1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 360 [Brewing]

The first real Chinese New Year, which Ronan spent in Provence at the end of January, accelerated his rate of happiness.

With healthy parents, a large circle of friends, and a lover by his side, Ronan, whose inner world is rich, confidently believes that he is the happiest person in the world.

Gold's trip also filled his material world, and the depth of one's pocket directly affects one's mood. Ronan became even happier.

When you spend 5000 points to upgrade [Cooking] to level 5, the [Happiness] in the system is almost at its limit.

But now, only a month has passed, and the happiness level has reached over 2000, with the accumulation speed increasing by about 30%.

Ronan looked at the light blue screen in front of him.

[Level 3 Construction: 0/2000]

[Level 4 Planting: 0/5000]

[Level 4 Gathering: 0/5000]

[Level 5 Cooking: 0/10000]

[Level 3 Weaving: 0/2000]

[Level 3 Hunting: 0/2000]

[Level 3 Pottery Making: 0/2000]

[Level 1 Fishing: 0/100]

[Tier 1 Brewing: 0/100]

[Grade 1 glass firing: 0/100]

[Usable experience: 2401]

Ronan turned his attention to the [Brewing] skill.

Even if I take over the Rosé winery in Jérôme immediately in March, there will be no actual winemaking operations for the next six months, because the grapes in Provence will not ripen until September.

Therefore, Ronan was never in a hurry to upgrade this skill.

However, after meeting with Juliet today, Ronan wanted to move this action forward a bit and try to find some foreign grape varieties that are not common in Provence but might be helpful for making rosé wine.

Grapes have a very long growth cycle. Even if new varieties are planted this spring, it will take at least 3 years for them to bear fruit in small batches, 4 years for stable yields, and 10 years for the quality to reach maturity.

This shows that many prestigious wineries use old vines as a marketing gimmick.

The grape varieties needed in the Provence domestic market are easy to find, but Ronan's ambitions are much greater. Whether it's to find new outlets in the domestic market or to adapt to the 'New World market,' the sooner the preparations are made, the better.

If we can plant new grapes this year, we can harvest them a year earlier; if we miss this spring, we'll have to wait until next year.

It doesn't matter if you can't find a suitable grape variety.

A deeper understanding of winemaking techniques will allow Ronan to pay attention to more key details in the subsequent preparation stage.

This tiny bit of crucial information might just be the most helpful thing ever.

The restaurant's business has stabilized and is showing signs of improvement. In Ronan's current development plan, the Rosé winery will be the focus for a long time to come.

Brewing will be just as important as cooking and farming skills, and the goal for both is to reach the maximum level in the future.

"Since we're going to get promoted sooner or later, let's do it today."

Having figured this out, Ronan pointed to the upgrade symbol after [Level 1 Brewing: 0/100].

Like upgrading other skills, level 2 [Brewing] also brings a massive amount of basic knowledge.

Winemaking is a very large category, and given the limited time, Ronan mainly focused on the wine section.

Winemaking techniques can be divided into two main categories: still wine and sparkling wine.

Although most wines are made from grapes, other plants such as honey, apples, and pears can also be added.

While the winemaking process varies slightly between different wines, the core process is largely the same, starting with harvesting and picking, and proceeding through sorting, destemming, crushing, fermentation, maceration, pressing, aging, and clarification and filtration.

The system also introduces the characteristics of wines from different regions, and Ronan focused primarily on the rosé wine section in order to highlight key aspects.

The information on 'New World wine regions' is vast. The United States, South America, South Africa, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, and Australia all produce rosé wines, but these regions tend to cater to the tastes of contemporary wine enthusiasts, so they don't have a fixed characteristic.

Rosé wines produced in the 'Old World' regions have maintained their unique flavor for over a century.

Rosé wines from Provence exude delicate floral aromas, rich citrus notes, and subtle red berry aromas. They have a refreshing taste with moderate acidity and a refreshing mineral flavor, and some may even have a hint of herbal notes.

Spanish rosé wines are more vibrant in color and are characterized by their rich fruit aromas, refreshing acidity, strong minerality, and long finish.

Italian rosé wines use a wide variety of grape varieties, resulting in diverse flavors ranging from delicate floral aromas to rich fruity notes. They are refreshing, with moderate acidity, smooth tannins, and a bright, clean finish.

Ronan studied it carefully for a while and found that the knowledge provided by Level 2 [Brewing] was vast but not detailed enough.

For example, the section on grape blending only mentions that wines can be made using a single grape variety or a blend, and that the combination of different grape varieties will significantly affect the color, aroma, and structure of the wine. A careful reading will certainly reveal a lot of useful information, but it's not what Ronan needs right now.

To learn more, Ronan spent another 500 points of Happiness to upgrade Brewing to level 3, hoping to find something new.

Level 3 [Brewing] focuses on the selection and fermentation processes in the brewing process.

There are three commonly used artificial winemaking methods for rosé wine: direct pressing, maceration, and sagging.

This part is not needed now, so Ronan continued reading and found the selection section, where he finally found detailed information about the grape varieties he was interested in.

Provençal rosé wines typically feature Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre as the main grape varieties, with blends including Carignan, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Both being rosé wine regions in France, the Loire Valley tends to use Anjou, Cabernet Sauvignon, Saumur, and Touraine for its wines, while the remainder is filled with Grosslo, Pinot Donis, Pinot Noir, and Gamay.

The system introduces many French rosé wine producing regions, each using completely different grapes.

After leaving France, they went to Italy and Spain, where they used even more varieties of grapes.

If we expand further to the 'New World region', there will be even more categories to consider.

Ronan's eyes were almost blurry; he stroked his chin and muttered softly:

"Actually, what kind of grapes you use depends entirely on what flavor and structure you want; there are so many possible combinations."

Ronan's goal today is to try to find some grapes that can be grown in Provence and that can enhance the quality of his rosé wines.

However, it is clear that the selection and brewing knowledge provided by the Level 3 [Brewing] skill is insufficient for Ronan to make a decision and may even confuse him further.

Ronan believed that continuing to upgrade would definitely lead to useful knowledge, and perhaps even the answer.

But he doesn't plan to do that for the time being.

Ronan opened the system, looked at the 1801 points of [Happiness] at the bottom, and let out a long sigh.

There are more urgent and important things waiting for him to do. [Brewing] cannot be upgraded for the time being.

However, not continuing to upgrade [Brewing] doesn't mean Ronan has given up on finding the answer.

Countless past experiences have proven that when you can't find a result on one path, you can try another.

If we can't find the answer with [brewing], perhaps adding [gathering] and [cultivation] would be feasible?
Combining the characteristics of the rosé wine from the production area and the grape variety pairings provided by the [Winemaking] section, the crop information provided by the [Gathering] section, and the cultivation information provided by the [Planting] section, Ronan actually found something interesting.

Take Provence rosé wine as an example.

Grenache should provide fruity notes, Cinsault adds floral notes and acidity, and Mourvèdre supplements the spice notes.
"It really worked!" Ronan muttered to himself with delight.

Given some time, he can definitely analyze all the grapes and find out the function of each one.

However, there are a few additional conditions to be added when selecting grapes this time.

In addition to being suitable for planting in the soil near Lourmaran, it also needs to meet a key factor.

Juliet said the "removal plan" was due to the severe overproduction crisis in the European Community, with a large amount of low-quality wine going unsold. Its essence was to reduce wine production and improve quality in several major wine-producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain.

To improve the quality of wine, grapes that can provide 'structure' are needed.

'Structure' is a key indicator for evaluating the quality of wine, referring to the balance and support of various components in the wine, such as acidity, tannins, alcohol, and sugar.

Provençal wine critics say that rosé wines lack depth and substance, which essentially means they lack a sense of structure.

Local wineries don't select grapes with a structured shape, as that would increase costs because it's obvious that rosé wines from Provence don't fetch high prices.

“If we can improve the structure of rosé wine, it might not only solve the local evaluation problem, but also help us increase profits. 20 francs a bottle is too cheap. We need to develop a few more that can open up the high-end market.” Ronan thought as he walked. “This also responds to the EEC’s call to ‘reduce production and improve quality.’ Could we ask Juliet for more subsidies? Or get other benefits?”

Ronan thought about it more and more and it made more sense.

We've decided to focus our grape-finding efforts on this metric!
There are so many varieties of grapes for making rosé wine, and it takes a lot of time to compare them. I only studied about a third of them in one night.

If Ronan has another two or three nights, he should be able to finish analyzing everything and get preliminary conclusions.

However, the important thing right now is not the grapes, but the trip to Grasse.

It's not enough to just make rosé wine; you also need to find reliable sales channels and a business model.

The next morning, before dawn, Ronan drove to Grasse, the "perfume capital".

This trip was Ronan's furthest journey since arriving in Provence.

Grasse is close to the coastal city of Cannes, but it is more than 200 kilometers away from Lourmarin, where Ronan lived, a drive of more than three hours.

However, Ines arranged a professional 'guide' for Ronan, who could help him understand the great Fox family in the shortest amount of time.

"I learned a lot of useful things from Juliet yesterday, and I hope to have a fruitful day today as well." Ronan tapped the steering wheel, his anticipation growing.

(End of this chapter)