Page 49 of The Land that Binds

She picked up her glass and took a long slip, rubbing the surface of her mouth with her tongue as the tingling took form. “I’m not surprised. They’ve always had a quantity over quality mindset.”

He tilted his head, his attention back on the bottles in front of him. Alana finally realized what they were; other bottles of Cabernet Franc from competing vineyards, all from the 2024 vintage. Kasner was one of them. “I’m not so sure about that,” Leo replied. “Their Cab Franc is excellent.”

She glared at the glass next to the Kasner bottle. “Give me that. Let me try.”

Leo silently obeyed, reaching for another clean glass and pouring.

She pinched the stem of both glasses in front of her, tilting them to get a look at the color. “Okay, come here, look at this.”

Leo rounded the counter over to where she sat. She felt the heat radiating from his chest and did her best to ignore it.

“See the color difference? Our wine is more of a deep violet, while theirs is a paler ruby.”

“Okay…”

She smiled. “If it’s the same vintage, then why are they aging at different speeds?” She lifted the glass of Kasner. “The ruby color suggests we’re seeing some turn with aging. While that’s ultimately the goal for a well-made wine, for twenty twenty-four, it is happening far too soon. So what does this tell us?”

Leo scanned her face. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “You tell me.”

She wasn’t sure whether Leo actually didn’t know the answer, but she felt proud all the same. She straightened her back. “It’s the quality of the fruit. If it has lower tannins and acid, it will age faster and eventually be no longer be drinkable. Then there’s our wine—” She held up the glass of Marien. “Higher quality fruit, slower aging.”

“So you’re saying the Kasners aren’t using good fruit?”

“Oh, I’m sure they are, but they’re probably selling those wines at a premium. Listing it as a single vineyard or a reserve or something, and selling it for twice the amount.”

“We could do that, you know. Our plots are single vineyards.”

“All so we could make a little more money?” She shook her head. “Our plots are small, yes. But it was never worth it for my grandfather or Otto to single out wines like that. They believe quality wine should be affordable for everyone.”

Leo sighed, placing his hand on the Kasner bottle. “Okay, hear me out. If the fruit for their signature wines aren’t coming from their vineyards, they are likely buying them from co-ops, yes?”

“Right, that’s a known fact.” She was becoming irritated. “Where are you going with this?”

He chuckled, like her derision was somehow amusing to him. “Yet our wine—” He turned the Marien bottle so it was facing them. “It is all single vineyards. We’re looking to make money, right? What’s the harm in slightly changing our marketing copy to say all our wine is single vineyard. Premium level at a price you can afford.”

She scrunched her nose. That’s actually not a bad idea. But she didn’t have the heart to admit that maybe he was right and she was wrong.

Leo didn’t need reassurance. The smile on his face said it all.

She glared at him. “Smart-ass.”

He chuckled again, this time the sound eliciting that low burn in her belly. It was deep and rich, full of black fruits and tough with tannins with a lingering finish that made her want more. She was so wrapped up in finding all the tasting notes of his laugh that she hadn’t clocked how close he was standing to her, how her knee brushed his hip and the cotton of his shirt tickled her forearm.

The proper thing to do was move away from him. But Alana was not in the mood to be proper.

She reached for her wineglass, her thigh grazing against the soft fabric of his sweats.

He followed the movement, his eyes unapologetically scanning her exposed skin, the way her sleep shorts rode up at her hips.

He swallowed, tearing his gaze away as he reached for his glass of Marien, then handed hers over. “Shall we move to the couch?”

She nodded, following him with her wine and settling in on the opposite end. It was big enough for the both of them, but they still had to sit rather close. Leo seemed unfazed by this as he propped up an arm along the back and crossed his legs.

Alana curled her knees up on the couch, which felt far more comfortable than trying to sit properly. It also created some natural distance between the two of them—even though his chest continued to radiate a serious amount of heat.

She held her glass to her lips. “Hear anything else around town?”

Leo swirled his own glass, his eyes tracking the liquid. “I heard about Courtney.”