1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 212: Successfully graduated from the first year!
The picking work went more smoothly than Ronan had imagined.

Except for Ronan's family of three and Vieri, everyone else is an expert at harvesting grapes, and their speed is no slower than that of the strong Ronan.

The next afternoon, everyone started 'celebrating' early.

Vieri brought out the camera that was his birthday present last year, saying that he wanted to record his first 'farmer' experience.

I didn't expect that I didn't take many photos but ended up becoming everyone's photographer.

Freddy took off his straw hat, quickly adjusted his messy hair, then put it on again and held up a bunch of grapes:
"Vieri, take another picture for me, my hairstyle just now wasn't good enough."

Vieri had just finished taking pictures of Freddy when Louis stood up from behind the grape leaves again, smiling and giving a thumbs-up:
"I thought of another great pose! Take a picture of me!"

After pressing the shutter, Vieri looked at the remaining papers and complained:

"This roll is almost finished. I haven't taken many photos of myself yet!"

Ronan waves to Vieri:

"Come here, I'll take a picture for you."

Vieri ran over happily and handed the camera to Ronan:
"I want a picture with your house in the background, is that ok?"

"Sure, of course." Ronan pointed the camera at Zoe who was carrying grapes, "I'll take a picture of you after I finish taking pictures of your sister."

Vie was about to scream "collapse", and Ronan quickly pointed the camera at him:
"Smile, Vieri, my house is the background, it looks really nice."

Vieri burst into laughter, held up a bunch of grapes in both hands, and his smile was brighter than the sun in the sky.

Ronan took several photos of Vieri and then returned the camera to him.

Vieri took another look at the number of rolls submitted:
"There are two more photos left. Does anyone want to take them?"

Leah said before Freddy and Louis:

"I haven't filmed Ronan much."

Ronan squatted down and continued to work:

"Vieri took several photos of me. Let's take photos of Zoe. Zoe is so pretty."

"Take a photo of you two!" Leah shouted from a distance.

Ronan was about to speak when the sunlight above his head was blocked by someone and Zoe hugged him from behind - a kiss from the sky.

Vieri closed his eyes and pressed the shutter:

"Mom, they are both so disgusting!"

"Okay, okay, let's take a picture of something else." Ronan let go of Zoe. "Shall we take a group picture?"

"Okay!"

"Yes, we are short of a group photo."

"Hurry up and record this group activity!"

The scattered people gathered together, stood together as families, and helped each other with their clothes and hair.

Ronan and Zoe were pushed to the middle.

Vieri put his camera on the vines:

“Five seconds!”

He trotted back, crouched in front of Ronan and Zoe, and loudly counted the time for everyone.

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"Damn it, they kissed again!!"

As the sun set, the last batch of grapes was successfully loaded onto the truck.

Luo Tianhai threw the key of the big truck driven by Pierre to Ronan:

"You go and take care of the last trip."

Ronan has never been to the Mory Winery, so this last trip should allow him to experience it for himself.

"Okay." Ronan agreed with a smile.

The truck that Pierre drove was probably older than Louis's heirloom tractor.

Ronan tried to ignite the engine four or five times before it started panting heavily.

A large truck like this is only used in a few weeks before and after the picking season, so even though it has a slightly convex front, a slightly concave body, and is missing a door, no one still gives up on it.

However, this truck, with a top speed of only 30 km/h, is just enough for Ronan to get a good look at Lourmarin during the picking season.

This scene can only be seen a few days a year.

A few hundred meters away, there were several tractors parked in Theo's vineyard. He and several men were working inside, while Rebecca and several women were loading grapes onto trucks.

Anna and three children of about her age were running and jumping in the vineyard, shuttling back and forth. Not far from them, two little donkeys were looking around in confusion.

After driving a little further, we arrived at Fabian's vineyard.

In the piles of cargo boxes, the red-faced fat boy Cornell was helping to count the boxes, while Fabian and his wife were still piling grapes onto the truck.

Cornell's mother, Akenina, a benchmark in the Lourmarin quilt world, was distributing towels and water to the busy people.

On the road, Ronan saw Pierre, who was sweating profusely, Blanco, who was clumsy but sweating profusely, Pires, who was a loud speaker, and Como, the owner of the old tavern.
He saw many familiar faces.

But he also saw a "strange" side of these familiar people.

Ronan smiled and gripped the steering wheel.

People always say that autumn is the beginning of the "withering of all things", but what Ronan saw was a scene of "prosperity".

As Louis said, you don't need to know the way to the Moly Winery, you can find its gate by following the trucks and vans on the road. But Ronan thought he could add another way to find the way - the crushed grape residue on the ground.

Above Ronan's head is the bloody setting sun, and under his feet are "bloody" grapes.

Along the way, crushed grape remains can be seen everywhere.

Following this bloody avenue, Ronan arrived at the gate of the former Moli Brewing Cooperative, now Moli Winery.

But at this time there was a long queue, all from Lourmarin.

Ronan jumped down and chatted with a few farmers and found that everyone had a happy look on their faces.

It turned out that the grapes in several villages were picked in early September, and the quality was definitely not good if they were picked too early.

Some villages, like Lourmarin, have waited until the rainy season is over, but if they do not take action now, the quality will not be guaranteed once the heavy rains come.

So this year's Lourmarin grapes are likely to be the best quality in Château Moly.

"What does it matter?" Ronan didn't understand why the farmers were so happy.

A farmer explained to Ronan:

"If the grapes delivered by Lourmarin are of the best quality, in addition to the discount we have already agreed on, we will give you another discount, so that everyone can drink wine even cheaper next year!"

"Really?" Ronan was stunned.

Can I get another discount?
Although he doesn't drink red wine, his friends do.

"Really!" the villager said happily, "We will know the price for next year by the end of the year, and everyone can buy wine according to the updated price at the beginning of January."

Ronan chatted with the farmers for more than half an hour, and finally it was his turn.

He drove the truck onto the platform, and several workers swiftly pushed the crates filled with grapes onto the slide.

After unloading the goods, Ronan walked into the cooperation hall, which is also the reception area, where he watched with his own eyes as his grapes were packed into a huge stainless steel barrel.

Seeing that Ronan was a stranger, the staff pointed to a device with a pointer and said:
"Look here, here's the alcohol content."

Ronan really wanted to ask how this machine could detect the alcohol content in fresh grapes.

But then I thought that this trading system had been running in Lourmarin for so many years and there must be a reason for it. Especially since the next moment was the critical one of "witnessing a miracle", it was not appropriate to ask such a stupid question that would spoil the mood.

The needle on the dashboard suddenly rose up, just like Ronan's soaring heart rate. After a slight tremor, it stopped at the number 13.87.

The whole audience cheered, all of whom were people Ronan didn't know.

Ronan didn't know what they were cheering for.
Aren't these my grapes?

"There are hundreds more bottles of good wine." The staff member slapped his head hard.

Since this was the last batch of goods delivered by Ronan, he also took away a voucher when he left this time. In Ronan's opinion, it was more like a graduation certificate.

"【Grape Purchase Receipt】

No.: XXXX
Date: 19860921
【Winery Information】

Name:Moli
Address: 24 Avenue Laurent Vibert, Vaucluse, 84160 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
【Farmer information】

Name: Ronan
Address: 18 West of Lourmarin, Vaucluse, 84160 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
【Delivery details】

Town of origin: Lourmarin

Grape variety: Grenache
Year: 1986

Delivery kg: 1797.1
Unit price/kg: 11.7 francs/kg
Total amount: 21026.07
【Quality Certification】

√Sugar content requirement

√Acidity range

√ No rot/deterioration
【Signature and Declaration】

I certify that the delivery of grapes complies with the terms of the contract
Payment will be made within [30] days"

Ronan slapped the "diploma" in his hand:
"I have successfully graduated in my first year, keep working hard next year!"

After picking grapes from his own vineyard, Ronan immediately started helping other farmers in the village pick grapes.

By the evening of the third day, more than 95% of the grapes near Lourmarin had been picked.

Pierre brought several old farmers to provide the last 5% of support.

That night, the streets were full of people.

After three busy days, everyone did not choose to rest, but went out and shared their gains of the whole year with each other.

"I made over 3 this year! 4000 francs more than I expected. With the extra money, I can replace a few wheels on my tractor, which are worn out to the point where there is no grain left."

"You only got 4000 francs more? The bill Moli gave me is almost twice as much as I expected. It seems you haven't worked hard enough this year."

"Friends, can we go hunting now without worries? I'm going to Apt to buy a new gun!"

11 pm.

A loud thunderclap sounded in the sky above Luberon, and dogs from dozens of households barked at the same time.

Almost at the same time, dark clouds pressed down on Lourmarin's head and lightning seemed to pass by the roof.

The heavy rain this time did not leave time for the 'light show'.

Just a few minutes later, heavy rain poured down, lashing the houses, trees and everything on the ground like a whip.

But in Lourmarin, even louder than the storm was the celebratory singing and all-night revelry in every household.

This is the happiest rainy night for the villagers of Lourmarin!
Noon the next day.

Ronan, who drank with his friends until dawn, heard a piece of news in a daze - Blanco would hold a general village meeting in front of the old church at 5 pm.

He rubbed his dizzy head.

What happened again?

(End of this chapter)