#7 Walking the Ground

You do not need a key to inspect farmland, but you do need permission.

“Let’s take a ride,” he said. I will call him “Ned”.

Ned is the person I spoke to in September who called me back in late December. He asked if I was still looking for vineyard ground.

Here is a list of things I did not know at the time.

— The difference between good vineyard ground and not-so-good vineyard ground.
— How many acres of grapes are required to make a modest living.
— That it takes about 25 years to get to where I wanted to go

Ned knew these things. We walked around the perimeter. Ned said this piece of property had been for sale, off-and-on, for about five years. Descendants of the original owners had not been able to agree on how much to sell and at what price.

“It is back on the market,” Ned said. “It should sell quickly. I would not haggle too much on price, if you are interested in it.”

I made an offer the next day. It was accepted. We closed in late March, 2008.