What is your experience with vineyards in real estate?
I’ve been in real estate for 40 years and I came out of the agricultural business. I have a vineyard of my own and I understand the business and I understand ag land and selling ag land. I’ve done several transactions of vineyards and orchards.
What should a buyer look for in a vineyard?
Well there’s a lot of things you’re gonna look at location, climate, soil type and quality. You’re gonna look at if you have the right type of grape planted in that region in the soil. Make sure you have plenty of water. Those are the main items. If you’re buying a vineyard that’s already planted make sure it’s the right variety for that climate—and besides that grape itself, what rootstock it is.
Is it virgin land? A lot of virgin land and selling some that were vineyards already. I had one I sold off Hecker Pass and it had some existing [vines], they were going to put in some new vineyards.
With the prevalence of micro-wineries in the area, are the requirements different?
So, you have a lot of small vineyards around here in South County (1-2 acres) the problem you see with that is that some guys don’t take care of it like they should, so most of the wineries in our area are trying to get bigger production, bigger vineyards. So if they’re buying a small one they’re going to want to make sure it’s being taken care of they way it ought to be, otherwise they’re not going to want to deal with it.
What do you enjoy most about being a Realtor?
I enjoy the art of the deal and I enjoy the client getting the property that they really want—their end-dream. I’ve sold properties to Jason Stephens and other guys and when you watch it come to fruition it’s pretty cool.
What was your most memorable transaction?
Probably the one that I think about the most was one of my first deals, when I had a client come in in old dirty coveralls. To look at a $300,000 property back in the ‘80s and he ended up buying a $750,000 property. And, I was able to do both ends of the transaction, which was a big deal at the time.
Dan Gluhaich can be reached at (408) 201-0120 or via email at DG*******@In**************.com.
