Part II – Jumping in with Both Feet.
Chapter 5: We Find the Farm…
Captain America: As we looked all over South Jersey for properties, Dave and Shannon kept taking us by this property for sale near their house. It was a beautiful 16 acre property with a small farm house, a pole barn and pasture land that had been used for cattle and horses. In fact this property was surrounded by farms and pastures. There were horses and cows, corn fields and soy fields. There was even a rodeo around the corner. Where in the world WERE we?
A lovely fellow by the name of Don Kohler was the real estate agent for the seller. The negotiation lasted for most of 2003 as we continued to look for properties. I kept in touch with Don who promised that I would never hear from him that the property had been sold – he would always give me one last bite at the apple. I knew Don as a tall skinny fella. He was actually a large barrel- chested fella who was dying of a very painful form of cancer. Thanks to Don, we were finally able to reach a deal to buy the property. Don was going from bad to worse but still managed to help my mom buy a house in Woodstown to be close to the farm. Mom, a hospice worker at the time, helped him die. I was a pall bearer at his funeral. He said that helping us buy the farm to start a winery is one of the achievements of his life he was most proud of. I poured him his last glass of wine under a tree in front of what would be the first field we would plant.
So like I said, with the money my dad left and with a little help from mom, Jules and I bought the farm in October of 2003. We quickly realized that we could not maintain the farm while living in Queen Village so, over the winter, we left the city for good and moved to the farm. I was still working in Philly, by this time for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. So rather than a 15 minute Vespa ride to work I was now doing an hour and fifteen minutes through country lanes and major highways, over rivers and through several states. Dave was at J.P. Morgan in Wilmington doing his own miserable commute. He and Shannon still were living only six minutes away from the farm. By this time, Jules had, mercifully, taken over the winemaking and Shannon had begun to oversee the administration of the farm, the first task of which, was to plant.
Showing posts with label Woodstown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Woodstown. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Jen and Joe join the Band and we begin to get serious
Chapter 4: Jen and Joe join the Band and we begin to get serious…
Captain America: Little by little, our wives were coming around. I guess they figured that if Dave and I had to have an obsession, this at least appeared to be a healthy one. As we had lost one partner in crime, Dave suggested that he saw in Jen’s boyfriend, Joe, a little of the same mania that we possessed. Before long, Jen and Joe joined us. It was about this time that Dave suggested that Aquila Verde sounds like an aftershave and that, since our little vineyard in Dave’s yard was on Auburn Road, we should change the name to Auburn Road Vineyards. I thought it sounded cool and so we went with it.
Then, in the winter of 2002, my dad, Luigi, passed away suddenly. It was pretty awful as I guess it always is when you lose a parent. He came from immigrant parents and became a CPA and made himself out of pretty much nothing. He worked hard, long hours in a corporate world more or less the same as the one Dave and I were now in. He died too young and there is not too much dispute that the work, the stress and the lifestyle that it created pretty much killed him. I think about him a lot when I’m on the farm. He had been living in the city the last few years of his life, but he always talked about buying a house with a few acres of land in Jersey. I told him he was nuts, why would he want that headache? His response was that he wanted to be able to pee on the grass. I tried to get the words “voglio piciare nel erba” (Italian for “I want to pee in the grass”) placed on our first wine label but the TTB wouldn’t let us. I’m not sure my dad would have ever done what we have done here. But I know he’d love this place.
Anyhow, it turned out that my dad left me a little money. I remember talking with Dave about whether we could really make a go of this, because if we thought we could, we could take what my dad left me and start looking for land to grow grapes on. Next thing we knew we were looking for land.
Captain America: Little by little, our wives were coming around. I guess they figured that if Dave and I had to have an obsession, this at least appeared to be a healthy one. As we had lost one partner in crime, Dave suggested that he saw in Jen’s boyfriend, Joe, a little of the same mania that we possessed. Before long, Jen and Joe joined us. It was about this time that Dave suggested that Aquila Verde sounds like an aftershave and that, since our little vineyard in Dave’s yard was on Auburn Road, we should change the name to Auburn Road Vineyards. I thought it sounded cool and so we went with it.
Then, in the winter of 2002, my dad, Luigi, passed away suddenly. It was pretty awful as I guess it always is when you lose a parent. He came from immigrant parents and became a CPA and made himself out of pretty much nothing. He worked hard, long hours in a corporate world more or less the same as the one Dave and I were now in. He died too young and there is not too much dispute that the work, the stress and the lifestyle that it created pretty much killed him. I think about him a lot when I’m on the farm. He had been living in the city the last few years of his life, but he always talked about buying a house with a few acres of land in Jersey. I told him he was nuts, why would he want that headache? His response was that he wanted to be able to pee on the grass. I tried to get the words “voglio piciare nel erba” (Italian for “I want to pee in the grass”) placed on our first wine label but the TTB wouldn’t let us. I’m not sure my dad would have ever done what we have done here. But I know he’d love this place.
Anyhow, it turned out that my dad left me a little money. I remember talking with Dave about whether we could really make a go of this, because if we thought we could, we could take what my dad left me and start looking for land to grow grapes on. Next thing we knew we were looking for land.
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