Erasure and Affirmation (Hypernaturals 11)

Nico

When I am at Claremont, I have taken to using the downstairs library as my office. Fiona saw me doing that and installed a desk for me. Fiona is like that.

This morning Jessica and Morgan bopped off to the brewery to look in on recipes and talk to the brewmaster about what is selling well here. I can see it in the numbers, but they want to get a more first-hand opinion. The brewmaster is a Vampire, so she has all the senses required to find when things go off in a brew, and also when she is talking to customers in the restaurant what they are really liking versus what they are just saying that they like. Regional tastes vary. French beer is nothing like American ales, and so if we make one, we like to see if it is going to be accepted.

Helen and Rachel are off horseback riding.

We five are the early shift. I have seen no one else peek out so far today. Agatha has the kitchen on standby for staggered breakfasts.

When I am here, I am not only Adrian Sagan. Dad. Husband. PI. Computer coder. Co-Owner of a bar with Morgan and Holly. Here I am something much more upscale and storied. I am Adrian Claremont, the current heir to the Claremont winery. Via Helen, but no one out there in the world knows that. I take this seriously. Usually. I won't let Claremont suffer for my suddenly owning it. I do that in part by letting Fiona run the place, but I get involved.

I am looking over some reports about some new varieties of grape I was trying over in the experimental vineyard. This is the Burgundy region of France, so of course, Claremont makes Burgundy. That is made with Pinot Noir grapes.

Helen put in Cabernet Sauvignon as she prefers the fuller body and higher tannin levels. It required some work because the grapes have different soil preferences. It was controversial at the time. Still is in some places, but no one faults the results. The Claremont CabSav is well regarded in the wine press. At the same time, there is always a snooty reference to it being wrong that it is so right. Helen is picky, so she made sure the CabSav was world-class.

My experiment is the try a Shiraz. The Syrah grape that underlies that came from France, after all. An old cross of grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche. Yet another soil preference. Shiraz is often a blend, but I like the idea of a single source. The preference comes from beer, where I tend to prefer a single-hop style. I don't like to mix Mosaic and Cascades, for example. My two spousal brewers agree. On one of their spousal vacations, they went to the Cascades region of the US for their week together and sniffed their way through the hops growing there.

Helen is not thrilled about this idea of a Shiraz, but she started it with her Cab, and I am just continuing it. It's not an enormous amount of acreage, and it is isolated to avoid cross-pollination.

For now. I am not against the idea of crossing varieties either. The Syrah grape is already that.

Nicola, who goes by Nico to most people, peeked in the open door of the Library. He backed out and looked around. Peeked back in. "You by yourself?"

"Yes. Everyone else is doing something else or still asleep."

"Anne and Denise are still out." Nico reported. "Am I bothering you?"

I could tell Nico had something on his mind, so I pointed at my guest chair. "Come in. Sit." I said.

The good-looking Vampire man sat, glanced around the Library, and I waited for the inevitable question. It did not come. "There are many old and valuable books in here. You are very lucky to have this place."

OK. I expected 'Have you read them all?'. "Yes. Helen built this up over centuries. Why everything is encased and climate-controlled. Full acid reduction protocols to preserve things as well." I said.