Chapter 29 Duke Arthur Winery
July 1, 1900, outside Sydney.
Yesterday's meeting made Arthur clearly understand the fact that Australia is currently lagging behind in all aspects. Although he has made detailed plans with ministers of various departments and spent up to 30 million pounds of funds, if he wants to see results, , I’m afraid it will be at least a year later.
But the good news is that after the cabinet meeting ends, Arthur will have some free time.
Although it doesn't mean that there is really nothing to do, but compared to the busy days before, there is still a lot of leisure time.
But what Arthur didn't expect was that on his first day, Butler Hunter would invite him to the outskirts of Sydney on the grounds that Arthur's private winery was about to be built.
Because Roger Joseph Ebert, who had previously managed Arthur's assets with Butler Hunter, became Australia's Minister of Finance, the responsibility for managing Arthur's private assets fell entirely on Butler Hunter.
This is not an easy job. Arthur's current private property includes two steel plants, a military factory and a shipyard, as well as 132 million in cash and 150 million pounds in loans to the government. property.
After handing over all these assets to Butler Hunter, Arthur basically stopped asking any questions.
European aristocrats have a special attachment to red wine. Red wine is as important to the nobles as the dress at the banquet.
In Europe, those who do not have castles may not be low-level nobles, but those who do not have their own private winery are most likely down-and-out or low-level nobles.
Wine has been given special significance in Europe. It is regarded as being blessed by God and is sought after and loved by all European aristocrats.
Duke Arthur also has his own private winery in the UK, but it has been sold by Arthur.
After coming to Australia, Butler Hunter was already selecting a site for Arthur's winery. While Arthur was busy with state affairs, he had completed most of the construction of the winery and was waiting for Arthur to visit it in person. Give the winery a noble name and you can officially put it into production.
When they learned that Arthur was going to the outskirts of Sydney, Margery and Patricia also cried and shouted to follow him.
Arthur had no choice but to agree to them following, but the premise was that Princess Louise had to follow them.
After all, judging from the out-of-the-box personalities of Margery and Patricia, there is no telling what they would do if Princess Louise was not allowed to watch them.
In this way, what was originally a team traveling by Arthur alone evolved into a motorcade traveling by the entire Australian royal family.
There were many servants and guards accompanying them, and the size of the entire convoy reached hundreds of people.
By the time the motorcade arrived at the winery's address, it was already noon.
Butler Hunter had been standing outside the door early, waiting for Arthur and the royal family to arrive.
"Butler Hunter, how are you?" Arthur slowly got down from the carriage and asked with a smile.
"Everything is going well, Your Highness. I'm just waiting for you, Your Highness the Princess, and your two Young Highnesses." Butler Hunter made a noble salute like a gentleman and said respectfully.
When Princess Louise and her two sisters got off the carriage, Arthur smiled and said, "Let's go and see what the winery is like." It was said that it was a winery, but it was actually a combination of a vineyard and a winery.
Coupled with the fact that Australia is currently sparsely populated, the area of this winery has reached a terrifying three square kilometers, which is 300 hectares, or a total of 4,500 acres of land.
How big is this winery? If you walk around the manor, you will have to walk at least six kilometers. Even if you speed up your pace, you will have to walk for more than an hour.
Fortunately, Arthur did not have the idea of walking around the manor. Otherwise, whether he could return here after an hour would be a problem.
"Butler Hunter, for such a large red wine estate, where do our grape vines come from?" Arthur asked curiously.
According to normal trellis grapevines, approximately 140 grapevines can be planted in one acre of land. This is a more appropriate spacing, which ensures that each grapevine receives enough sunlight without wasting too much land area.
Although part of the area of the winery is used to produce and ferment wine, and the grape vine planting area is not that large, at least 600,000 grape vines are needed.
There are so many vines that even if you search all over Australia, you probably won't be able to find them.
"Your Highness, before you sold the British wine estate, I was already hoarding grape vine seeds. Our winery currently cultivates nearly half a million grape seeds, and purchased another 10,000 grape vines from Australia. And 50,000 grape saplings and tens of thousands of fruit trees. Before the seeds grow into grape vines, our winery can produce about 130,000 liters of wine every year." Butler Hunter explained with a smile.
Although finished grape vines are difficult to purchase, excellent grape seeds can be found everywhere.
Although most of the winery is planted with grape seeds, a large number of finished grape vines can be harvested after two or three years.
Arthur was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Butler Hunter had already started laying out wineries in Australia when he was in the UK.
"Butler Hunter, our current production is enough, right? If the production is too big, we won't be able to sell it. At least within a few years, our wine will not be able to compete with French red wine." Arthur asked with a slight surprise. arrive.
At present, most of the most famous red wines in Europe are produced in France. This is due to the influence of geographical location and climate.
In the absence of a large European market, no matter how much wine a winery can produce, it will not be able to sell it and will only incur losses.
"Your Highness, the winery's annual expenditure is less than one hundred thousand pounds, which is completely within our acceptable range. Although we cannot compare with European red wine in a short period of time, we can also firmly grasp Australia's red wine. Market. With the increase in immigration, the Australian red wine market will gradually increase. It is not difficult for wineries to maintain a balance of payments. When the European red wine market is subject to fluctuations, it will not be too late for us to enter the European market. No matter what happens, the old red wine will be more mellow than the newly produced red wine. We can create two brands, one taking the high-end route and operating in the European market, and the other taking the low-end route and operating in the Australian market." Hunter Butler explained arrive.
For things like red wine, it doesn’t mean that the fresher it is, the better it tastes. On the contrary, older red wines will have a more mellow taste and will be more sought after by European aristocrats.
The price of red wine produced by the same winery may differ several times between that produced this year and that produced ten years ago.
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(End of chapter)