Chapter 26

Sarah didn’t know that Milo was from a family of vintners. He watched what they were doing, tasted the wine, asked questions and got permission for us to take a walk in the vineyard. He would taste the grapes directly from the vine and rub the soil between his fingers. When we finished the second tour he said, “This is great wine country. The land is well suited and the grapes thrive. We should see if any land is for sale.”

Sarah said, “I thought we were drinking and buying wine, not land.”

We pulled up to the next vineyard. Qi was driving the rented Suburban. We were met by the hostess and I asked to speak with the owner or manager if they were around. She asked if everything was alright and after we assured her it was, she went off and came back a little later with a woman about 40 years old. We introduced ourselves and explained about Milo having a wine business in France and that we were looking for land in Napa.

“There are some small pieces of land but you may want to look in St. Helena. It’s just up the road. I know of two large farms that are for sale but I think they’re asking too much. They’ve been for sale for a while.” We stayed and drank some wine.

We made the short drive to St. Helena and found a realty office. The farms were well known. The price was high for most places but reasonable for the area. The realtor was going to blow us off until I gave her the name of my bank and CPA. She made a call to Adam and it went to the machine since it was late back east. The bank and brokerage had offices on the west coast and call centers for after hours. She came back and said, “Let’s talk about land.”

There were two farms that were both owned by the same man. He had passed and his family wanted to sell. He was afraid that they were going to take what he’d built up over the years and break it into small pieces and sell it off. There were restrictions that the land had to be sold as one unit and couldn’t be subdivided or sold by the next owner for at least ten years, once it left the family.

The realtor said, “The kids were never really nice to their father so he tied their hands. They’ve had some lowball offers that they can’t agree on to accept. One of the three kids always wants to push it just a little more and pisses off the buyers. Everything falls through and it stays on the market.”

“It’s getting late. We’ll be back tomorrow. If you want to let the family know you can. Tell them that we’re in town for one day. When we drive out of town tomorrow, we aren’t coming back to dicker. They should pick one person to sign off for the family.”

“I’ll see what I can do. One of the kids is an attorney and can write up a power of attorney.”

Sarah was just as excited as Kari and Milo. As we drove I said, “In the morning We’ll drop you off at the realtor’s office. You all can tour the farms and taste the dirt or whatever you do Milo. Grace and I’ll go to the courthouse and do some research on properties and prices. I’d learned some things in New York. We can get together for lunch and talk as a group and then if we like it we can make an offer and let the negotiations begin.”

Milo called his parents before we left in the morning to see if they had money to invest and how much. Kari was getting checks every month and it was adding up. She had ten million to invest if the deal was a good one. I didn’t worry about covering the difference if the price was right. I knew how much wine we bought and sold at all of our restaurants and clubs. I know what we paid for it and sold it for. If we could produce it then it would pay us forever.

Milo actually had as much if not a little more than Kari but his parents wanted to see it before they let him spend it. We would need to have an out clause in the contract for his father’s inspection. Kari, Milo, Qi and Sarah went for a walk around the farms. One was 450 acres and the other was just under a thousand. Some of the wineries in the area were less than twenty acres. Those twenty acres were costing a million dollars in some instances. That was the reason the farmer wouldn’t let it be split up.

Larger pieces went for less per acre. Once you got over a hundred, it didn’t matter if there were any buildings or homes, it was just a cost per acre or so it seemed. Based on fourteen hundred acres that would be 70 million at the price of the smaller sized farms. The family wanted to get at least 60 since there were three kids and it was a round number. The most they’d been offered was 35 million.

I stopped by to see how much the taxes were on the farm. It was public record. The lady behind the counter looked it up and told me but then said, “That was the grandfathered tax rate, when the land passed through probate it was retitled in the name of the kids since the ownership changed. I think he died about two years ago but the probate was done about six months ago. When taxes are due next month it will be triple what the father paid.”

At lunch, I didn’t even have to ask. Milo was smiling ear to ear and Kari was too. Sarah seemed happy but I’m not sure why she was even with us since we weren’t drinking. Milo said, “That place is planted in hay for the most part. I did find about a hundred acres that had old growth vines on them. We could graft in new vines and make wine next year from what I see. We could have the rest up and producing in five years. We could sell the young grapes to other vineyards for blending while the vines mature.”

Kari looked at me and asked, “Bull, what do you want to offer?”

“They’ve turned down $35 million twice. That is probably what it’s worth with all the stipulations and how much money would have to be tied up for so long. I see so much more potential and could make money here next year. I plan to buy this farm today. If you want in for a dollar amount then whatever percentage that is, I’ll give you that percentage. But remember that other money will be needed to build, plant and run the place so the purchase is just the beginning. Let’s see what it costs to buy the land then we can talk about the rest.”

“Spend it like it’s all your money Bull but I’m in with you.” Kari said.

I probably could have written a script about what would be said and was pretty close to what I pictured. The farmer died at 86 leaving a bunch of 60 year olds with the land. The lawyer was the one that showed up since he had some money and always squashed the lowball offers. He saw me walk in after lunch and asked, “Is this some kind of joke?”

The realtor stepped in and assured him that my group, as I instructed her to call us, had been vetted.

I looked behind me and then at him, “No joke. I’m interested in the land your father left you.”

“Land around here is going for $50k an acre.”

“For smaller farms in the 5 to 10 acre range you would be right but this one is 1400. Those go for much less. They are also being used for growing grapes not hay.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“I may grow some grapes but I’m in the hotel business and the restaurant business.”

“Any that I’ve heard of?”

I listed the hotel and five restaurants that Flynn had in San Francisco. He’d heard of almost all of them. I like the land and the clientele is the type I go after with my properties and restaurants.”

“What are you willing to offer?”

I didn’t want him to focus on the price per acre but on the total for the property. “My partners and I are willing to offer $40 million.”

He was quiet and I soon figured out that he wanted me to raise the price or make an excuse for the amount I was offering. He finally got tired of watching me sit and look at him. “That seems low, we were asking 70 but were willing to come down to 60.”

“For hay fields? I bet you can’t get eight dollars for a round bale around here.” I found out a little about hay bales in the timeshare bar in St. Louis one trip. One of the football players had a farm and was telling me about his cows and horses.

“Bull, we’re 20 million apart, I can’t come down that low.”

“If it was planted even 3 years ago when your father passed away, the grapes still wouldn’t produce drinkable wine for a couple years. I would say that you would be lucky to get 50 even if you had planted it.”

“I can’t take forty.”

“I also know that taxes are coming up again next month.”

“I know, the estate had to pay them the last two years.”

“But that was when the farm was in your father’s name. When it cleared probate, the land was retitled and reappraised. The taxes will be much higher if you own it next month.”

His head dropped and he looked at his hands before looking up at me. “It looks like you’ve done your homework. What is your highest offer? I took off a day from work and drove up here. I’m not authorized by the family to accept $40 million.”

“I think my top offer is $45 million. We’ll be responsible for all back taxes. It won’t be prorated against the heirs. We can close in 30 days or less. The only stipulation is that one of my investors is currently in France but I’ll get him out to see the land in the next 2 weeks. If he doesn’t see the value then that could squash the deal but if he likes the land then we’re good. Cash deal. I think that is more than fair and won’t go any higher. If you aren’t authorized to go that low you can make some phone calls or we can both say we tried our best and move on. I don’t need 1400 acres for a hotel or restaurant.”

“That’s it. The minimum number we’d accept and the taxes help to seal the deal. I can live with the other parts. You know about the clauses in the deed about subdividing the land? It can’t be done for at least 10 years.”

I nodded to him and looked over at the realtor. She was writing in the price and the stipulations. I had her add one about a survey to confirm the land boundaries that I would pay for. If the land was under 1350 acres we would lower the price by $35k per acre. He agreed and we signed off for our respective groups. I just had my name but the final contract was assignable so we could create an LLC.

Milo’s dad, Jules DuPont, flew over and was in town the following day. He was more than happy with the land and the prices. When we sat down to discuss the deal, Sarah was there. I looked at Kari and she said, “I invited her. Her family owns one of the largest liquor distributors in Europe. She wants to be able to sell our wine around the world.”

We were in my suite at the timeshare overlooking the city. “People come to California for business and pleasure. I own this time share and many others around the country. It’s how I made a lot of money. I want to open a hotel, timeshare and restaurant on the property. I normally own them outright but I think that we could take the money from the timeshare and speed up the process of growing wine.”

Kari asked, “How?”

“Milo mentioned grafting onto old root systems and having good wine. He also mentioned shipping in plants to replant here. If I had ten million dollars, I could go to Argentina, Chile and other places that have been growing grapes for decades and find old farms. He can buy the farms or the roots and transplant them here.”

Jules said, “That’s a great idea. I could probably find enough in France to do that but Chile and Argentina would be so much cheaper and nowhere near the number you mentioned. How much will it take to build a timeshare and how much will it make?”

“We would set aside ten acres for the resort. I don’t know that we need a pool but a small one with a lot of hot tubs for sitting and sipping wine in the evenings. I’m thinking we would build in phases. Two hundred condos per building with five buildings total. A thousand units. Say fifty weeks a year. That’s fifty thousand units for sale. Ten thousand a unit is half a billion up front. Then each unit will pay a thousand a year in maintenance costs. Or another fifty million a year to maintain and run the place.

“When you subtract out the cost of land, construction and sales, it will leave about 70% of that on both the capital and the annual income as profit. The cost to run the place won’t be cheap but there will be plenty left over. They’ll be high end like this place. People will enjoy the location and I can put it in the pool of locations if someone would rather stay a week here than one of the other locations.”

Jules said, “We can come up with twenty million, US Dollars.”

Kari said, “I have ten.”

Sarah said, “Whatever you will let me have. I just love being a part of it. I’ll also have to have the corporate attorney sign off.”

“If you want to pay someone to look it over that’s fine but the rules and stipulations are the same for all shareholders. What you get is the same as me except for the percentage of ownership.”

“How much can I buy in for?”

“I figure 50 for the land, closing and other miscellaneous costs. The timeshare will be twenty. That will cover the landscaping and first building or two before sales kicks in and it pays to build out the other three. Every great vineyard has a big estate, right Jules?”

“Wie, yes it’s normally the centerpiece. There will need to be barns for the equipment, a place to make the wine and cellars to store it all.”

“Let’s call it a hundred million. One million per percent. We have thirty taken and that leaves seventy. If I take fifty that leaves twenty and I can put in the contract that Jules has the tie breaking vote in case the three of you want to do something and I don’t or the other way around. Sarah, do you have or want to invest twenty million?”

Kari said, “My mom and dad might want in and my uncle.”

Sarah said, “I’ll take the twenty.”

“Jules, I’ll take care of the timeshare, hotel and restaurants. We can set up tours with drivers to let the people enjoy and not drive drunk. You can take care of the vines, equipment, caves, and anything else in the wine making process. Sarah, you’ll work on the distribution. You can talk with Kari and Milo about bottle design. I’ll have my designer come out and design the estate. I would love for all of you to meet him and give your input as to what you want it to have inside and out.”

We all toasted to the success of the partnership. Milo wanted his dad to get to know Kari since they were getting serious. Sarah and I went to dinner, with Grace joining us but not saying much. About halfway through dinner, Sarah said, “I bought a timeshare in the building here. I thought it was a great deal and to some degree I still do but after hearing how much you make on these things, I feel like I just got ripped off.”

“If you are going to be here every year, you couldn’t rent a place half as nice for half as much. You can also use it at any of our locations if they’re available. It’s when you want to go camping or to someplace there are no timeshares that you run into trouble. You have to try to give away or sell your week. I would rather stay here than the presidential suite at most hotels.”

“Maybe you should give me another tour. I haven’t explored the bedroom quite enough. I want to feel like I’m getting my money’s worth from the amenities.”

Grace said, “You won’t be disappointed.”

“Grace, talking out of turn again. Sounds like you are looking for spankings.”

“Thank you master.”

The rumors you hear about the English being conservative did not apply to Sarah. When I dropped my pants, you could see the lust in her eyes. That same ravenous lust continued until we both passed out at three in the morning. She liked a big cock and said she’d been dreaming about it since we met in the sauna. It was somewhat awkward when Kari, Milo and Jules showed up early the next morning to take me to breakfast. Grace opened the door but when I walked out needing a shower followed by Sarah, Kari smiled, Jules smiled and Milo was embarrassed.

The morning was spent talking about strategy, timing and responsibilities. Kari wanted to talk about names for the wine and I could care less. I didn’t even know what kind of wine would be produced. I said, “it’s going to take some time to get everything set up. Kari, you’ll have to have patience.”

Sarah said, “Name the vineyard Patience. You have to wait for the quality wine and it’s a virtue.”

The name sounded good to me and the others just nodded and then voted acceptance of the new name. They all also agreed to allow Amy and her team, manage the timeshare and put it in a pool with the others I owned. We would split the profits of this property but having it part of the group would increase sales and by having Amy manage it, the structure would already be there.

Sarah spent the night with us before we all left California. We all had our areas of responsibility and I would just pass it on to my employees like I normally did. Jules was moving to California as soon as he could get his work Visa in place to start managing and building until Milo and Kari finished college in a few months.

Back in New York, when the condos on my floor were finished, there was a slow release so we could control the price and who was allowed to buy. The building was somewhat different. It had a patio on the roof, a private dining room and a private spa. There were many celebrities and athletes that stayed there regularly. Two people that wanted places were Lucy and E.J. Patterson. Lucy came to me to talk about it. She saw how big my place was and thought it would be a good place for them. She wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about her cunt of a daughter and also hinted that she would be open to rebuilding our friendship. They bought the other southerly facing corner unit at the other end of the hall.