Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Considering that Liang En himself was not very familiar with the wine industry, Butler Robuchon naturally prepared a series of information about this Hebao Manor.

This wine estate is located in the Fronsac region of Bordeaux, near the city of Libourne. It covers a total area of ​​85 hectares and has a grape planting area of ​​58 hectares. It is the winery with the largest grape planting area in the Fronsac region. .

The chateau was built on the site of a fortification during the time of Charlemagne and was rebuilt in 1577 under the initiative of Gaston Eyre, mayor of Bordeaux.

Subsequently, due to a marriage, the winery came under the name of the famous Sauron family. During this period, it developed rapidly and the vineyard area expanded rapidly.

It was not until 1794 that Marie Charlotte of the Sauron family sold the winery, ending its era as a noble wine.

Unfortunately, the phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century dealt a devastating blow to the winery. As a result, it was not until 1962 that the winery was revived under several generations of management, and the quality of the winery reached its peak.

The entire vineyard of the winery is located next to the Dordogne River and is dominated by clay-calcareous soil. The hill where it is located faces due south, so it has ample sunlight, making it a very suitable place for grape cultivation.

More importantly, those grape plantations are only a few dozen meters away from the Dordogne River, so the local temperature can be regulated by the river. It is not too cold in winter and not too hot in summer.

Like most production areas on the right bank of Bordeaux, Grand River Winery also uses Merlot as the main wine grape, with a planting ratio of up to 75%. Other red grape varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. And white grape varieties include Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris.

This hybrid method is also a feature of the entire Bordeaux region. After all, the Bordeaux region has a strong business atmosphere, similar to modern stainless steel barrel fermentation, and even harvesting grapes by machine is considered a routine operation.

Planting a variety of grapes at the same time is also a requirement for mass production of wine. After all, Bordeaux is right next to the ocean, and the rainfall varies every year. In the same season, some years have a lot of rainfall, while others have almost no rainfall, resulting in unstable harvests from year to year.

Therefore, in order to ensure the consistency of the quality of large-scale commercial production of wine in this region, wine producers need to blend and neutralize a variety of grapes to ensure a consistent taste of the wine.

Every year, this manor can produce 12,000 to 15,000 cases of wine, where a case refers to a 750ml bottle and a standard wine case of 12 bottles per case, so the overall output is not too small.

Among these wines, the one with the largest production volume and the cheapest price can be sold locally for about 40 euros per bottle. It can be regarded as the mid-to-high-end type of mass-produced wine.

Therefore, in Liang En's eyes, such a manor looked like a hen laying golden eggs, so he could not understand why the earl would choose this place as his reward.

Fortunately, Butler Robuchon also knew that Liang En might need to discuss some relatively confidential matters with his lawyer at this time, so after giving these information to Liang En, he took the initiative to leave the room with the legal staff he brought and let Liang En Well, you can talk to your lawyer about the transaction.

"Why is the earl willing to sell such a property with good operating conditions and the overall land price rising every year." Liang En asked his lawyer.

Although Liang En was happy that the other party was willing to use such a property in good overall condition as a reward, he still wanted to find out what was going on behind the scenes.

To be honest, Liang En knew before that the count's liquidity was insufficient and he chose to use things to pay off his debt. After all, they had discussed this matter before in the cave where the Orient Express was discovered.

Liang En made it clear at that time that anything of value was acceptable, so there was a high probability that the other party would choose to use something to pay off the account, rather than drawing on working capital or bank loans to collect the money.

However, Liang En thought at the time that the other party would probably use some precious antiques to offset the price. He really didn't expect that the other party would plan to transfer a wine estate as it did now.

"I understand what you mean." Liang En's lawyer immediately understood what Liang En was thinking, and quickly explained to him the things behind this transaction.

Such a winery is indeed very good, but it is not as precious as imagined. Due to the devastating pests and diseases in the 19th century and the location of the winery, this winery was not even included in the 1855 Bordeaux chateau classification system. .

In the subsequent rankings of Bordeaux wineries, this winery was not included in this category among the wines in the entire region because its location was too small. That is to say, this is not a classified winery.

Considering that the wine production in the Bordeaux region is very commercialized, rankings like this almost determine the final output of estate wines in the region and a series of other issues. Wineries like this that have not entered the classification will naturally be restricted.

Although it is now recognized that the level of wine produced by this manor is almost the same as that of those mid-level manors, it is only about the same. There are still some shortcomings in terms of reputation and sales price.

"Well, this is indeed a congenital defect." Liang En nodded. It seemed that Hebao Manor had these congenital defects, so it was reasonable to trade them out, so he asked Next question.

"Then why doesn't the Earl family hold this manor as an investment? You know that the prices of wine estates in Bordeaux have been rising. Even if you don't pursue the level of wine, it can be considered a very good investment just as an investment."

"You are right, but the problem is that the count is running a top luxury goods business." The lawyer naturally had some research on this aspect, so he quickly answered.

"You know, luxury goods and ordinary commodities are consumer goods that are unique, scarce, rare and beyond the scope of people's survival and development needs. In layman's terms, this industry needs to provide consumers with A one-of-a-kind experience.”

"So for the luxury goods business, they need to create a high-end temperament as a whole, and this kind of more civilian wine naturally does not meet their needs."

"In this case, although the wine estate can bring good profits, it cannot actually be integrated into their luxury industry, and it may even have some negative effects."

"Understood." Liang En nodded. He could understand the theory here. It was like a Michelin three-star hotel suddenly opening cheap fast food. People would feel that the quality of the entire hotel had dropped by more than one level.

Although ordinary consumers tend not to care about the business of the manufacturers of the products they buy, people who buy luxury goods do.

Of course, another core factor is that the previous cooperation between the two parties was very good, and Liang En also showed the qualifications of an equal collaborator.

For these reasons, the count handed over this very good property to Liang En as part of this transaction, hoping to strengthen the relationship between the two parties.