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Jinnie sat in the back of the Chevrolet Equinox and watched the countryside glide past. It was only about an hour and a half’s journey to the winery, the last part of which took them through the edge of the town of Sonora and into hills that divided the Sonora Valley from the parallel Napa Valley. The GPS took them to the Sonora Winery and up to the collection of buildings that it comprised. The three of them got out of the car, and Charles looked around him and said, “This is a nice location. The vines are on the south-facing side of the hill, so they get sun all day, and the soil looks perfect as we are surrounded by other wineries. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far.”
Two men walked out of a building and came over to them. The first one said, “Good morning. I take it you are the party from our owners, Ennios Hotels.” Rick held out his hand, introduced himself, and added, “I’m the Managing Director of TT Ennios Hotels. This is Dame Jinnie De Luca. She is Managing Director of the TT SuperBurger Group, the owners of Ennios Hotels, so my boss, and Charles here is the Managing Director of TT Wineries, another constituent group company. They have vineyards in Burgundy, France, and the south of England. If we like what we see here, I think it is Dame Jinnie’s intention to move the Sonora Winery to TT Wineries.”
The man nodded his understanding and said, “I’m Hank Richards, and I have been running this winery for nearly 25 years with the help of my colleague Cliff Marvin. We have about 20 acres of vines under cultivation here. We make around 30,000 bottles of wine a year, and it is all sold domestically in the US. We have several grape varieties and make both white and red wine. Even if I say it myself, our Merlot is rather good and is sold in some of the best hotels in San Francisco.”
Charles said, “I would like to walk your vines. I know it is near to the end of your harvest, and you are probably busy with fermentation, but I would like to see your process and equipment. I’m particularly looking forward to tasting some of your wine. I assume that it will be some of this year’s, young, but I hope you have some of last year’s we can try.” “I would expect nothing less,” said Hank. “As you can see, we have a lot of casual labour here for the harvest. We could never pick the grapes without additional manpower. We very nearly have all the grapes in. It is just the Merlot, Zinfandel, and the Cabernet Sauvignon that we are still picking. As you know, they are the later ripeners. The earlier Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir are all in barrels, ageing.”
“Excellent,” said Charles, “let’s go and walk the vines.” Jinnie and Rick tagged along, walking behind, not really knowing what they were seeing, but Charles and Hank were deep in conversation as they walked up and down the rows. Occasionally, Jinnie caught snippets of conversation, like “spur pruning” and various types of fertiliser. Eventually, they stopped at the end of a row where the tidy rows of vines were replaced by what Jinnie looked on as scrubland.
Hank waved a hand and said, “All this is our land and perfectly good for grapes. The previous owners were not interested in expanding the vineyard. They bought it because we have a pleasant climate in this valley and we have plenty of water. We have an underground aquifer that is replenished by meltwater from the mountains. We pump water to supply the vines, but we only use a minute fraction of what is available. They were only interested in building a massive hotel, and the water was a bonus. They envisaged a huge swimming pool, fountains, and an immaculate golf course, but lost interest when the city turned down their plans, as this was zoned as agricultural land.”
“I told them if we sank another couple of wells, we could easily extend the vineyard and have a highly profitable operation,” continued Hank. Charles nodded and asked, “Did you produce a costed presentation?” “Of course,” replied Hank. “This was some years ago, but I reckon I still remember the bones of that plan. I told them that, for a $750,000 investment, in three years we could have a winery producing a minimum of 300,000 bottles a year.” “Did you include everything?” asked Jinnie, who was getting interested. “Oh yes, ma’am,” replied Hank. “Two more wells, clearing the land, buying and planting the vines, tending them while they grew, two more permanent men, and a load of new machinery. Of course, we would need more barrels, a massive bottle store and barrel store, new wine presses, four new stainless steel fermenters, and a high-speed bottling and labelling line.”
“You wouldn’t still have a copy of that plan?” asked Jinnie. “You see, we are not like your last owners. We are willing to back an expansion plan if it is viable. If Charles tells me your wine is good, I would love to ship your wine to our hotels and restaurants in Florida, the Caribbean, and Canada. Maybe even to the U.K. and Ireland.” “It must be 10 years ago that I wrote that report,” said Hank, “but it was on my old PC. When I got a new PC, my son-in-law archived everything that was on the old PC onto what I think he called a solid-state drive, so I guess it’s there somewhere. The costing was all on a spreadsheet. My daughter did that, and she typed up the report on ‘Word’.”
Rick said, “I’m quite good with computers. When we get back to your office, we can have a look, and if we can find it, it should be possible to update all the numbers with current ones and get a new costing.” “That’s a plan,” said Hank.
As they strolled back to the building, Charles dropped back to speak with Jinnie. “You know, I rather like this place. The vines are healthy, and what is still to be picked is looking very good. Hank knows his business, and from what he has said and what I have seen so far, I think he is underestimating the output. He has got more than two tons of grapes an acre this season. Mind you, I have been doing a costing in my head, and I think we are looking at perhaps half as much again for the investment, because his figures will be way out of date. Let’s guess $1.2 million.”
“Then we need to add in a visitor centre, restaurant, and souvenir shop, if we can get planning permission, or whatever it’s called here. I would love to try an events business, but I don’t want to push things. Let’s call it $1.6 million. Balance that against 300,000 bottles of wine. What do you reckon we can make per bottle in our hotels and restaurants, if it’s any good?” “Well, a lot,” said Charles. “The markup on wine is ridiculous. Let’s say $25 a bottle in a restaurant or hotel. Obviously, it’s less than a bought-in wine. There is a tax on wine here in California that we would have to pay, but it’s only $0.20 a gallon. Sales tax is down to the customer.” “So that’s 300,000 bottles times $25, that’s $7,500,000 a year,” said Jinnie, “and a lot of that is pure profit to the TT Group.”
The group wandered around the winery, viewing the production process. They watched the grapes being pressed, the grape juice being filtered for the removal of skin and pips, and piped into a huge stainless tank for fermentation. Hank explained to Jinnie that they were making white wine, so that is why the skin was being removed, otherwise it would colour the wine, but they needed to add some yeast, as the natural ‘bloom’ was unpredictable in wine production. One of the large tanks was being decanted into barrels, and Hank read from the chalked note on the tank and said, “This is Pinot Noir. It has been fermenting for nine days and is now going into oak barrels for secondary fermentation. This process removes the dead yeast and any debris from the grapes. It will now be a couple of months before it can be bottled. Cliff will use the forklift to move the barrels over to the barrel store and put them on the racking.”
“Can I see the bottling line?” asked Charles. “Of course,” replied Hank, and led them over to another building. “We are a bit away from starting the line up, but we have had a delivery of bottles, and they will be sterilised just before we fill them.” “Screw tops or corks?” asked Charles. “Ninety-five per cent screw tops,” Hank replied. “Some of our ‘posh’ customers ask for corks. They like to make a fuss of opening the wine at the table. We charge them a little more, but the wine is just the same. I defy anyone to taste the difference, unless the wine is corked.” Charles nodded and said, “I’m inclined to agree. We are moving away from natural cork. Many of our sparkling wines use plastic corks. As you know, we can’t call it Champagne, but some is as good as it.” “We have never made sparkling wine here,” said Hank. “Would you like to try?” asked Charles.
While they had been walking the vines and the winery, Cliff had set a table out with a dozen or so bottles on it in a barn. Some of the wine was red and some was white, and at either end of the table were wine spittoons. Hank said, “This is all last year’s wine. This year is not ready yet. The first Chardonnay will be bottled in a couple of weeks, and even then it will need a month or so to mature in the bottle before it is ready to drink.” Hank poured the visitors a chilled white, and Rick and Jinnie tasted it. Charles, however, swirled it in the glass, held it up to the light and examined it, sniffed it, and finally slurped some into his mouth, sucked air over it, and spat it out. “Nice,” he said, “if I am not mistaken, that is a Zinfandel, and rather a good one.”
Jinnie thought, “This is a nice wine, but how can Charles recognise the grape? Did he see the bottle?” Then, rather than swallowing, she followed Charles’s example and spat the wine into one of the spittoons. Jinnie quickly learned that Charles was indeed someone with remarkable taste buds, as he identified wine after wine, only one of which he called out as not very good. Hank told them that was its cheapest wine, made from a mixture of grape types at the end of the harvest to use up leftovers. Charles nodded and said, “We do something similar, a cheap, not very good table wine.”
***
Charles drove back to the hotel in San Francisco, but took a full part in the discussion. Jinnie started the discussion off, saying, “I don’t know much about wineries, but I was impressed. I got the impression that Hank and Cliff knew what they were doing, and I liked the wines.” Rick said, “Well, as it came for nothing and is breaking even, I am happy, but it does need quite a big investment.” Charles said, “Well, I would love to welcome the vineyard into the TT Wineries group. My view is that, as it has basically cost nothing, we could easily justify an investment, which should bring us a big annual profit in a few years. I want to see Hank’s updated spreadsheet, but I have a good feeling about this.”
“I have been thinking, how would you feel about putting out feelers to see if any of the surrounding wineries are up for sale?” continued Charles. Jinnie smiled and said, “Not so fast. I think that is an excellent long-term plan, but I would like to develop the tourist side first, as we have done in England. A visitor centre, a café or restaurant, and a souvenir shop. Not very expensive, quick to set up, and highly profitable, if the South Downs are anything to go by.” “I’m inclined to agree with Jinnie,” said Rick. “As much as I would like to further expand the winery, I think we need to be sure we can sell 300,000 bottles a year first. I want to get the new hotels to try the samples we have collected and hear what they think.”
“I also want to expand Aunty JoJo’s and Franks to the West Coast,” said Jinnie. “Maybe even SuperBurger. The two test outlets in Florida seem to be working. I wonder if San Francisco and LA are ready for a Continental.” “The problem with both Aunty JoJo’s, Franks Original, and SuperBurger is that we need to construct the infrastructure,” replied Rick. “True,” replied Jinnie, “but things like purchasing, HR, and IT can be shared. OK, each business has unique overheads, but we have already seen the savings by sharing central services in Florida.”
***
Having been disappointed with the hotel restaurant’s food, Jinnie asked the hotel concierge to book them a table at one of the city’s best restaurants. He said that, if they liked a good steak, he would recommend “Harris’ Restaurant, The San Francisco Steakhouse,” but it might be a little difficult getting a booking at such short notice. Jinnie slipped him a $50 bill and said, “I’m sure you know who to speak to. I run several Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.K. and know the best restaurants always save a couple of tables for last-minute VIPs. I’m certain they will make one available when you say the table is for Dame Jinnie de Luca, the Managing Director of Trattoria Trevi and Continental restaurant chains.”
The taxi, Jinnie had suggested so everyone could have a drink with dinner, dropped the trio outside the restaurant. As Jinnie paid the cabbie, Rick said, “So far, so good. At least this place has street appeal.” They walked into a reception that looked nice but old-fashioned, with dark wood, a high ceiling, a chandelier, and two old-fashioned green leather wing chairs. The smiling receptionist said, “Good evening, lady and gentlemen. Do you have a booking?” Jinnie replied, “Yes, for 7:30, in the name of Dame Jinnie de Luca.” “Yes, I have it here, your Dameship. Peter here will show you to your booth.” A chuckling Jinnie said, “Thank you. Just for future reference, the next time I come here, the proper form of address is Dame Jinnie.”
They were led to the booth with its leather seating, white tablecloth, and glinting silverware and glasses. Charles said, “I do like a professional set-up in a restaurant. I only hope the food and service match.” A waiter arrived and shook out their napkins and placed them in their laps before the water and menus arrived. After looking at the menu, Rick said, “Well, it is exactly what a steakhouse menu should be, lots of steaks and a few other dishes for those who don’t eat steak. This is looking promising.”
Jinnie said, “I’m going to start with what the Americans call a shrimp cocktail, but I suspect is a good old-fashioned prawn cocktail on the Ennios menu in Britain.” “That sounds good,” said Rick. “Smoked salmon for me,” said Charles. Jinnie said, “I’m going to skip the salad course. I don’t mind a side salad if I’m eating a steak, but it is not a full course. Anyway, I fancy the lamb chops, my twins have recently got a thing for lamb chops.” “I want a steak,” said Rick, “but they are all so big and expensive. I can’t eat a 20 oz steak.” “I am going to have the petit filet mignon,” said Charles. “It’s only 8 oz and the cheapest on the menu.” “I think I will join you,” said Rick.
The order was taken by a waiter who seemed surprised that no one ordered a salad course. Jinnie explained that, in Europe, diners did not eat salad courses, but they sometimes had a side salad instead of vegetables with their main course. “Really,” said the waiter, shaking his head in disbelief. Rick had been studying the wine list and said, “They sell Sonora Winery Merlot here, but it is $120 a bottle. Shall we have a bottle? It should go with the steaks and the lamb.” “Yes, I would like to try it with food,” said Jinnie. “Don’t worry about the cost, I will be signing off the expenses.”
Jinnie wiped her mouth with her napkin and said, “Well, bread and butter pudding with ice cream was a bit different for an American restaurant, but it was good. In fact, I am impressed. I didn’t think America did good food and good service. Now the big test, is the coffee any good?” Rick said, “Hold on a moment, I have just noticed that this isn’t real milk, it is some plant-based thing.” Rick called over the waiter and said, “I wonder if we could have some milk, please.” The waiter replied, “It is right there in the sachet in your saucer, sir.” Rick replied, “That is not milk. It says on it that it is a ‘plant-based coffee whitener’. That is not milk.”
The waiter walked away and was replaced by someone with a small jug, who said, “I am sorry, sir, but we don’t have any milk. Can I offer you half-and-half cream? I understand that in Europe this is like what you call single cream. It is an equal mixture of cream and milk that we use in sauces.” “That will do nicely,” replied Rick. “I’m sorry to say that there are two things that have let down the meal and show that the restaurant, no matter how good the food and service is, will never win a Michelin star. In Europe, you would be asked if you wanted milk or cream in your coffee, and there would be white and brown sugar on the table. Artificial whitener and sweetener would be instantly available should the diner request it.”
***
In the taxi back to the hotel, Charles said, “I’m not sure I would have had the nerve to ask for milk, but I must admit, I’m glad you did. It made the coffee just about drinkable.” Jinnie said, “If I had spotted that it was coffee whitener, I would have said something. That is just not acceptable for a high-class restaurant. But the coffee was not very good. That alone would be enough to stop it getting a Michelin star. The cream made it just about drinkable.”
“Well, I enjoyed my dinner apart from that. My steak was excellent. It’s a long time since I had a jacket potato, and the vegetables were decent,” said Rick. “I’m sure Alberto would pick a few holes, but I’m sure if we opened a Continental in San Francisco, we would have to be at the very top of our game.” “I would like to try, though,” said Jinnie. “I think we could offer a few European dishes instead of just burgers and steaks. The Continental in Ottawa is doing just that and is doing very well.”
The trio popped into the hotel’s bar for a nightcap and a chance to carry on their evening’s conversation. Charles asked Jinnie, “Have you made up your mind? Are we going to keep the Sonora Winery and incorporate it into the TT SuperBurger Group?” “Oh, I thought I had made it plain,” replied Jinnie. “I would very much like it in the group, and I intend to push hard to get the funds released to expand to the full 200 acres. In fact, in the long term, I want to see it grow even bigger with the purchase of one or two of the local vineyards, just as you suggested, but that is further down the line.” “Good,” said Charles. “I have plans. I want to try sparkling wine. They already grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We would need to plant some Pinot Meunier or buy some in in the short term. As you probably know, Champagne is usually a blend of the three types. I know we can’t call it Champagne, but you English make some wonderful sparkling white wine that is every bit as good.”
“I would love to have that to sell in our Ennios Hotel restaurants,” said Rick. “English sparkling wine sells very well in our U.K. hotels, but it is a bit expensive to ship it across the Atlantic to Florida and the Caribbean. But I think that if we could ship in bulk from California by train or truck around the States, that would be a lot cheaper.” “I promise you that, if I get the investment from the board, I will make the very best sparkling white and deliver it to all your American hotels,” said Charles.
Jinnie met Rick and Charles in the breakfast room. The three shared a table, and when their orders arrived, Jinnie said, “Just look at that breakfast. It is what I dislike about this hotel. I wanted scrambled eggs and bacon. How difficult is that? See what I have got. Scrambled eggs, OK, but for some reason they have put smoked salmon in it. If I wanted it, I would have asked for it. And the bacon, well, it is typical American bacon, streaky bacon that is virtually incinerated. It is so hard, you can’t cut it, you need a chisel to break a bit off.”
Rick grinned and said, “Tomorrow morning I will guarantee you decent bacon in the Ennios Anaheim. I know they are a bit bothered about our visit. The general manager’s secretary has been emailing my secretary in Southampton, asking what I like for breakfast, as they have a buffet and want to ensure it is to my liking. She told them to ensure they had English or Canadian bacon not cooked to a crisp, plain scrambled eggs, and fried eggs, sunny side up. She told them to ask some of the English guests how the bacon should be cooked for the British. Apparently, for the last couple of days, they have been putting out a platter labelled ‘British-style bacon’, and the guests have loved it.”
“Oh, I do hope you’re right,” said Jinnie. “We have also started shipping TT SuperBurger house coffee and tea from Florida,” said Rick. “I hear it has come as something of a shock to them.” “I wonder if I will have to give them lessons on making a proper cup of tea,” said Jinnie. “I really hate it when they bring a cup of tepid water and milk to the table with a Lipton’s Yellow tea bag on a string in it. No wonder Americans can’t understand the British liking for tea. They have never had a proper cuppa.”
“You’re right,” said Rick. “We had to train our staff in Florida that you make tea with boiling water, and that very few people in Britain drink Lipton’s, as it is just too weak. I would say the in-house tea is a ‘breakfast tea’.” Jinnie chuckled. “You won’t know this, but when we started Artisan Sandwiches and only had a few branches, we used to buy Yorkshire Tea in huge catering packs. As the company grew, we negotiated a deal, and all our in-house tea is actually Yorkshire Tea. It is now what you get everywhere in the group, whether it is Aunty JoJo’s in Birmingham, the Trattoria Trevi in Potters Bar, SuperBurger in Exeter, or the Ennios Anaheim. It might not say so on the box, but I can assure you that is what you are drinking. If it is not very good, it is down to how it is made, not the tea.”
Rick smiled and said, “I know about the two grades of coffee the group uses, I was there when you sorted that out, but I didn’t realise we had a deal for tea bags. I just thought when we were short and ordered more, procurement bought in to a house standard.” “I understand that is basically what they do, buy in a batch, but we buy in so much food, drink, and other items that we have several central stores we supply out of. In the U.K., we have one in Basingstoke for the south, one in Leicester for the Midlands, one in Leeds for the north, one in Glasgow for Scotland, and one in Dublin that serves both the Republic and Northern Ireland.”
“We have a huge fleet of trucks delivering to our outlets virtually daily,” continued Jinnie, “everything from teabags to toilet paper. The logistics are phenomenal. Without our computer network and SAP, it would be impossible to keep track of everything. I know when housekeeping in the Ennios Miami need more spray polish and it is ordered, there is no need for them to think about it, but that order flashes to procurement in Potters Bar, and they organise it to come out of the warehouse in Jacksonville, and one of our trucks delivers it the next day.”
Charles had his mouth open and finally said, “So the big lorries that collect our wine are taking it to one of your warehouses.” “Exactly,” said Jinnie. “They will go on the shuttle through the Channel Tunnel and to one or two warehouses, but when Rick gets his hotel chain up and running in France and we open some restaurants, we will need to sort out our distribution network in France. I believe the intention is to start down in the south, so I expect the first distribution warehouse will be somewhere like Nice.”
The trio checked out of the hotel, loaded their bags into the Chevrolet, and set off on the interstate to Los Angeles, with Charles driving and Jinnie in the front passenger seat. About an hour into the six-hour trip, they took an off-ramp and found a roadhouse where they could stop for a cold drink and to change the driver. Jinnie was sipping her chilled Pepsi Max when her iPhone rang. She automatically put the phone to her ear and said, “Hello,” and heard a voice she half recognised say, “Is that Dame Jinnie? It’s Clara, Sir Alan’s PA. Can you hold for a second while I put you through to him?”
Jinnie heard a series of clicks, and then Alan said, “Hello, Jinnie. Clara’s been trying to call you for the last hour. Have you had your phone off?” “No,” replied Jinnie, “but we have been going through some open country, miles from any towns, on the interstate, but we have just stopped for a break and to change drivers, so I guess there is a signal here.” “Are you in America?” asked Alan. “Yes,” replied Jinnie, “I am in California looking at some new businesses we have just bought.” “Whereabouts in California are you?” asked Alan. “We are on our way from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where we have just purchased three hotels,” said Jinnie.
“That’s excellent,” said Alan. “I was about to ask you to fly out to San Diego for a meeting with the US SEALs at Coronado, near San Diego. The Yanks want a specialist sniper who can fire their explosive ammunition and remembered you from North Africa. The PM has promised them we will loan you for the mission. There is only one problem, I have no idea what the mission is. As you are already in California and don’t have to fly out, could you make a meeting at NAB Coronado in four days? It is about a hundred miles south of Los Angeles.”
Chapter 25 – NAB Coronado
© WorthingGooner 2026
