Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Obviously, trading a wine estate is much more complicated than trading a bottle of wine. For example, after confirming the transaction, Liang En and the others stayed in downtown Bordeaux for one night, and then drove to the winery in the northeast of the city. .

Taking into account a series of issues such as French land law and tax policy, this winery will fall into the name of Joan of Arc, so that a series of problems can be avoided.

To be honest, I was able to acquire this winery because the wine industry in the Bordeaux region has been fully commercialized, so it is not particularly difficult to change hands.

Burgundy, another famous French red wine producing area, is obviously much more conservative. Not to mention Bordeaux selling wineries to foreigners, even if you are French there you will be discriminated against if you are not from a local winemaking family.

Under normal circumstances, it would be risky for a foreigner to let a Frenchman own the winery on his behalf, so when Liang En made the decision, both his lawyer and the Robuchon butler repeatedly asked Liang En to confirm it.

However, Liang En's situation here is completely different. Both the historical attendant himself and Joan's character and moral level are impeccable, so he can naturally let Joan hold the winery with confidence and boldness.

This winery is only about 30km away from the center of Bordeaux, so within thirty or forty minutes of driving, we saw the main building of the winery a few hundred meters away from the road.

The main building of the entire winery is located on a small hill. It is a castle-like building with a blue roof, beige walls and walls.

According to the introduction, this is a historic castle built in the 16th century, but judging from the architectural style and structure, it should be a garden castle that was renovated on the spot or even torn down and rebuilt.

Different from the traditional castles used as fortifications, this kind of garden has the gaps in the walls of the castle widened into glass windows, supplemented by gorgeous Baroque and Rococo interior decorations, completely abandoning military requirements.

As the carved white iron gate slowly opened, the car quickly drove into the castle that was half surrounded by woods. The towering ancient trees on both sides of the driveway were like a forest with no end in sight.

After walking around the hill for a long time, they finally came to the front of the main building of the castle. The building was L-shaped as a whole. The main building was where the owner and his family lived, while the wings contained five rooms for entertaining guests.

Soon, several people got out of the car and came to the small living room on the first floor of the main building, and signed the transfer contract on the table under the wall displaying the family logo and the tapestry with the family mark. Now, the winery has was attributed to Joan of Arc.

However, when signing, Joan of Arc's name still aroused some doubts. Fortunately, after Joan of Arc showed her ID and briefly talked about how she was adopted as an orphan here by the monastery, everyone could understand how to choose this name. Reason for the name.

This situation is actually not uncommon. When the church names the nameless orphans it adopts, it often uses the names of famous religious figures in history. Therefore, it is normal for the orphans to have the same name as some celebrities.

After completing the signing, they came to the garden together. The garden looked quite large. There was a moss-covered pool at the end of the road and a trickling stream flowing through it.

Of course, Liang En and the others did not come to visit the garden. They pushed open the inconspicuous small wooden door covered by ivy in the garden, and several of them went down together into the most valuable underground wine cellar in the wine industry.

According to the introduction, this wine cellar was converted from an abandoned quarry. It is 4km long and is considered to be large-scale in the region.

The rocks on the walls look neatly cut, and they feel wet to the touch, as if they have just been washed by water. This is because the humidity and temperature of the wine cellar are strictly monitored, creating an environment suitable for wine aging.

The air is mixed with the rich aroma of oak and wine, which makes people feel that the inheritance of this place has passed through the long river of time to the present.

Soon, several people arrived at the special tasting room in the wine cellar. What was interesting was that the tables and chairs in this tasting room were made of heavy stones, which inadvertently revealed a sense of simplicity.

There is already a middle-aged man in the tasting room. He is Mr. Gro, the winemaker of the manor. Liang En and the others are here to communicate with Mr. Gro and determine whether the two parties can cooperate in the future.

Winemakers and wineries are not bound, so when a winery changes owners, winemakers often communicate with the new owner to see if the two parties can continue to cooperate.

When talking about wine-related topics in the wine cellar, the wine will naturally be brought up and chatted while drinking. Winemakers will often judge the new owner by observing how much they love wine, and then help themselves make a decision.

It's just that this time Gro hit a hard nail, because Joan of Arc didn't touch the wine glass in front of her, and the reason was that she was not yet 18 years old.

Although Joan of Arc, who is over 16 years old according to the law, has full capacity for civil conduct and can sign a contract to acquire the winery, she is still not allowed to drink alcohol until she is 18 years old.

Grotto had nothing to say about this situation, especially after learning that Joan of Arc had grown up in a monastery and naturally thought that he might have never drank alcoholic beverages.

In the following chat, Gro received one surprise after another, because he did not expect that Joan of Arc could describe the taste of wine just by smelling it, and could occasionally comment on it just by smelling it.

Although the vocabulary used is not professional at all, it makes everyone more aware of Joan's genius in this area.

However, Liang En knew that this situation was caused by the fact that the cross of the leader of the Knights Templar had been strengthened three times and was far beyond ordinary people's sense of smell. In addition, during the days when he fought with the British, he came into contact with many top-notch people. wine.

But in the eyes of others, this is a symbol of genius in wine. Especially for Gro, the fact that the new owner is talented in wine made them weigh heavily on staying. code.

While talking, the two sides talked about Burgundy wine. After all, as the two most famous wine producing regions in France, the two sides are often compared.

In fact, Grotto once applied for a job in Burgundy, but his concept of stable production was completely inconsistent with the concept of small-scale surprise there, so he did not feel good about it.

And this just resonates with Joan of Arc. As a victim who was sold by the Burgundians, she naturally has no good impression of this place.

Therefore, the two of them seemed to have a very tacit understanding when they were complaining about Burgundy. As a result, the atmosphere of chatting became more and more harmonious, and the sense of isolation caused by strangers gradually disappeared.

So after chatting for more than an hour, Gro immediately expressed his willingness to continue serving the winery and signed a contract that was not much different from the previous one.

In other words, Gro is usually in charge of this winery, and Liang En and the others only need to check the financial and personnel matters. This is indeed true for Liang En, who is usually busy and does not know much about this industry. Best solution.