From Wage Slave to Tycoon

Chapter 97: Chapter 93: This Is an International Metropolis? You’ve Got to Be Kidding

Before long, a tall, elderly man emerged from the dense vineyard, carrying a basket of grapes.

"Good morning, Bui!" Old Aik greeted him, his eyes filled with puzzlement. This was especially true when he saw Su Chen’s group. He had just heard Bui say the master had arrived. ’Could it be one of them?’

As a long-time worker at the estate, he naturally knew the old master had given the estate to a foreigner, he just hadn’t expected him to visit the vineyard.

"Old Aik, this is Mr. Su, the new owner of the estate!" Bui quickly introduced him.

Old Aik glanced at Su Chen and, with a deliberate Gaulish accent, said, "Good morning, sir!"

"Good morning, Old Aik!"

When Su Chen replied in a perfect Gaulish accent, everyone present, aside from Sicong, was a bit dumbfounded. They hadn’t expected Su Chen’s Gaulish to be so authentic.

Old Aik was also stunned for a moment. He had assumed the new owner wouldn’t be able to speak the language, only to find Su Chen spoke it even more authentically than he did.

"What are your instructions, sir?" Old Aik’s attitude did a complete one-eighty, and his tone became much more respectful.

"Haha~ No need for that. We’re just looking around, seeing how the wine is made!"

Su Chen also got a brief overview of the vineyard’s current situation from Old Aik. The entire vineyard had nearly twenty employees, most of whom were responsible for planting and harvesting. Only a small group of four or five were in charge of winemaking.

The vineyard used modern machinery for winemaking, not like the old days when they stomped the grapes with their feet.

The vineyard under the estate was a high-yield one. The grape varieties were introduced from Bordeaux, and the output was considerably high.

The vineyard’s yield was about four thousand jin per mu. With a hundred mu of land, that came out to four hundred thousand jin—a full two hundred tons.

Of this, 80% of the grapes were sold to other vineyards in Bordeaux. Another portion was set aside for Paris residents who came for you-pick events. This left only about twenty tons for the estate’s own winemaking.

One ton of grapes could produce about seven hundred and twenty bottles of wine, meaning twenty tons would yield roughly fourteen thousand four hundred bottles. This wine was mostly consumed internally. After all, the vineyard previously belonged to Arno, and the wine required by his group each year was procured from here. Only a very small portion was ever sold to the public!

Su Chen’s vineyard had an annual net profit of around one to two million euros, the bulk of which came from selling grapes to Bordeaux.

"Is there any wine left in the vineyard that was made in previous years?" Su Chen was also curious about the quality of a wine that had earned Arno’s approval.

"Yes, sir. We cellar a batch every year. The oldest vintage is almost fifty years old!"

Upon hearing "fifty years," Sicong’s eyes lit up as he looked at Su Chen. After listening for so long, he had finally understood: this vineyard was formerly the Arno family’s private wine estate. Its quality was guaranteed...

This meant the fifty-year-old vintage was still drinkable, and likely exceptionally good.

Looking at Sicong who had sidled up next to him, Su Chen shot him an exasperated look before turning to Old Aik. "Let’s go take a look!"

’I’m curious too,’ Su Chen thought. ’A fifty-year-old vintage wine... that would be from the 1960s. I wonder how it compares to that 1974 Romanee-Conti I had.’

One shouldn’t underestimate the taste of these great families. A vineyard used by the Arno family for so many years must have something special about it.

The vineyard had a total of three buildings: a dormitory, a warehouse, and the winery.

Su Chen glanced inside and saw four or five people busy operating machinery and adding grapes.

It was all modern equipment that didn’t require much manual operation. You just had to pour the grapes into the machine, and after a series of procedures, it would be transferred into wooden barrels for fermentation.

"Old Su, stop watching. Let’s go check out the warehouse first!" Sicong couldn’t help but call out when he saw Su Chen watching the winemaking process with such relish.

"You can’t rush a good thing. The wine is just sitting there; it’s not going to grow legs and run away!"

Although Su Chen said this, he still started walking towards the warehouse.

When he walked into the warehouse, Su Chen discovered that the situation inside was not quite what he had imagined...

The warehouse basically only contained a few dozen new wooden barrels with labels indicating they were produced today. As for the older wine, it was nowhere to be seen.

Just as Su Chen was about to ask, Old Aik led the group to a corner, where an elevator stood before them.

"Sir, the barrels upstairs are for the initial fermentation. After they’ve fermented successfully, they are moved underground."

Stepping into the elevator, Su Chen discovered there were three entire floors underground!

He learned that the entire warehouse was built with special materials, allowing the underground temperature to be kept constant between 54 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit—the perfect temperature for storing wine.

The elevator went straight to the bottom floor. As soon as they stepped out, dozens of wooden barrels appeared before them.

Old Aik produced some wine glasses from somewhere and handed one to Su Chen and the others.

Sicong, who was knowledgeable in this area, scanned the barrels, inspecting seven or eight before finally stopping.

"Tsk tsk tsk, it’s really from fifty years ago. I just wonder if it’s still drinkable!"

As he spoke, Sicong placed his glass under the barrel’s spigot and gently turned the tap. A stream of amber-colored liquid flowed out.

A rich, grapey aroma filled the air, making everyone present swallow involuntarily.

Sicong filled his glass halfway before closing the tap. He held the glass up to the light to inspect it, finding no sediment. Then he gently swirled the glass, making the wine spin lightly, which released an even richer aroma.

Under everyone’s gaze, Sicong took a small sip...

After swallowing the wine, Sicong closed his eyes, seemingly savoring the aftertaste.

"Stop showing off and tell us already. How’s the wine?!"

Su Chen’s words directly shattered the atmosphere Sicong had worked so hard to create.

"It’s amazing! Even better than the 1974 Romanee-Conti we had at your place!" After speaking, Sicong took two more gulps.

Seeing this, Su Chen also went up to pour himself a glass. As for the others, they could only watch, especially Sicong’s girlfriend, Coco, whose gaze was practically boring a hole through the glass.

He took a small taste. The wine was indeed very good, very rich!

"Old Aik, what’s the story with the wine stored on this floor?"

"Sir, these are all vintages aged over thirty years. There are only three barrels of each type, and for the 40 to 50-year-old ones, there’s less than two barrels’ worth left!" Old Aik said with a touch of melancholy. He had dedicated his entire life to the vineyard, and he had personally made much of the wine here.

Su Chen understood what Old Aik meant; he was hoping they wouldn’t be too wasteful.

Su Chen wasn’t in the habit of enjoying things alone. With a wave of his hand, he had Jiang Hui and the others pour themselves half a glass to taste.

After spending three or four hours at the vineyard, the group was pleasantly tipsy by the time they returned to the estate.

On their way out... Su Chen specifically had Old Aik bottle two bottles of the nearly fifty-year-old vintage wine for him.

Sicong’s covetous gaze never left the two wine bottles!