Chapter 504 3. There Are Always Capable People Who Can Find a Solution

Kai and Shinano later merged into Yamanashi Prefecture, and 86% of the territory is mountainous and hilly. Every piece of flat land is a battleground for military strategists, and people's brains are out of control.

But the vast forests provide a large number of by-products for Koshin. Since ancient times, Koshin has been known as the Eight Treasures, chestnuts, persimmons, grapes, pomegranates, apples, pears, ginkgo nuts, and peaches, which are famous both at home and abroad.

Japan (shielded) has a typical temperate marine monsoon climate, with high temperatures and heavy rains in summer. In addition, it is now in the Little Ice Age, and sometimes torrential rains in summer even cause large-scale floods.

Moreover, Japan's soil has been explained in detail before. The Kanto region, including Koshin, is completely acidic soil that is not suitable for farming.

Under multiple unfavorable factors, Koshin seems to be completely unsuitable for growing crops such as grapes. But the reality is that today's Yamanashi Prefecture is Japan's No. 1 grape and wine producing area (sometimes Yamagata Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture will exceed it). The best grapes are even sold by the berry. How much is one berry?

Why is this?

It's very simple. It's basically impossible for man to conquer nature, so don't even think about it. But small-scale adaptation and transformation are completely possible. Soil improvement has been going on for hundreds of years, and the widespread use of grass fertilizer has made alkaline soil suitable for cultivation spread all over Koshin.

Secondly, Koshin has a special terrain, with many mountains, slopes, and forests. The mountains in the country have a high altitude, which makes the temperature difference between day and night in Koshin area large in summer, which is very conducive to grapes storing sugar and more conducive to maturity. In addition, although there is a lot of precipitation on the slopes, the drainage is also fast, and the overall drainage conditions are good, making wild grapes less likely to rot and mold during growth.

This is just wild grapes, and artificially cultivated grapes have long been planted in trellises. (Hokkaido is not within the scope of discussion, and the local grape trellises are built low.) Use bamboo and wood trellises to raise the vines, and trim them properly so that the leaves can fully contact the sun and flowing air. This can greatly reduce the impact of excessive moisture, or even almost eliminate it.

The scope of artificially cultivated grapes is not large, that is, as fresh fruit for freshness, just taste it in summer. However, the later very famous "Koshu" grapes should be derived from these small vineyards today, with a long history.

Xiao Pingtai can't make wine, which is also a technical job. But Xiao Pingtai can't, but Father William next door can.

Wine has a special status in Christianity. Over the long years, due to its universal existence and the special color, it has gradually become a substitute for the blood of the Son of God in religious ceremonies.

Where there are churches and monasteries, there must be wine. Even almost all churches and monasteries with conditions have their own orchards and vineyards to produce wine. After all, it is needed in too many religious ceremonies.

For the hundreds of thousands of Christians in Japan today, this is a huge undeveloped market. If you use imported wine from Europe, how high will the price be? If you use domestically produced wine, the freight cost alone can be almost completely cut.

Moreover, if the price is not expensive and it becomes popular, the future is even more promising.

Of course, there is no need to hide what wild grapes are. They are not sweet enough. Without more than ten or twenty years of artificial cultivation, it is difficult to cultivate grapes that are completely suitable for sweet wine.

Not to mention that wild grapes are not sweet enough, the lack of sweetness is only part of the reason. They are also small, sour, astringent, and lack water, which makes them very unpalatable.

In fact, this kind of wild grape can only be left to grow and rot in the wild.

Some people think that they can be used to make vinegar, and fruit vinegar is naturally a direction, but Xiaopingtai is very worried about the yield of fruit vinegar from wild grapes, after all, he has never done it.

It seems that this is a dead end. Making wine is not possible. Making vinegar from pulp or pressing oil from grape seeds, whether the return rate is reliable is also uncertain.

But it does not prevent the Japanese (blocked) from having smart people, and this smart person will probably be born in ten or twenty years. It should not be too advanced for Xiaopingtai to plagiarize his method.

Ueda Taroemon was a wine merchant. With his merits in making wine, he was promoted to a samurai by the feudal lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi (need more introduction?), and rose to fame overnight.

What was his method?

Add black bean yeast to wild grapes!

As for the girl who stepped on the grapes during the brewing process, she stepped on the grapes barefoot in a wooden basin. We don't need to describe this content in too much detail. Anyway, it is not modern industrial production, and it is not strange to use a little human and animal power.

Just know it in your heart! It's disgusting to say it out loud!

Black beans are added in the process of brewing wild grape wine, and black beans are used to promote the fermentation of wild grapes with relatively low sugar content. In other words, in essence, this wine is made by fermenting wild grapes, rather than simply soaking wild grapes in alcohol.

Although the taste may be a certain distance from the best red wine, it is definitely enough to perfunctorily deal with Japan, a brand new market that has not yet been exposed to wine on a large scale.

Thinking of this, Xiao Pingtai roughly checked the terrain, and after finding no problems, he hurried down the mountain.

"Father, do you know how to make wine?"

"Yes, it's a necessary skill for us."

"Then do you know how to build a winery and set up a wine cellar?"

"Of course!"

"Hahahahahaha, God help me!"

Kobayata hurriedly summoned Imagawa Yoshichika, his father-in-law Hosokawa Harumiya, and his elder brother-in-law Hosokawa Saijo, and personally wrote the judgment.

He immediately sent a fast horse back to the mountains to discuss a suitable price, publicize it, and announce to the people that he would fully purchase wild grapes.

Anyway, it will take nearly two months for the wild grapes to mature, which is enough to build a winemaking workshop and a wine cellar to store wine.

The least valuable thing in this world is labor. Isn't it hard to find masons and carpenters? As long as you tell the shape of a wooden basin or barrel, a carpenter will definitely be able to make it. It's just that the French Louvre oak, summer oak, and American white oak are difficult to get.

Wine and oak barrels complement each other and complement each other. When it comes to red wine, you must think of using oak barrels.

Does Japan (shielded) have oak? Actually, there is no. But there is another kind of wood that is very useful. It is Japan (shielded) Mizunara!

Because Mizunara is rich in lactone, it even has the taste of ancient oriental wood spices such as sandalwood and agarwood. It can give the drink a coconut flavor, and sometimes even citrus fruit flavors.

It’s a perfect match!