1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 379 Thank you to the Tourism Bureau for their sponsorship!
"Impossible!" Ronan blurted out without thinking.

He kept an eye on the sales of Stellar Winery, and every time he ordered wine from Jerome, he would ask a couple of questions to make sure there were no competitors.

In the past two months, only three buyers have inquired about the status and price of Stellar, but nothing came of it.

The restaurant last ordered wine a week ago, so how come someone suddenly took over?
Everyone thinks before buying things, especially expensive items. Even if you're rich, you wouldn't spend money like that.

Moreover, it is well known that the rosé wine market in Provence is not as good as that of fruit wine, let alone comparable to red and white wines. Spending so much money to buy St. Strasbourg must have required a very strong driving force and determination.

Ronan dared to take over Stellaco because Lourmarin wanted to develop a distinctive rosé wine business.

In addition, there is the artistic atmosphere of Lourmarin, the influence of Ronan and Zoe at the Provence Festival, and Inés and Cotillard's ability to help Ronan influence more people. With so many factors combined, Stellaco was able to reach new heights.

To take over without these opportunities would be pure madness.

Juliet made a shrug gesture:
“Jerome thinks the same way you do; he also believes his winery is impossible to sell, so he contacted me immediately to ask if the Ministry of Agriculture was going to introduce any new policies that would benefit grapes or rosé wine.”

"Is there such a policy?" Ronan pressed.

Juliet shook her head:
"No, the three most important tasks for the Ministry of Agriculture this year are to rebuild farmland after the disaster, to transform towards technological modernization, and finally to cooperate with the European Community in implementing the 'uprooting plan'. Jerome consulted Corentin before contacting me, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry also did not have any actions that would benefit rosé wine."

Ronan frowned and asked:
"Did Jerome say who the buyer is?"

Juliet continued to shake her head:
"He didn't say anything, he just said that a deposit needs to be paid. Ask him about the details at the gathering, and you can also talk about the experimental field project you want to ask about then."

Back in his seat, Ronan's expression was extremely serious.

The previous plans were all centered around acquiring Stella Artois, and some effort had even been put into how to develop the high-end market, because Stella Artois had already become the best in Provence in the low-end market. At most, they would develop some distinctive and affordable wines to make the brand more diversified, but at least they did not need to worry about the basic market.

If he misses out on the deal with Domaine de la Stescaux, he will have to start a winemaking cooperative from scratch, and the first problem will be the practical issue of how to establish himself in Provence.

These are two completely different development directions, and the difficulties are also vastly different.

Although Ronan didn't have enough money, he never gave up on the idea of ​​buying Stella, because it would save him a lot of trouble and time.

Even if he can't borrow money from the Lourmaran government, he'll go to the bank. Besides, he has a wealthy fiancée.

There are many ways to take St. Scottsga; it just depends on which one is more advantageous to you in the end.

Since the information he received indicated that there were no competitors, Ronan continued to act according to his pre-planned strategy:
Wait patiently for Lourmaran to receive the tourism bureau's budget, then confront Blanco and get the government's final stance.

The government's attitude will directly affect Ronan's 'investment amount'. If the government can give him some low-interest loans, Ronan will buy more things from St. Louis.

If the government doesn't provide funding and Ronan needs to borrow money from banks or Zoe, he might only buy the name 'Strasga' and the rosé recipe, and then contact Jerome to implement the eradication plan and cultivate new varieties.
Thinking of this, Ronan sighed several times.

If Strasbourg is gone, will we still plant new grapevines?

If we don't plant new grapevines, should we still implement the 'uprooting plan'?

Juliet's news was so sudden that it disrupted all of Ronan's plans.

He barely listened to the questions that followed, his mind preoccupied with figuring out what to do next.

Suddenly, he felt a few hard pats on his shoulder, and when he turned around, it was Pierre:

"The people from the Ministry of Agriculture are leaving, aren't you going to see them off?"

Ronan was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even realize the meeting was over.

He looked up and saw that Juliet and the others were already walking towards the village entrance under Blanco's escort.

Ronan was in a bad mood and didn't want to play along with their act anymore.
"I won't give it away."

“What could be more important than getting to know an official from the Ministry of Agriculture? We finally got off to a good start at noon, we should strike while the iron is hot,” Pierre said, repeating his old trick. “If you’re not going, I’m definitely going.”

Ronan didn't take the bait this time and picked up a chair to leave the square.
"Then you go ahead, I have something to do, I'll be going now."

Pierre watched Ronan leave with a sense of helplessness.

Why isn't this guy taking the bait?

Today's meeting may seem to be about promoting weather insurance, but in reality, the Ministry of Agriculture is conveying its determination to stand with everyone and not stand idly by while everyone suffers.

The Ministry of Agriculture can easily provide subsidies worth tens of millions of francs with a wave of its hand. If you can maintain a good relationship with these people, you don't dare to ask for much more. Just two drops of soup spilled while drinking would be enough to make the whole of Lourmaran drink several pots of soup!
Especially that woman!!

Pierre thought that the man might be a very important figure in the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture has never been to Lourmaran before; this is their only chance to curry favor with these officials!
Pierre followed behind Blanc and the others, weighing the pros and cons.

Finally, he made up his mind, straightened his clothes, and then fixed his hair in front of the window of the old tavern by the roadside.

“Although I’m not as good-looking as Ronan, nor as eloquent, I, Pierre, have seen a lot of the world, so there’s no problem with getting to know her.” After practicing handshakes and self-introductions twice in front of the glass, Pierre left the window to chase after Juliet.

The next second, the window in front of them suddenly swung open from the inside out, and Theo laughed so hard he almost fell over, saying:
"Damn, you're killing me! Do you want me to spit a couple of sips of brandy on your hand?"

Cornell's head appeared behind Theo.

He imitated Pierre's earlier action:

"Look at me, I'm so handsome!"

"Get out of here!" Pierre roared, pointing at them. "I'll deal with you after I've finished my business!"

Theo braced himself on the windowsill and shouted at Pierre, "Are you going to say hello to those officials? Forget it, Ronan's done."

Pierre slammed on the brakes:
"When did this happen?"

Como has lost all interest in running the old tavern. Every day, as soon as it opens, he sits behind the bar and openly does his knitting.

If someone comes to drink, they have to get it themselves; Cuomo isn't really looking to make money selling alcohol anyway.

Pierre had been sitting in the square for over two hours and was getting really hot. He went to the refrigerator to get a beer, only to find that none of the bottles were cold.

"Como, if you don't want to do it, just shut it down. What's the point of running a pub if you can't even get some ice-cold beer?"

Cuomo gave a perfunctory answer:

"Get yourself some ice."

Beer with ice tastes like water, so Pierre reluctantly poured himself a glass of rosé and added some ice.

This is also one of the ways people in Provence cool off in the summer, but no one in Lourmarin would drink it like this before, because drinking rosé is considered shameful.

However, Lourmarin is now so tolerant of rosé wine that if this were in a restaurant in Ronan, artists would praise farmers for their "taste" and "fashion" if they saw them drinking rosé.

"Why are you drinking here today?" Pierre asked with a bitter face.

Ronan has everything, why come to this wretched place?
Theo said with a wicked grin:
"Because we're talking about Ronan behind his back, it's not appropriate to say that on his turf, is it?"

Pierre quickly asked them:

"What are you talking about regarding Ronan? And why do you say Ronan has already completed his mission?"

Cornell said mysteriously:
“I ate too much at noon, so I went to the restroom in the middle of the meeting. I found Ronan and that female official talking in a secluded place. I listened in for a while, and the female official was introducing Ronan to several of the Ministry of Agriculture’s work this year.”

"What are the job duties?" Pierre asked with concern.

Cornell shook his head awkwardly:

"I didn't hear you clearly. If we get any closer, we'll be discovered."

Theo, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, said to Pierre:

“Don’t worry, Ronan definitely knows better than us how to deal with those officials. Look how much Blanco likes him. He will definitely make good use of this relationship to ‘benefit’ the village.”

Pierre nodded a few times.

Theo is right. Ronan is very good at handling relations with the government, and he might be able to bring them some 'insider information' soon.

Before Pierre arrived, everyone had been chatting about Ronan for a while, and Fabian brought up a new topic:
"Tell me about that weather insurance. What's your attitude? Are you going to buy it or not?"

Frankly speaking, this insurance is very good, especially since it's not mandatory and there are so many subsidies available.

But no matter how much the government subsidizes, individuals still have to pay several thousand francs a year, which is still money.

Pierre was undecided for a moment, mainly because this was the first time weather-related insurance had been issued in Provence.

But he was the farmers' pillar of support, and no matter how conflicted they were, he had to give a result. Everyone was waiting for his decision.

However, this time Pierre's attitude changed:

"Let's see Ronan's attitude. If he buys it, I'll buy it too."

Pierre downed the rosé wine in his hand in one gulp. Perhaps because he had drunk it so many times, he no longer found it so unacceptable.

The Special Olympics team members looked at each other.

"Then let's all wait and see Ronan's attitude?"

"Alright, let's see what Ronan chooses."

at the same time.

After seeing Juliet and the others off, Blanco found Ronan in the restaurant.

"Do you have time? Shall we talk about that topic you wanted to discuss last time?" Blanco asked with a beaming smile.

Ronan was waiting for Jerome's call to ask about the situation and whether there was any room for maneuver, so now was not a good time to confront Blanco.

He pointed apologetically to the phone in front of him:

"It might not be possible today; I'm waiting for an important phone call."

"It's alright, we'll talk another day." Blanco smiled, patted Ronan on the shoulder, and left.

As soon as he stepped outside, Sylvie immediately wore a gloating expression:

"Let me guess, do you want to tell the Ronan Tourism Board that they've already given us a verbal promise, or do you want to tell them that we've booked a big 'surprise' for them?"

That's right, the Vaucluse Tourism Board has recently given approval to the Lourmaran government!

“Yes, we have both,” Blanco corrected with a smile. “But that surprise wasn’t from us. It was ‘sponsored’ by the tourism bureau. Let’s go back and review the funding categories again, so we don’t get it wrong.”

(End of this chapter)