Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 689 - 53 Mackinway Wine_1

Chapter 689: Chapter 53 Mackinway Wine_1

"What is this?" The frost giant peered over, eyeing with curiosity the bottle in Catherine’s hand, "Is this wine?"

"Yep." Catherine nodded with a grin, "It’s good stuff...brought it over from human society."

"You better not be lying to me." Blue Hand stroked his bald head with a cautious look, "Isn’t wine always stored in those round barrels? What you have in your hand isn’t a barrel, is there really wine in it?"

"Of course, it’s wine and very good wine at that." Catherine patiently explained, "Typical wine is indeed stored in barrels during the brewing process, but once the brewing is finished and the wine is ready to be cellared, keeping it in barrels for an extended period of time isn’t feasible. It must be transferred into these crystal bottles. Because barrels allow more air in than crystal bottles do, and to prevent the aromatic scent of the wine from escaping during the cellaring process, you’d rarely find good wines left stored in barrels for the long-term."

"I didn’t understand a word you said." Blue Hand expressed his opinion very directly. However, he did seem to believe Catherine’s explanation to some degree, grumbling, "Such a small bottle, it’d be finished in a couple of mouthfuls. That’s way too little."

Pannis also noticed the bottle Catherine brought out, and his expression instantly changed. The crystal bottle in Catherine’s hands was deep brown, not allowing a speck of light to pass through. The bottle was quite plain without any decorations or patterns on it. The brown bottle top was plugged with a cork, ensuring that no wine would spill, no matter how much the bottle was shook. Such a bottle, under normal circumstances if discarded on the roadside, would never catch anyone’s eye. Compared with the beautifully packaged and uniquely designed wine bottles in the tavern, the one in Catherine’s hand was outright repulsive, however, Pannis immediately recognized the secret hidden within the plain bottle.

In the scarce top-tier wine-producing regions on the Yarran Continent, like Caliste and Mackinway, there are vineyards with a thousand-year-old history. The amount of wine these vineyards produce each year is not high, resulting in a limited quantity of wine sold in the markets annually. As soon as it goes on sale, it is always sold out due to high demand. However, most of the buyers are not aware that the best batches of wine, made from the finest ingredients by the finest workers, are not sold on the market at all. These exquisite wines are only supplied to a select clientele and it’s not about who has the deepest pockets or the most influence. Only those from historically rich families or individuals have the privilege to purchase them.

This top-grade wine is often stored in these unadorned, crude crystal bottles, simply because no bottle, no matter how exquisite, would ever be worthy of the vibrant red wine it houses. The beautifully packaged bottles enhance the value of other wines because the wine itself needs help to boost its appeal. The wine that Catherine brought, on the other hand, didn’t need any external help, its mere existence spoke volumes.

"Is it from Mackinway?" Pannis took the wine bottle from Catherine before Blue Hand could, gently caressing the surface of the bottle, tasting the tip of the cork and commenting, "And it’s the top batches no less. A single bottle like this would cost at least 50,000 gold coins. Can’t believe you’re willing to share this and I have to ask, why are you holding onto something like this? Don’t items like this get passed down as family heirlooms?"

"I feel like smacking you right now." Catherine rolled her eyes at Pannis, explaining, "Well, this was left to me by my grandfather when he was still alive. So, you could say it’s a family heirloom. I brought it out this time as I thought of celebrating something special with Vivian in a few days. It’s the most important thing to me right now, hence I sneaked it in. But I guess it’s not bad to use it here either. Who knows, if I don’t use it now, we might not even have a chance to celebrate later. Isn’t that right, Vivian?"

Vivian remained silent and just squeezed Catherine’s hand instead, keeping her words of gratitude to herself. The fact that Catherine was willingly sharing such a valuable relic without showing any remorse showed just how important this celebration was to her. Feeling the strength coming from Vivian’s grip, Catherine turned to her and gave her a comforting smile.

"Is the wine really that good?" Blue Hand also overheard Pannis’ evaluation of the wine. His anticipation grew and he reached out, eagerly saying, "Give it here, gghh...I want to taste it! Ever since you and that black-haired dwarf lured me with this so-called wine, making me wait for so long, I can finally find out what it tastes like."

"Hey, Blue Hand," Pannis’ eyes darted around. He had the look of a crook about to deceive a naive child. His face was overtaken by a fake smile and as he clung onto the bottle and rubbed his hands nervously, said, "Dear alien friend, let’s have a little chat, shall we? This is very important and I urge you to think carefully before answering."

"That’s enough out of you!" Catherine snatched the bottle back from under Pannis’ arm, handed it to the frost giant, rolled her eyes and sniped, "Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. You’re the one who’s been in the wrong here, yet you’re unwilling to part with the wine and want to deceive him in other ways, isn’t that just too bad?"