Chapter 2139： not that simple

In fact, what Marin thought was a bit simpler. Although, the total annual sales of wine in Europe is as high as tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of gold coins. However, the most important thing for sale is low-quality wine.

Marlin uses glycerin, although it removes the astringency of the wine, which improves the taste and the price. But the problem is, it's useless for you to get so many good-tasting mid-to-high-end wines. Because the consumption power of ordinary people is there, you make too much good wine, and it is difficult to sell it.

Probably only some people, who can't afford high-end wine, but can afford mid-range wine, pay attention to the taste, and don't like the astringency of little nobles, wealthy men and middle-level priests, will favor this kind of glycerin-modified taste. Mid-range wine.

Therefore, this kind of improved taste of glycerin wine has a limited consumer group. It will not be said that you can sell as many barrels as you can. Because most people cannot afford...

Of course, because the wine consumer group in Europe is too large. Even if only some people are willing to consume glycerin wine, it is still a huge market. but,. Sales will not reach the tens of millions level, probably, at the level of several million. And this figure, for Marin, is also considered a huge profit. However, Marin didn't know it at the moment, but happily organized the procurement of inferior French wines, and then processed them into mid-range wines in order to make huge profits. Marlin will not realize the problem until too many mid-range wines are unsalable.

Of course, Marin didn't lose. After all, the cost of low-quality wine is too low, and glycerin is also a by-product of the production of soap, so it doesn't cost much. Later, Marin digested the unsalable mid-range wine at a preferential price within the church of Beihai State...

The North Sea State Church is a very special existence. Relying on the close relationship with the Pope, Marin annexed the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Bremen and the Bishopric of Osnabrück, and took most of the church’s land. Ordinarily, the church in Beihai should be poor.

However, in order to appease the church, Marin provided them with a large amount of fertilizer, which increased the yield per mu of church land from about 100 pounds to 400 pounds, and the income was nearly four times the previous amount. Therefore, despite the reduction of land, the church has lived more moisturized. Don't underestimate the increase in yield per mu. In addition to increasing the yield, it does not increase the manpower, and the benefits are also huge. The simple truth is that, in the past, one hundred pounds per mu was produced, but half of it was left to feed the serfs and cover various expenses. The church actually got around 50 pounds. With a yield of 400 pounds per mu, the church would have 300 pounds or more, more than six times the previous amount. Of course, because fertilizers also have costs, the income per mu is about five times higher than before. However, this is also amazing. Therefore, even if there is less land, the church's benefits will be a lot, even more than before. Therefore, church members in Beihai are generally richer. The consumption power of mid-range wines is also relatively strong.

It's just that Marin overlooked a problem—in this era, Europeans drink wine as water, not as luxury goods.

Therefore, the nobles and the middle and high level in the church will drink medium and high-end wines for a long time in order to force them to drink. The priests at the bottom have difficulty drinking expensive wines for a long time.

In the case of mid-range wines, it is 20 shillings per gallon, which is 240 pence (finney), and the price is 60 times that of low-end wines. If it is divided into one large cup per pint, it is eight large cups. The average price per big cup is as high as 30 pfennigs, which is almost 15 days' income of ordinary people!

What is this concept? The equivalent of a later generation, spend 1,500 yuan to buy a large glass of red wine! This is so special, how can most people afford to drink? Even if I can afford it, it means I am willing to have a drink after many days. If I drink it every day... Even the average small boss can't eat it...

So, 20 shillings per gallon of mid-range wine is a watershed. Only the nobles and middle-class priests can afford it, and many poor aristocrats and middle-class priests in poor parishes can't afford it either.

It is 6 shillings per gallon of low-to-medium quality wine, very popular among low-level nobles and priests. This wine is about 18 times the price of the lowest-grade wine. The average price per pint is 9 pfennigs, which is 4.5 times the average salary.

Although the price is a bit expensive, the nobles and priests gritted their teeth and can accept it. Mainly, if the grade is lower, it will not match their identity. Think about it, an aristocratic master, or a noble priest, who drinks the same sour and inferior wine as a mud-legged wine, still shameless?

Of course, there are cheaper ones. Lower-middle-grade wines. This kind of wine is considered the worst among the mid-range wines, with a heavier astringency. But among the low-end wines, they are considered the best. This wine is 2 shillings per gallon, which is 3 pfennigs per quart.

This price is equivalent to a day's salary for an ordinary apprentice or mercenary. Ordinary people are not willing to drink, but poor nobles and poor priests are willing to drink. First of all, their financial situation is much better than ordinary people, and they can still afford to drink. This category of people is almost equivalent to the middle class with an annual salary of 200,000, and the income is about five or six times that of ordinary people. You can still get a fraction of your income to buy this wine.

The most important thing is that no matter how low-grade wine is, it not only tastes extremely bitter and astringent, but it also has a bad face. In particular, in ancient class societies, consumption is also divided into classes. Wine below 2 shillings per gallon belongs to the "untouchable" class. If you drink that kind of wine, you will be despised by people of the same class.

The ancient European aristocracy paid special attention to the division of ranks and grades. Why did they desperately squeeze serfs? Isn't it to maintain a decent cost?

Generally speaking, a family of knights (fellow knights with fiefs) has an annual expenditure of several hundred gold coins. Take wine as an example, even if you drink 3 pfennigs per pint of wine. Generally, adult nobles drink 2 pints of middle-to-lower grade wine every day. 2 pints is 6 pfennigs, which is equivalent to a tenth of a gold coin. The whole family is counted as 3 adults, and the money spent on wine every year is at least about 110 gold coins. This is the worst grade. If you change to the previous grade of 6 shillings per gallon, it will be 330 gold coins per year. If you change it to 20 shillings per gallon, it will cost thousands of gold coins!

This is only part of the cost. The nobles usually need to spend a lot of money to purchase expensive spices, luxurious clothes, spend a lot of money to raise horses, purchase and maintain weapons and armor... Therefore, a nobleman spends thousands of gold coins a year, nothing at all. strangeness. Only the poor and aristocratic will reduce the annual expenditure to less than 1,000 gold coins. For the sake of face, nobles usually borrow money to maintain decent consumption. The most "outstanding" representative is probably Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg. This old man owed a huge sum of 1 million gold coins due to excessive consumption or even abnormal consumption. You know, the annual revenue of the Kingdom of France is only 1.2 million gold coins. Do you dare to imagine that a nobleman owes a huge debt of 5/6 of the annual fiscal revenue of the most powerful country in Western Europe? According to the standards of later generations, France's fiscal revenue is more than one trillion euros, five-sixths of which is equivalent to hundreds of billions of euros! Lao Wang is far from having so much money, and Duke Ulrich dare to owe so much!

Of course, this is not the calculation. After all, this era is the era of agriculture, and there is no industry with high output value. In addition, there is no universal taxation in Europe. It only relies on royal estate income and commercial taxes, and everyone's income is not high. It was not until the late 17th century that Europe began to learn from the East and implement a universal taxation system. Then, taxation in European countries skyrocketed, which also gave all countries the capital to feed hundreds of thousands of armies and launch an all-out war.

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To be honest, adding glycerin to wine mainly removes the astringency, then makes the taste softer and adds a bit of sweetness. For the aroma in the wine, glycerin does not play a big role. Therefore, Marlin can use glycerin to turn inferior wines into medium wines, but cannot turn inferior wines into top wines. To obtain high-end wines, you have to use aromatic but astringent mid-range wines. Add glycerin to neutralize the astringency, but retain the aroma.

In later generations, according to EU standards, glycerin is not allowed to be added to wine. Of course, I'm talking about high-end wines. For the inferior wines produced by the later generations of China, that is, a bottle of ten yuan a bottle, most of them are added.

But adding glycerin is also exquisite. Use edible glycerin instead of industrial glycerin. Industrial glycerol is chemically synthesized. For example, propylene from petroleum cracking is used as a raw material, and glycerol is synthesized by the chlorination method. But the problem is that the glycerin produced by this synthetic method is not suitable for being adulterated into food because of the large amount of chemical raw materials and many toxic substances.

The edible glycerin is extracted from the reaction of animal fat and caustic soda. As long as you put a little less caustic soda and a little more animal fat, it is safe. Most of the synthetic glycerin cannot be used as food glycerin.

In fact, later generations of high-end red wines contain glycerin. However, that is the glycerin that is naturally produced in the winemaking process. UU Reading is very precious, and it also greatly improves the quality of the wine. According to later standards, the glycerin content of dry red wine is about 1 to 10 grams per liter. The reason why high-end wine tastes good is actually because of the high glycerin content, which directly neutralizes the bitterness and astringency in tannins. Therefore, the two most high-end wines have basically no bitterness and astringency, the only difference is aroma.

Marlin uses glycerin to neutralize the bitterness and astringency of inferior wines. Because of the lack of aroma, it must be a mid-range wine. But people in this era are not demanding. If you can drink wine without bitterness, it is considered high-quality. Therefore, there is still a certain market.

But as I said before, because the European economy is very poor in this era, most people are very poor. Therefore, sales of high-end wines are limited, as are mid-range wines. Only the middle- and lower-class nobles and priests, as well as some merchants, can afford mid-range wine.

Therefore, even if Marin has mastered the skill of neutralizing the astringency of wine, there is no way for everyone to afford mid-range wines that are not cheap. Similarly, there is no way for the nobles and church leaders to drink mid-range wines with insufficient aroma.

In the end, the share that Marin can gain is part of the mid-range wine market...After all, the wine market is also controlled by someone, and it is not easy for people. It is not so easy to grab food from their mouths. So, it's not that simple, it's not that you can be the king if you have the technology. Just like the flintlock gun in France, it was held by a matchlock gun for decades at the beginning, and it was finally adopted by the Swedes after it was carried forward...

Marin wants to compete for the mid-range wine market, it is inevitable to go through a fight to grab some share. And some shares may not be able to grab it...

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