Page 74 of Gone With the Wine

I don’t know what to say to him. Yeah, he should have. “You weren’t here in the spring,” I say, which is when the fungus should have been scouted for.

“What do we do?” Jansen forks his fingers into his hair, a frown etched into the sides of his mouth.

“It not great that we didn’t notice until now,” I say, staying calm. “But we did. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do this season.”

“I guess we can’t use any of these grapes?”

I suck in a breath. “Well. Studies have been done that show black rot of grapes doesn’t cause health problems if it’s incorporated into wine processing.”

His brow creases skeptically.

“But infected grapes can lower the flavor and aroma qualities of the wine. Also, the government regulates the levels of volatile acidity in wines that’s attributed to rot. You don’t want your reputation impacted by producing lower quality wine, or worse, bad wine.”

“Absolutely not.”

“This block is to be hand harvested.” I look around. “We need to talk to the workers and make sure they know about the fungus.Allthe workers, just in case.”

“What do we tell them?” Jansen asks. “What do we do?”

“Sometimes we’ve left the grapes on the ground,” Diego says. “I don’t recommend that. The pathogens can overwinter and become active in the spring.”

“Nope.” Jansen shakes his head.

“We could have them separate the bad grapes from the good, and put the bad ones in cull buckets,” Diego goes on. “But that’s a lot of extra work.”

“So…” Jansen lifts an eyebrow.

“It’s probably best to leave the bad clusters on the vines. Then after harvest we can come back and deal with them, or prune them during the winter.”

Jansen looks at me.

“Your call,” I say softly.

“Fuck.” He rubs his face. “Okay, leave them. Like you said, we’ll deal with them after harvest.”

Diego nods somberly. “Got it.” He looks at Jansen. “I’m sorry, boss.”

Jansen’s mouth thins.

I sense their frustration. “Guys, neither of you were here in the spring,” I remind them. “Things were in flux with the Wrights selling and you buying. It’s not unexpected that something got overlooked. Let’s be glad it’s just this one block, and it’s not a big block.”

They both nod, but I don’t know if I’ve convinced them. I can tell Jansen hates to lose. He’s a determined competitor.

When we’re alone, I grab his arm. “Hey. Talk to me.”

His face is steely. “About what?”

“I know you’re pissed about the black rot.”

He gives one curt nod.

“Do you blame Diego?”

“No.”

“You blame yourself.” I pause. “Don’t you?”

“I’m the owner,” he says quietly. “Ultimately, I’m responsible.”

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