“You always surprise me,” Jordan wondered.
The ribs and beans were still warm and spicy, and the drinks had a residue of chill. At first they ate in silence enjoying the tastes and textures of the meal.
Finally, Papa spoke, “I have been busy since our last visit.”
He continued, “Based upon my inventory of the number of vines in the forest and my idea of the number of clusters that each might produce I have estimated that we will require ten 24-gallon or a dozen 20-gallon crocks to hold the juice and the must. That should give us a yield of about 140 to 160 gallons of wine this first year. We are not going to hire any help to get this done because it is just too risky. Glen and I will just have to do the work. Your help with the physical part of the project would be most welcome. I don’t have any daughters that you could be hanging around, thank God, but it might at least have given us an excuse for your presence at the place on a regular basis.”
Jordan laughed. “Right now I have about all of that I can handle anyway, and that little lady I told you about has left town and assured me that I would not have any repercussions from her departure. She is one of the most perfect little persons that I ever met. I’m crazy, but I hope that we meet again.”
Papa shook his head and said, “You really are crazy.”
“Did you have a hand in her leaving?” Jordan queried.
Papa replied, “She will not be an encumbrance to you. Just leave it at that. We have too many mutual benefits to share to allow unnecessary complications to develop in the foreseeable future. Now let’s move on to more of the financial aspects of our plan.” Jordan didn’t speak of it again at least in the foreseeable future.
Papa resumed his report, “In addition to the crocks for the first pressing, we will need hydrometers, twenty-five to thirty 10-gallon glass jugs, rubber stoppers and tubing. After the wine finishes fermenting in the bottles, we will require hardwood barrels large enough or in adequate numbers to accept the green wine for mellowing the flavor. This will be the greatest initial expense that will be required.”
He continued, “I don’t know of any barrel Coopers in this whole area, but I haven’t looked because I never had the need of them before. You say you have some good connections to the south of us and they might be the resource that we’ll need. We must have them by mid-October to early November in order to begin curing the wine.”
Papa had one more item on his agenda before completing the first meeting of their new venture.
Before Jordan Peltier could intervene, Papa proceeded, “My family and I have expended much effort and time in creating this unique system. In order to come to some terms with regards to your involvement and commitment, we must analyze carefully those portions of the system that you will provide that we cannot produce for ourselves.
The first will be assistance in obtaining the necessary financing to clear our obligations on the farm, to purchase all the equipment and supplies to be able to harvest and process the grapes, ferment them into wine, finish it to the proper maturity and taste, and bottle and cork it for sale. We will need your assistance in finding and purchasing those items that are difficult to acquire from a local source. If they are not available here, then they must be found through resources within the State of Mississippi, Louisiana, elsewhere in the United States, or if necessary, even beyond in the international market.
Third, we will be unable to safely market and sell the vast majority of wine that we bottle to local people because the word would quickly spread of our endeavor and the local Law would descend upon us in great force. That would mean essentially ending our business before it begins, relegating us to trial, conviction, and then to prison. Your people in Louisiana may be able to circumvent these problems, but that remains to be seen.
I feel that an initial offer of ten percent of the value of the business to you is reasonable. This percentage is variable and can be negotiated depending upon our requirements and your ability to satisfy those needs.”
Jordan Peltier knew as a banker that financial matters were far better served upon the careful scrutiny of as many variables of an agreement as possible prior to negotiations and final mutual understanding.
He responded, “Mr. Hailes, I appreciate your suggestion of ten percent as a starting point in our attempt to determine a fair ownership participation agreement. I would recommend, however, that we enumerate as many of the contributing assets that each possesses, or will be able to provide. After we have accomplished this list, then we must assess the cost and/or value of each.”
Papa pondered a while then said, “I think that is satisfactory, but we must act quickly. I will complete my detailed equipment materials and supplies list for production. We will need your input to study the special things that are not locally available along with marketing and distribution. I can then project a first annual gross and net income amount. At that point we should have a much clearer picture of the value of each partner’s contribution and share. I will meet you here in one week at the same hour, and every week at the usual 12:30 until we have everything worked out.”
Jordan nodded his agreement. They completed their lunch, mounted and departed their separate ways. Each was committed to this means that could enable them to become wealthy. Conversely both were cognizant of their risks.
During the week following his first meeting with Peltier on the river, Papa compiled his list for the necessary items. This included the essentials for the conversion of the juice into wine and finally the bottling, corking, and labeling of the finished product ready for transport and sale. Additionally, business of the farm had to continue as though there were no other endeavor being undertaken on the place.
It would take additional money from the banker and a very great deal more work but the double influx of cash at the end of the year would break them free of the grave consequences that were decimating the farmers and others of Clarke County, Mississippi.
Papa compiled the list of his requirements for the coming regular farming season. Their sum included the costs of seed, fertilizer, the equipment for plowing and harvesting and a variety of household items that would be necessary for them to purchase in order to live for the coming four to six months.
Papa and Glen met the week later with Jordan Peltier at their retreat under the river bridge. Papa had two separate lists. The first consisted of the regular farm requirements and totaled $684.43. He presented it to Peltier and carefully observed his face as he read the list and the final bottom figure.
The banker was immersed in his considerations and Papa was unable to read his response to the projected costs. Holding the first list in his right hand, but still concentrating, Jordan held his left hand out.
Papa obliged.
This second list enumerated the essentials for the wine production and bottling. Accounting for some of the more scarce and exotic items were only estimated and approximate. Jordan Peltier did not smile nor did he speak until he read the remaining document. Then he looked up at Papa Hailes and asked, “Why do you need these items?”
Papa patiently explained, “The ceramic crocks must be used to hold the juice after we remove the grapes from the vines. We will crush the grapes to extract the juice, and leave the stems and hulls; those are the skins, floating on top of the juice as it will impart color and flavor to the sugars in the grapes. We’ll put a light cover on the crocks to keep the bugs and fruit flies out and it will bubble up violently at first. During the next four to five weeks later the conversion of the sugar into wine will be mostly completed and the bubbling will slow down to just an occasional pop at the surface. This indicates the end of the first phase of wine making called the ‘primary fermentation.’
At that point we will have to collect off the converted juice, squeezing as much out from the hulls and stems as we can extract. Normally we would use a wine press to get the juice, but we can squeeze it through sheets this first harvest since we can’t afford a press.”
Papa continued, “We let it
rest a day, then siphon the remainder of the juice from the crock. We transfer the siphoned raw wine into the glass jugs that you see on the list to remove the juice from the sludge at the bottom of the crock after the first fermenting. We can use the skins, twigs and yeast on the bottom of the crocks for feeding the hogs or for fertilizer.
We then seal the wine off from the outside with perforated bottle stoppers, glass and rubber tubing, and make water traps to keep air from accumulating over the juice as it ferments. This is called ‘secondary fermentation,’ and is necessary to keep the wine from being exposed to the air. If the air gets to it, you’ll have a high quality of sour wine to make vinaigrette for your salad. After several weeks the wine conversion is complete. No more bubbling from the tubing and trap system can be seen despite careful observation of the trap’s surface for over five minutes.
Aging is the next step requiring the oak barrels. This part is the most expensive investment required in making a truly fine wine. After the barrels are purchased they must be inspected for “curing.” In this process, a fire is made with hardwood that is reduced down to red-hot coals. These pieces are shoveled into the barrels and allowed to burn the inner surface into a charcoal that imparts a deep smoky flavor to the taste of the ripening wine within the cask. If properly treated the oaken barrels are now ready to receive the finished wine.
The casks will be nearly completely filled and will rest on special racks that are cut to their precise shape for several months. After transfer of the new wine into the barrel, a wooden plug or bung is driven through a round hole that has been cut into the barrel’s middle. This seals the wine yet also serves as a port for its removal for clarification at intervals and for bottling at the end of its rest period. Aging the wine is clarified by “racking,” which is the process of removing the resting wine from one cask and transferring it to another in order to separate it from impurities that collect while aging.
When fully mature, the wine is finally removed into individual bottles. The corking machine we use to stopper the bottles is a required expense needed to insert the cork wood plugs deep into the mouth and neck of the wine bottle. This is necessary to prevent any air from leaking into the bottle from the surrounding environment and destroying the color, smells, and taste of the wine.”
TOTAL COSTS = $1,176.50
Jordan Peltier was suddenly angry. He yelled out, “There is no way that I can extend a loan in these amounts using nothing more than the equity in your place, Silas! The auditors will be onto me like white on rice. They’ll throw me out of the bank!” he screamed, symbolically throwing the papers he was holding in his hand onto the ground. Then he jumped up and down on the documents beneath him.
“I hope you feel better now, Jordan,” Papa soothed, “But you haven’t subjected them to temporal analysis.”
Suspicious, Jordan blurted, “And what the hell is temporal analysis?” With no sense of rancor Papa retrieved the crumpled pieces from the ground, smoothed them and held them up for Jordan to see.
“Now Jordan, look at these numbers again. As I explained and you will recall the loan need not be disbursed in one whole prior amount. Let’s do it again.”
He continued, “The first six items for making the wine including the baskets, crocks, the jugs and all their paraphernalia come to just over $300 and won’t be needed before at least mid-to- late October or even early November. We are going to continue to raise our cotton, corn, sugar cane for syrup, and all the other cash crops we usually make, and they will all be harvested by that time. I’ll cash in the crop and pay off the farm loan in later September, then in October I’ll come in to the bank for a new equipment loan. I’ll ask to extend a new note on the place to buy a big, heavy used car or better still a good dependable truck. We’ll need one to load the wine and carry it down south. Hopefully I can find one through your friends down in New Orleans, and the dealer will bump the price of the truck by another $350 and pass that amount through to us to pay for the first equipment and supplies that we are going to need.”
Now he wrapped it all up, “The casks are going to be the big item, but we can just start with six. Those will only cost $300, and 250 wine bottles with corks. Their machines and caps won’t take more than an additional $50. Since we have already gotten enough through the car loan pass through we won’t owe you at the time of the second $350 we borrow. We’ll hold the remaining finished wine in the glass jugs until we cork the first load of 250 bottles, take them to New Orleans and sell them several months later. Then we’ll transfer the next batch in the jugs to the now empty oak barrels. We’ll have cash in our pockets then and pay your second $350 loan off and buy as many of the remaining oak barrels as we can for cash from the sale.”
Papa concluded with “It’s just how we time everything. That is the principal of temporal analysis.” Papa had never heard of it, but Jordan Peltier didn’t know it either, and he was impressed.
Jordan broke into a cautious smile and said, “It sounds pretty logical.” He took the crumpled sheets from Papa’s hand again, folded and put them into his pocket then continued, “I’ll go over it all again several times. If I have any questions, then we can discuss them at our next encounter.”
He concluded, “Come to the bank later this week, and we’ll take care of the farm requirement. I want to keep you busy making money to pay off all these fancy loans you’re going to need.” They shook hands and departed.
Papa thought that it was certainly nice to have a banker in the family.
The following Thursday morning, Papa and Glen arrived and sat at Jordan Peltier’s desk. Papa had never had a feeling of confidence while sitting in a bank before, having always been waiting for the bank officials with a mantle of anxiety and fear either in the process of obtaining a loan or at its maturity, always with the attendant apology for having failed to fully repay on time along with the constant machinations of planning and conniving to convince the loan officer just how he would make it up at the next scheduled repayment date. He had never known the answer to his pleadings before they had been offered and that his requests had already been considered and approved before the lending authority had shaken his hand nor had even yet arrived to meet with him and allow Papa to render his proposal.
Jordan entered the bank and walked across the lobby into his office. Before he moved behind his desk this time, however, he walked directly up to Papa and Glen, smiled and extended his hand. His demeanor this morning was entirely different from that of the first day that they had met and become acquainted. Papa and Glen stood and alternately accepted the banker’s hand.
Jordan exclaimed, “Mr. Hailes, Glen, it is very nice to see you this morning.”
Papa and Glen took their seats.
Papa reached into the saddlebag that he had brought and extracted three sheets of paper that contained last year’s income figures along with a check for the interest and a portion of the principal from those receipts.
Jordan coincidentally had ordered their file pulled, and he studied the account carefully for what appeared to be an inordinately prolonged period of time. He finally concluded, “The account doesn’t seem to be in too bad of shape after last year’s payment. How much new loan will you need in order to take it forward to the fall?”
Papa looked up at the ceiling and said, “It’s all there on the projection. As you can see after everything is listed and added up it comes to $342.53, but we would like to round that out to $362.50.”
Puzzled, Jordan mused, “That isn’t a very round figure. Why isn’t it, say, $350?”
Papa smiled and said, “$350 is actually what we need, but I saw a little bonnet in the window of McGuffs store that I sure would like to buy for Miss Ellie that comes to $12.50. I know that she would like it very much.”
Jordan echoed his smile and replied, “I see that in addition to all of your other attributes, Mr. Hailes that you are a romantic as well. We Frenchmen can certainly understand and appreciate your considerate inclinations. Of course we w
ill include that little ‘lanyap’ into the principal sum of your new note.” Jordan pondered a moment then turned about in his swivel chair and called to his secretary, “Grace, lets show a payoff on last year’s note and write Mr. Hailes a new one for $350. I’d like to buy that little hat for Miss Ellie myself as a token of my deep appreciation for her kindness to a lonely fellow, and as an investment in the hope of someday receiving another invitation to visit, and enjoy more good conversation, and a wonderful meal.”
Papa stood showing Jordan that he was very appreciative of this gesture. He reached out his hand to Mr. Peltier again and said, “I know that she will be very pleased, and I also know that you will be invited for another visit in a few weeks. We are going to be very busy planting, fertilizing, chopping cotton, and making the fields look right until ‘lay-by time’ in May. We won’t wait that long to have you out though. I’ll be fishing down at the river next Tuesday and will notify you of the date if you are around.”
Understanding the implications of the statement Jordan said, “I’m sure we can get together during my lunch hour that day. You just sit back down now and let Gloria get all the paper work completed for you to sign, and you’ll have a check for deposit into your account before you go back home to Hale,” Jordan Peltier happily proclaimed.
While Papa sat waiting for the secretary to finish her work with the note he began to think about the depression and the current condition of the nation, especially of the South. Our country had begun to right itself from this financial chaos. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had emerged from the shadows of our common despair. I was too small to remember the night of his historic fireside chat, a radio broadcast regarding the State of the Union, but my father extolled his message with great pride, almost adulation upon our President’s calm assurance, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Asylum Heights Page 9
