American Ranch

Chapter 65
Friday.

Chen Xiao went to pick up Xiong Jieming early in the morning, and Chen Mo picked up Ellie and went to Benziger Winery in Sonoma.

Hidden in the mountains, this winery is one of the most famous wineries in Sonoma County and one of the most scenic places.

"The biggest feature of Benziger Winery is the use of biodynamic planting technology, emphasizing nature and harmony. Biodynamic planting technology is a very magical technology. I have done homework on related aspects and I still don't know much about it... There will be a special direction later. I will guide you to explain." Entering the winery, Ellie got down to business.

"Charge guide?"

"I've already paid for it. You're a super rich man, so there's no need to worry about it?"

Chen Mo shrugged and teased Ellie, it was very interesting to see her angry: "I'm out to play, there's no reason to pay the tour guide fee for two people."

"I know. So, I've already paid in advance. It's 1 dollars for one hour, which is super expensive."

Chen Mo smiled...

Ellie drove the car into the parking lot, Chen Xiao and Xiong San were waiting there...

"Miss Chen Xiao, good morning."

"Good morning."

Ellie looked at Xiong Jieming, and Chen Mo introduced...

Outside the parking lot, a lady in business attire looked at this place and came: "Excuse me, is this Miss Ellie?"

"Hi, I'm Ellie. Hello Ms. Margery."

"I am your guide. Would you like to visit the winery now?"

"Of course. The history of the winery is the soul of the wines of the winery. Let's visit the winery first."

Margaery is an intellectual beauty. Wearing a well-fitting professional attire, she looks rather charming. She puts away her professional smile and shows a charming smile as an invitation.

A group of people boarded the electric sightseeing car of the winery and walked along the asphalt road of the vineyard to the observation tower on the top of the mountain. Then Margaret introduced the winery and the biodynamic technology that the winery insisted on...

Gardening in a vineyard is almost an art.

At the same time, the series of wines produced by the winery have all passed the organic wine certification, and it is a completely green winery.And one-third of the parks are serious parks that have passed the biodynamic method...

Biodynamic planting is adopted by many well-known wineries. For example, wines of the level of Romanee-Conti are mostly planted by biodynamic planting.

Take a look at the top of the mountain, walk into the park, and visit the hotel and garden in the winery.

An hour passed quickly, and the group returned to the winery and wine tasting room.

Tasting wine is not only the taste of the wine, but also the story behind it, that is, the style.

For example, if you tear off the brand of Lafite in 82 and put it together with Great Wall Dry Red without prior notice, I think... most people will not be able to tell the difference between them.

Another example is the wine from Benziger Winery. If you don’t know about organic wines and biodynamic wines in advance... drink it, that’s it, it’s not much different from local Sonoma wines worth ten or twenty dollars, maybe even mediocre Some.

Biodynamic cultivation is difficult to produce good grapes, and it is impossible to make wine with complex flavor layers.

To put it bluntly, how many people really understand wine.

On this point, Chen Mo was wrong.

Europeans and Americans are used to a milder taste, while the Chinese...especially Chen Mo's hometown, like heavy flavors, spicy and delicious, and are not so sensitive to light flavors and aromas.

The taste of European and American food is relatively light, and most people do not adjust the taste very strongly. Since childhood, the taste system has been more sensitive.

Going into the wine tasting room to taste the wine, Chen Mo could feel the aroma of black fruit in the wine, but he couldn't quite tell.

There were little stars in Ellie's eyes, and she talked about the fragrance of the grapes one by one, as well as the problem of layers, and finally gave a score of 88.

"You left something out. It's a '99 Cabernet Sauvignon, so...it's 90 points. What you said earlier wasn't entirely correct either."

"Oh?" Ellie asked humbly.

"99 itself is not a good vintage. But for this wine, we have weakened the oak flavor, and we can feel the thickness of the wine, but there is only a faint oak aroma. This is very rare, and it is also the reason for its high score. The reason. The blackberry taste is actually a black fruit aroma, which belongs to the old mixed aroma...not the single fruit aroma of the new wine."

Chen Xiao held Ellie's arm and listened with gusto, while Chen Mo and Xiong San listened with bewildered faces.

Just a taste, so much knowledge in it?

"Hmm, that seems to be the case. Great, the best wine I've ever tasted."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Really that good?I really want to take a few boxes home.

Chen Mo asked about the price, and it was $31 (tax included) for a bottle.

'This is the best wine I've ever tasted...' Ellie used this sentence in the next few wineries, this is a later story.

Sitting at the Benzig winery until after eleven o'clock, Chen Mo and the others went to another winery with no less reputation...

Wine tasting is not drinking.

Taste the wine, taste the thickness and aroma of the wine in your mouth, then spit out the wine and rinse your mouth, and continue to taste.

There are densely packed wineries here, and each winery ranges from a few types to as many as a dozen or dozens of types. If you take a sip of each wine, just one winery can drink it down.

In the evening, a group of people walked to seven wineries, tasted no less than fifty wines, and came to the Sonoma River Hotel hidden in the mountains...

The hotel is backed by a national park with beautiful scenery.

The hotel is nice, but it's too expensive... This girl, Ai Li, is becoming more and more familiar with Chen Mo, and she feels that she is letting herself go more and more...

The dinner restaurant is in an independent glass house. Chen Mo ordered a bottle of good-grade red wine. After the group sat down, Chen Mo looked at Ellie: "California stipulates that people under the age of 21 cannot drink alcohol."

"It's okay, I started drinking secretly when I was 15 years old. It doesn't matter if I drink a little..." Ellie smiled silly and sweet.

"Fine. Do it yourself...By the way, I saw on the Internet that there are many old vine gardens in Sonoma, why didn't I see them today?"

"Mona Winery is an old vine garden with a small area. At that time, Sonoma vineyards still used elevated gardening. Horticulture is pruning, so the vines don't look very big. Many people put Sonoma The grape producing area is regarded as Sonoma Valley. In fact, Sonoma County is very large...and there are many very famous producing areas, such as Russian River Valley, Santa Rosa Valley, etc. Santa Rosa Valley and Russian River Valley are the most An ancient wine-growing region with a much longer history of grape-growing than Napa Valley…”

The next day the group left Sonoma Valley for the Russian River Valley...

"Today's destination, Rockwell Plantation. Have you made an appointment with the plantation owner for me?"

"Of course, don't worry about my work. I confirmed it again in the morning..." Ellie turned her head and glanced at Chen Mo: "Are you going to buy this plantation?"

"For the right price, it's 1490 acres after all."

Come to the plantation, on the left side of the Russian River, the plantation is rolling hills, the park is well planned, and all can be farmed by machinery...

Ellie suddenly braked when she saw the sign on the side of the road, got out of the car and looked around, found a place, took out her phone and took a selfie...

"Hey, what are you doing?" The chick became more and more unrestrained.

"Wait for me..." Ellie quickly clicked on the blog site and found a bald Weibo...

"Post Weibo and wait until evening."

"No." Ellie scratched her head: "This is Walker George's Weibo, he is a member of the strategic investment department of Constellation Group." Constellation Group, a global wine giant, has acquired more than [-] acres in Northern California of vineyards.

"I saw Walker George's Weibo a few days ago. There was a selfie on it, and it seemed to be here. It won't be too long...but now, it's deleted."

"you sure?"

"Of course, I have an almost photographic memory."

Entering the plantation, the planter received Chen Mo, took a group of people to visit the plantation, and picked some fruits.

During the period, Chen Mo expressed his idea of ​​purchasing the plantation, and the plantation owner smiled and quoted a sky-high price of 26000 million US dollars...

Chen Mo didn't really want to buy it...and he didn't have the money.

He is not good at bargaining, so this job is handed over to Ellie.If only the planter could be limped...

Ellie directly pointed out the Constellation Group: "The Constellation Group may not really want to buy it, they are more willing to directly acquire ready-made wineries and wineries. I guess, the quotation they will give you should not exceed 1.6 million, which includes a lot of money. Valuable stocks (stocks that cannot be sold for a short time).”

The planter smiled slightly, and his eyelids blinked uncontrollably: "This is a trade secret, what is your quotation?"

"11000 million." Ellie looked at Chen Mo, seeing that he had no expression: "1.1 million, we can complete the transaction quickly."

"Just kidding. 1.1 million, it is absolutely impossible. 2.5, I will not think about it below this price. I will show you my plantation first, and then discuss the quotation..."

The plantation has almost 600 acres of vineyards, 200 acres of pastures, and the rest is woodland.

"2.5 million, cousin...I think it's very appropriate." Xiong Jieming walked to Chen Mo's side and whispered, "Sonoma's land has a lot of room for appreciation."

Chen Mo rolled his eyes...

In Sonoma County, high-quality vineyards in excellent producing areas can sell for 40 million per acre.Most of the relatively mediocre wines cost more than a dozen or 20 per acre.Most vineyards are around [-]…

The plantation area is very large, and it is a whole, and there is room for expansion, which is rare and can be added points.The location in the field...not particularly remote can also be a plus.

"Xiong San, do you have no idea about money?"

Xiong Jieming smiled awkwardly: "I read online that the average price of a Sonoma vineyard is over 15."

"If you don't understand, just don't talk. 15 dollars... Do you think California's per capita income is high, and prices must be high? 15 can buy a small sailboat more than ten meters long, enough for a down payment to buy a house in the East Bay area... As for the car, there are more styles to choose from." Chen Mo looked at Ellie, and then said: "Ellie is also 18 years old, a few months younger than you. See how she bargains..."

Before coming here, Chen Mo told Ellie that it was 1.5 yuan. If it can be negotiated, it will be almost ready to buy.

1.5 million is not expensive, you can make money if you buy it and resell it.But it is estimated that it is unlikely...

As for the money, as long as he dared to sell it, Chen Mo would dare to borrow it.

Chen Xiao was also watching from the side, watching Ai Li talking and laughing happily with the plantation owner, while criticizing the inadequacies of the plantation... The plantation owner's complexion was getting worse and worse, and when he was about to explode, Ai Li changed the subject Another compliment, a compliment.

"2.3 million, it can't be any cheaper."

"It's too high. It's not worth so much money... The plantation is the brainchild of you and your family. It must be difficult to sell it. 1.35 million, my boss is not short of money, and it can be completed quickly trade."

"You are naked robbery." Plantation looked at Ellie's immature face, dumbfounding: "Your boss can really come up with a lot of cash?"

"Wells Fargo didn't tell you who my boss is?"

"No." The planter shrugged.

"VIP of Wells Fargo, you should understand. My boss, he is Chinese..."

"Okay, the Chinese...damn...the great Chinese." Rockwell took a deep breath: "2 million, my last compromise. Complete the deal within three days."

"1.4 million, it can't be higher."

"no way."

"My boss is an investor, not an operator. Is 2 million bought back and sold to fools?"

"I'm not a fool either. I know the approximate value of my ranch."

The plantation owner can't understand Chinese, but Xiong Jieming can understand English...

Ellie was dissatisfied with Xiong Jieming's random interruption just now.This is the most taboo point in business negotiations. If the plantation owner can understand, there is no need to continue the negotiation.

Xiong Jieming was already ashamed at this moment, and when he heard that 2 million was sold to a fool, he wished he could find a crack in the ground and sneak in...

With nearly 1500 acres of land, there is no end to the vineyard, and you can only feel its charm when you are in it.Domestic land is expensive, especially land that has been developed...

Land in the United States is relatively cheap. In the most famous grape-producing region in the United States (Sonoma and Napa are basically equally famous, Napa is more commercial-oriented, and the land is more expensive), forming a large-scale vineyard... a large area of ​​land There is a lot of room for a premium. If it is a first-hand external quotation, it is common sense to bargain.

(End of this chapter)