ”

"Well, I don't buy more. Just buy three boxes. ”

"Do you need to send it to the school, don't you have champagne for sale around your school?" No, Toronto is a big city, and there must be French champagne in wine shops. ”

"yes, then I'll buy two boxes? A box to send home, a box to drink during the winter vacation? ”

Xiao Yifei Khan:

"You're going to drink 12 bottles of champagne in 10 days of winter vacation?"

"I can't drink it, so I'll leave it to you. I pay for accommodation and food. ”

Xiao Yifei almost kicked it over.

Luckily, while Borg's champagne is available for $150 a bottle, Wang Nan's pink Brutrosé champagne is only $39 a bottle.

Seeing that she was so fond of rosé champagne, Beardsley asked the hostess to exchange the last glass of champagne for a cheap Mirabel rose champagne. Although this wine is cheaper, the color pen is darker than the one just now, but it is lighter than the red wine. Champagne is a magnificent red color in the glass, which is very charming. Wang Nan instantly liked this kind of wine more, his eyebrows and eyes wrinkled together, thinking about what to do, whether to return the one just now or buy two more cases.

Beardsley didn't change the last glass of wine to save money. Because she asked Xiao Yifei to exchange for their winery's flagship wine, J Scram rosé champagne, which costs as much as $150. Xiao Yifei instantly fell in love with this wine.

"Don't calculate anywhere, the same box, besides, there is another box of this kind, can I buy a box?"

"Mr. Xiao, you are our honored guest, you definitely have it when you come to buy it."

Beardsley instructed the men below to pack. Wang Nan took the car keys and followed to see his beloved sparkling wine packing car. Beardsley spoke with Xiao Yifei.

"By the way, I saw that there was a sign next to it that was J Davis Winery. Who is it for? ”

Beardsley glanced at Xiao Yifei very strangely:

"Mr. Xiao doesn't know? That's our winery's sister winery. ”

"What do you mean?"

The Davis family had been using the vineyards near the estate to make champagne, but it turned out that the grapes here were too late to make champagne, so they bought some vineyards outside to grow their own grapes, and then bought some grapes from other vineyards to make champagne. The vineyards here are used to make red wine. ”

Dizzy, I want to make red wine no matter what.

Beardsley whispered:

"It is said that more and more sparkling wine is being brewed nowadays. Hugh has plans to switch to still wine and expand the production of red wine. ”

I'll go, this kind of confidential thing she told me what she wanted to do. Xiao Yifei's head spiked instantly, and he thought of a possibility. So he asked tentatively:

"His second brother got to that point?"

"Hugh is going to talk to his eldest brother today, trying to win over his eldest brother to isolate the second brother."

Jack and Jamie have three sons, the eldest son is Bill, the second son is John, who appealed, and the younger son is the current owner Hugh.

Xiao Yifei nodded:

"Jamie died of Parkinson's disease."

"Yes. Hugh asked our winery to testify that Jamie was not mentally confused and could make his own judgments. ”

Everyone understands people, Xiao Yifei nodded and patted her shoulder:

"I'm very optimistic about you, come on."

At this time, Wang Nan walked in:

"Alright, everything is packed."

Just now, she saw Xiao Yifei patting Beardsley on the shoulder, and she glanced at the two people curiously, a little strange about the relationship between them.

Leaving Lisa Beardsley's phone number, Xiao Yifei took Wang Nan and drove to the winery with three cases of champagne.

"Why didn't you just let me say that?"

Xiao Yifei was thinking about other things in her heart, and she didn't think about what she said at all:

"What?"

"It's the photo of the 'peace toast', and the photo of Nixon clinking glasses is not the prime minister at all, but Vice Premier Li Nian. You won't and won't recognize it. ”

"How could I not recognize you, I ask you, what good is it to tell them?"

"Huh?"

"Ahhhh

"But ......"

"Don't do it, think about your own business."

"And what's your relationship with that Lisa manager?"

"If you want to drink champagne, don't ask."

This sentence is a pun, and it is estimated that Wang Nan still doesn't know what Xiao Yifei really wants to express is the second meaning.

In the afternoon, Xiao Yifei has been thinking about how to take down the World Brewing Borg Winery.

He believes that as long as he wins this winery, it will definitely be easier to operate than Monterena winery. Although the competition for Borg's sparkling wine in the United States is becoming more and more fierce, in China, with the peace toast between the Prime Minister and Nixon, and the wine used at many state banquets in the United States, plus the letter of praise written by Nixon, all champagne brands in China can be killed.

Therefore, as long as he enters the country, his wine will only be worried about the lack of supply, but not the market. Anyway, what I plan is to buy another winery next year or the year after, and now the two Davis are in a lawsuit, and when they are almost done, it is estimated that the time will be in the second half of the year or next year, and the time to make another move at that time is just right.

After an afternoon of thinking, Xiao Yifei came up with a set of methods. He summoned Jensen, a personal lawyer, plus "Know-it-all" David, and Lisa Beardsley, who was on rotation, and the four of them muttered for a long time in the study, and finally sorted out a set of plans. (To be continued......)