This Bottle of Wine Is Not Ordinary

As soon as Su Bai finished speaking, Zhou Jialu rolled her eyes and casually pulled a bottle of red wine from under the bar counter.

The bottle was deep black in color, with a label covered in fine French text. There was no gold foil or silver embossing—just an understated, almost cold simplicity. But Su Bai knew at a glance that this wasn't some mass-market bottle sitting on supermarket shelves.

"Alright, since the Big Boss has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it, I, as your housekeeper, can't be too shabby either." Zhou Jialu swirled the bottle, a hint of pride in her eyes. "Perfect timing—I've got something for you to try today."

Su Bai raised an eyebrow. "Where'd it come from?"

"I went on a business trip to Shanghai last week and caught up with some friends from the professional housekeeper circle." Zhou Jialu said as she took a pair of brand-new Burgundy glasses from the wine cabinet. The glass was so thin it was almost translucent. "When they heard I was the housekeeper for Baiye Holdings, they got all excited—adding me on WeChat, giving me souvenirs. One of them gave me this bottle. Said it was a private stash from their boss's cellar. You can't buy it anywhere on the market."

"Oh?" Su Bai straightened up, intrigued. "What's the backstory?"

"No idea, honestly," Zhou Jialu admitted frankly, pulling a waiter's corkscrew from a drawer and neatly cutting the foil seal around the bottle's neck. "They only said it's from a small-production winery in some French appellation. The annual output is extremely low — it's basically never exported. Their boss had to pull some strings to score a few cases. As for which specific region or which winery, I didn't bother to ask."

She pulled the cork out smoothly, brought it to her nose, and frowned slightly. "Really distinctive aroma, but I can't quite pin down what it is. I mean, I'm only half-trained—I usually just decant and pour for you. If you ask me to actually taste it, all I can tell you is whether it's good or not."

Su Bai laughed at her honest admission. "So why did you decide to serve this to me today?"

"Because you said you have money to burn." Zhou Jialu replied matter-of-factly as she poured the wine into a decanter. The deep red liquid shimmered with a beautiful gem-like luster under the lights. "Since the Big Boss is in a good mood today—building a lab, throwing around half a billion—I figured I ought to bring out something decent. Otherwise, you might think I'm not up to par and fire me, right?"

"Fire you? Then this Donghu Clubhouse of mine would collapse by half," Su Bai said with a grin.

Zhou Jialu let out a satisfied hum, placed the decanter on the counter, and pulled a white cloth from the cabinet to set underneath it. The wine needed time to breathe, so she wasn't in a hurry to pour. Instead, she leaned back against the counter, propping her chin on her hand as she looked at Su Bai.

"By the way, Junior, what did you and your housekeeper circle friends talk about?" Su Bai asked casually.

"What else? Just swapping tips." Zhou Jialu counted on her fingers. "How to manage a wine cellar, arrange daily purchases, coordinate the housekeeping team, entertain VIP guests, read people. Oh, and how to tell real jewelry from fakes, how to taste cigars, how to taste wine."

When she got to wine tasting, her expression turned awkward. "I kept up with everything before that, but when it came to wine tasting, I got completely crushed. They were all throwing around terms like blackcurrant, raspberry, cedarwood, leather, minerality—I just nodded along. Then they opened three bottles for me to blind taste, and I got every single one wrong."

Su Bai couldn't help laughing. "And then?"

"And then they were polite about it, said things like, 'Zhou, you're a head housekeeper; leave wine tasting to the sommeliers.'" Zhou Jialu pouted, a hint of frustration in her voice. "That's true enough, but I'm the personal housekeeper of Su Bai from Baiye Holdings. If I can't even taste wine properly, and you go to some tasting event, wouldn't I embarrass you by being there?"

"So you're using this bottle to practice?" Su Bai pointed at the decanter.

"That's where you come in." Zhou Jialu blinked her fox like eyes, a sly smile forming. "Junior, you know your way around food and drink—can't be bad at wine tasting, right? Let's figure it out together. Maybe I can pick up a thing or two from you."

Su Bai didn't answer. He just smiled, his gaze settling on the red wine in the decanter.

The wine had been breathing for about ten minutes, and its color was more translucent than when it was first poured. He reached for the decanter, first holding it up to the light to examine the wine's color and how it clung to the glass, then poured a small amount, swirled it gently, and brought it to his nose.

Zhou Jialu blinked, surprised by his practiced movements. She'd assumed Su Bai was as much of a half-amateur as she was, but this clearly showed he was an expert.

Instead of sniffing immediately, Su Bai first observed the slow streams of tears coating inside of the glass. They flowed evenly and clung much longer than your average red wine.

Then he lowered his head, dipping his nose into the rim, and took a deep breath.

In an instant, a complex bouquet of aromas exploded in his mind.

His build, rated at 170 points, gave him far sharper senses than the average person. While most people might catch two or three main scents when smelling wine, often mixing them up, Su Bai's brain worked like a precision chromatograph, separating hundreds of aromatic molecules clearly.

First came the main note of red berries—ripe raspberries, red currants, even a hint of wild strawberry sweetness. Fresh, like they'd just been picked from the branch. It wasn't the jammy richness of New World wines, but a more restrained, refined fruitiness.

Beneath the fruit, there was a very subtle spice layer—not the vanilla or cloves from oak barrels, but something closer to black pepper's sharpness, mixed with faint floral notes of dried lavender. He'd never smelled this kind of spice blend in French wines from Bordeaux or Burgundy before.

Digging deeper, the base notes emerged: damp forest floor, dry leather, a touch of gamey bloodiness, and a very distinctive minerality—like sun-heated river stones suddenly doused with cold water, releasing that earthy, steamy scent.

Su Bai closed his eyes, rapidly sorting and comparing these flavor markers in his mind, then opened them slowly.

"Côtes du Rhône."

Zhou Jialu blinked. "Huh?"

"To be precise, Southern Côtes du Rhône." Su Bai set down his glass, pointing at the decanter. "And it's from a top-tier village in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region. It's at least ten years old."

Zhou Jialu's eyes went wide, her mouth forming a perfect O. "You... you figured that out just by sniffing it? And you didn't even taste it yet!"

Su Bai smiled, picked up the glass, and took a small sip. He let the wine coat his mouth, swishing it around, then swallowed slowly.

"Definitely Southern Côtes du Rhône," he said confidently, setting the glass down. "And it's a Grenache-dominant blend. Grenache makes up at least eighty percent, with the rest being Syrah and Mourvèdre—the classic GSM blend."

He pointed at the wine stains clinging to the glass. "Long legs, alcohol content should be around fifteen degrees. That's pretty common in Southern Rhône too. Plenty of sunshine there, Grenache grapes ripen well, and the wine they produce is full-bodied, with alcohol levels generally on the higher side."

"Then there's the aroma." Su Bai picked up the glass again and sniffed. "Raspberry and red currant are typical Grenache notes. Black pepper and lavender are hallmarks of the Southern Rhône terroir. The damp forest floor and gamey scent? That comes from old-vine Grenache aged long enough in oak barrels, developing its tertiary aromas. And that mineral sensation, like sun-heated stones..."

He paused and looked at Zhou Jialu. "Do you know what the soil is like in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation?"

Zhou Jialu shook her head vigorously, like a rattling drum.

"Pebbles," Su Bai said. "Because it's near the Rhône River valley, the vineyards there are covered in massive river-smoothed pebbles that have been shaped over millions of years. During the day, the stones absorb the sun's heat, and at night, they slowly release it back to the vines. That's why wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape almost always have a uniquely warm, mineral quality that other regions just can't replicate."

Zhou Jialu was completely dumbfounded. Her fox-like eyes were wide open, lips slightly parted, staring at Su Bai as if he were some kind of monster. It took her a good while to snap out of it, then she slammed her hand on the bar counter. "Su Bai! How do you know everything!"

"Know what? I just drink casually," Su Bai said modestly, waving his hand.

"Casually? You can tell Southern Rhône from Northern Rhône casually? You can tell it came from pebbles?" Zhou Jialu almost jumped up, pointing at the glass. "Those butler friends of mine? They've been tasting wine for over a decade, and they think just naming the region or grape is already impressive. And here you are, figuring out what kind of stones the vines grew on! Do you even realize what that means? And you call this 'just drinking casually'?"

Su Bai couldn't help but laugh at her excited reaction. "Alright, alright, enough with the flattery. This wine is indeed good. The vintage should be between twelve and fifteen years old—right in its peak drinking window. Your butler friend's boss has real taste. Being able to acquire this kind of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and being willing to gift it to others? That's a generous spirit."

"Right now, I don't care about his boss at all!" Zhou Jialu grabbed Su Bai's arm, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Junior, your palate is even better than a sommelier's! There's a tasting-themed sharing session coming up in that butler group chat. Everyone's agreed to bring top wines from their bosses' cellars for a blind tasting. I was already stressing out about it—with my level, I'd just embarrass myself. But now—"

She leaned in close to Su Bai, close enough to feel each other's breath, and said slowly, word by word: "From now on, whenever I'm not sure, I'll get you to taste it!"

Su Bai raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes!" Zhou Jialu said, utterly unashamed. "You're my junior, and more importantly, my Big Boss. It's only natural for the boss to save face for his butler, right? When they lay out the wines, I'll just take a picture and send it to you. You sniff it and tell me the region and vintage. I'll announce it in front of everyone on the spot—just imagine the scene! Just thinking about it feels amazing!"

Su Bai looked at her, speechless. "So I'm your cheat code."

"Obviously," Zhou Jialu grinned, looking like a fox that had stolen a chicken. She picked up the decanter and poured the rest of the wine into his glass. "Here you go, my big cheat code. Have another sip, and while you're at it, teach me how to act like I figured it out myself."