Chapter 98

The next morning, Wang Zixuan and Adolf von Frank, along with their entourage, drove away from the castle.

The roads on both sides were mostly vineyards. However, they were just beginning to show a hint of green, and there wasn't much to see, only rows of neatly arranged grape trellises.

However, Wang Zixuan wasn't there to enjoy the scenery. The convoy went straight to the village of Vosne-Romanée.

This was a small village, but it contained all the essence of the Burgundy region.

From the outside, Vosne-Romanée looked like an ordinary rural village, with no tall castles or luxurious courtyards, just some ordinary buildings that might even make one feel a bit poor and backward.

But those familiar with red wine knew that there wasn't a single ordinary bottle of wine in this village.

A bottle of red wine casually placed in any household might be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The convoy stopped at the entrance to the village, and Wang Zixuan and Adolf von Frank, led by a few welcoming people, followed a winding path into the village.

After a few minutes, they saw dozens of men waiting in front of a courtyard.

These men were the owners of the Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and the neighboring village of Flagey-Echézeaux.

Although Vosne-Romanée has only six Grand Cru vineyards and Flagey-Echézeaux has only two, the eight Grand Cru vineyards have over a hundred owners.

Moreover, four of the six Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée are monopoles (owned by a single entity).

Due to historical inheritance, many owners only possess one row of grapevines in a Grand Cru vineyard, but don't underestimate these people who own just one row.

A row of grapevines in these Grand Cru vineyards is worth a fortune, and those who own a row usually have other businesses.

One reason why Burgundy red wine is less famous internationally than Bordeaux red wine is that a single Burgundy vineyard can have several or even dozens of owners, and the ratings of wines from different châteaux are very complex, affecting the spread of Burgundy red wine.

The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) fully owns the Romanée-Conti and La Tâche vineyards in Vosne-Romanée, and also owns parts of the Richebourg, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Echézeaux, and Grand Echézeaux vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and Flagey-Echézeaux.

The other two Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée, the Rues de Grands Crus, are the exclusive vineyards of Domaine Lamarche, and the Romanée vineyard is the exclusive vineyard of Baron Liger-Belair.

After understanding the situation of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Wang Zixuan once considered acquiring all eight Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and Flagey-Echézeaux, but after Citibank conducted an investigation, it was found that this goal was completely impossible to achieve, even if Wang Zixuan was willing to pay more money, many owners had no intention of selling.

Moreover, many of these owners are families that have been passed down for hundreds of years or even longer in Europe, and they look down on upstarts like Citibank and Wang Zixuan.

At first, Wang Zixuan's intention to acquire the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was just a whim, wanting to add the world's most expensive red wine to his collection, but later he included the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in his plan to develop high-end tourism.

Since this was related to his most important tourism layout, Wang Zixuan naturally wouldn't give up easily and asked Adolf von Frank to help mediate.

The Frank family has been passed down for hundreds of years in Europe and has connections with many European families.

If it were someone else, Adolf von Frank wouldn't have helped, but when Wang Zixuan asked, Adolf von Frank immediately agreed to help.

With Adolf von Frank's efforts and Wang Zixuan's willingness to pay any price, the Bouchard and Leroy families, who held shares in the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, finally agreed to sell, though the price was astronomical.

A total of 5 billion euros, including the vineyards, château buildings, and stored wine.

In terms of valuation, this price was not particularly high.

In the wine industry, the Château Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux is already valued at over 3 billion euros, while the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, although with a much lower production than Lafite, has a higher price and reputation.

Lafite originally became famous as a substitute for Romanée-Conti.

In 1760, the Klonne family, which owned the Romanée vineyard, was forced to sell it due to debt, and at that time, the Romanée vineyard was already recognized as the top vineyard.

The sale of the Romanée vineyard naturally attracted the attention of many nobles, and the two most powerful competitors were two prominent figures in France at the time.

One was Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, a cousin of King Louis XV and a prince of the House of Bourbon, and the other was Madame de Pompadour, the favorite mistress of King Louis XV.

Prince Condé was a noble whom Louis XV relied on heavily, while Madame de Pompadour was Louis XV's most beloved mistress, and the two had been at odds for a long time, making this competition particularly noteworthy.

In the end, Prince Condé, with his substantial wealth, bought the Romanée vineyard for a price ten times higher than the surrounding top vineyards, making it the most expensive vineyard in the world at the time and establishing its supreme status.

The Romanée vineyard also gained a suffix, becoming the Romanée-Conti vineyard today.

Although Madame de Pompadour did not have as much wealth as Prince Condé, she frequently attended court banquets and led fashion trends.

Unable to obtain Romanée-Conti, she decided to destroy it.

With this in mind, Madame de Pompadour stopped drinking Burgundy red wine and began promoting Bordeaux wines, such as Lafite and the champagne invented by Dom Pérignon, in the court.

Lafite and champagne benefited from Madame de Pompadour's promotion and became popular in the court.

However, the status of Romanée-Conti in the world of red wine was not shaken, and it remained the supreme red wine.

In terms of quality, historical value, and status, the Romanée-Conti vineyard surpasses the Lafite vineyard.

However, after the Rothschild family acquired the Lafite vineyard in 1868, they vigorously promoted the Lafite brand, and with a much higher production than the Romanée-Conti vineyard, the annual sales revenue of the Lafite vineyard exceeded that of the Romanée-Conti vineyard by three times.

Of course, if the production and sales revenue of the Romanée-Conti vineyard were not so low, Wang Zixuan would have had to pay tens of billions of euros to acquire the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

After securing the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Wang Zixuan planned to use the lower-valued Echézeaux and Grand Echézeaux vineyards in Flagey-Echézeaux, along with cash, to exchange for the other four Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée, thus fully owning all six Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée.

However, unfortunately, even with the exchange of Grand Cru vineyards and cash, some stubborn European nobles could not be convinced.

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