After a year on the market, an East Bay vineyard with its own baseball field is hitting the auction block and its owners say no previous winemaking experience is required!
After all, Campos Family Vineyards owners Ric and Michelle Campos had never owned a winery before they bought the 44-acre Contra Costa property for $5 million in 2016.
“We said, ‘You’re nuts. We don’t know anything about farming. We don’t know anything about wine making,’” Ric Campos recalled telling the previous owner, who suggested the Camposes take it over after they had developed a friendship.
He said a higher power convinced him to give the Byron property a shot.
“The lord gave me a vision to buy that property, really to minister to our community,” he said.
In the nine years since, the couple said they’ve turned its vineyard, olive orchard, baseball field and 11,000-square-foot event center into a community gathering spot, hosting concerts, church services, weddings, Little League and adult kickball league games, and, of course, wine tastings.
Though their wines are sold at Costco, Safeway and numerous area restaurants, the events help the Camposes create much-needed profits to help subsidize the wine making, Ric said, calling it “a tough business right now.”
He added that he thinks the Trump tariffs on foreign wine would “100 percent” be a good thing for smaller California winemakers because cheap wine coming in from big makers in Australia and South Africa makes it hard to compete. Contra Costa has its own American Viticultural Area and the property includes Zinfandel, Barbera, Mourvèdre, Cab Franc and Petite Syrah vines.
The couple said they recently renovated the backyard and pool of their four-bedroom, four-bathroom 4,400-square foot home on the property based on a place they stayed in Italy. They’ve also received permits for a farm-to-table restaurant, a bed and breakfast and six tiny homes for vacation rentals.
“If we stayed, we’d definitely go forward with some of that,” Ric said.
Instead they say it’s time to retire and spend time with their three children and seven grandchildren, passing the torch to a new owner, who they hope can take the property to the next level. In addition to giving up the vineyard, Ric is also retiring as the owner of his own storm water inspection and maintenance company.
“It’s bittersweet for us but we know this is the right thing to do,” Michelle said, adding that they have already bought a more traditional home about five miles away, as well as another in San Juan Capistrano.
After about a year on the traditional market at $10.5 million, the Campos’ said they decided to try the wider reach of selling the home via a live auction at the vineyard at 11 am on April 7. In the run up, they’ve been holding weekly open houses.
“This property needs to go worldwide to get a really good audience, so that’s why we went the auction route,” Ric said, adding that a buyer from London had reached out recently.
Though the auction, run by Elite Auctions, has no reserve, the Camposes say they “have a number in mind” and if they don’t think they’re going to hit it they can stop the auction before it begins. SF Examiner owner Clint Reilly did just that when he didn’t get pre-bids that reached his expectations on his vineyard estate in Napa last month.
Sellers can decide on auction day before the proceedings commence whether or not to move forward with the sale, confirmed Randy Haddaway, Elite Auctions founder and CEO, but said the live nature of Elite’s auction model means that few sellers opt out.
“If you take a look at our past 10 auctions, all of our sellers moved forward because we bring the buyers there and these are people who aren’t accustomed to losing in their lifetime,” he said. “They came there to win.”
Elite never works with distressed owners, he said, and all their deals are all-cash, as is, no contingencies, with a 30-day close. All properties are also subject to a pre-auction offer and sale. Out of the last six auctions, four sold before auction day, he said. If it goes to auction, many bidders don’t register to take part in the sale until that day.
“These are the types of people who can afford $10 million, cash,” he said. “They don’t show their cards.”
Any inspections requested need to take place before auction day and are paid for by the bidder. Any issues discovered can be factored into the bid, but sellers don’t make any fixes.
The Camposes say they went with Elite in part because of the onsite auction approach, as they believe the property is best experienced in person and not just online. They will also be onsite for the auction of their “baby” with a team of supporters helping them through the day, Michelle said. If the new buyer has vintner experience that’s great, they said, but they’re willing to stay on to help with the transition if need be, as is their lead winemaker.
“It’s a little nerve wracking, of course, because we want to sell to the right people,” Michelle said. “But who are we to decide who the right people are? So we’re just trusting the process.”
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