5 Essential Tips for Thriving in the Wine and Agritourism Business

Stephen Schmidt (00:02.929)
Welcome to the show where we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs man Let me tell you I’m gonna spoil you guys today because I got Janine Aquino in the house And let me tell you something she has got over 30 years of experience in the winery and agritourism in industry about half of her time is split between actually selling vineyards and wineries and half of its split with helping the buyers and the sellers of said places figure out how to sell it and figure out how to run a winery so she’s got

A business in an industry that I think is really as old as time and we’re really excited to have her in the studio today being able to have a conversation and share her knowledge and her expertise and her background. We’re going to get right into it. So but just before we do remember at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers and real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their businesses so they can build the businesses they’ve always wanted in order to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. With that being said, Janine, welcome to the show today.

Janine Aquino (01:02.392)
Thank you. Thanks, Stephen.

Stephen Schmidt (01:03.845)
Did I say your last name right? I realize as soon as I hit record. Sweet. I’m two for two. I had another hard one here recently. I guess I got it right. But so give us if you don’t mind for our listeners context. I know we had a great pre-show conversation. But how does somebody get into the business that you’re in like wine vineyards then real estate to support?

Janine Aquino (01:06.05)
You absolutely did, I was shocked.

Janine Aquino (01:13.293)
Hahaha

Stephen Schmidt (01:31.066)
What’s your background? How’d you get in it? And then how’d you get to where you’re at today?

Janine Aquino (01:36.898)
Yeah, so I grew up in New York. There’s a lot of wineries there. I grew up in the business. I actually grew up on a small vineyard, learned how to do everything from putting plants in the ground to harvesting grapes to making wine. Did that with the family. It was just a family vineyard. I learned everything about that part of it. And then my family had three generations before me that ran a wine importing company in New York.

So I got to be in the business. It just kind of was a school of hard knocks for me. It was learning something that I didn’t have to go to school for. I did go to school for business administration, got my BS, but for the most part, you know, I grew up in the business. I worked at wineries. So learning the industry by going and working at these places and doing everything from the production side to the…

giving the tours and learning the business operations. was just something I had a passion for. And so I worked at wineries in New York and then way fast forward, I got an opportunity to go to Ohio, which happens to also be a very large wine producing state and wound up buying a winery for a very, very little price. They were looking to just offload it. They were done with it, exhausted.

So I ran that for 10 years with a restaurant. And so I really, really got to understand the business and understand how to distribute your wine and how to get your wine that you made into the stores and all of that business operational stuff. so COVID hit, 2020 hit. My restaurant did not do well, but my winery still did. And I wound up offloading it to a colleague because Virginia…

happens to be another state with lot of wineries. I’m sure there’s lots of states with wineries. But anyway, fast forward, I went to Virginia and started to help some wineries get off the ground. They wanted to put some plants in the ground. They wanted to grow some grapes. And I just started helping them. And one thing led to another. And somebody said to me, hey, you should sell wineries. And I said, I’m not gonna get involved in real estate. I gotta study for the exam. I’ve gotta do all this stuff. I don’t wanna do it. Well.

Janine Aquino (03:58.894)
You know, a year later, here I am studying for the exam. And I thought, you know, it’s a niche. There is, there aren’t a lot of people who are niche oriented in the real estate business. And I wanted to do that. I felt that I had all the experience on how to help the sellers figure out how to get their winery and their farm ready for sale. And then I can also help the buyers. What is it all about? How do you run a winery? So.

And here I am, I’ve been doing this now for a few years. My industry background is where I am today. I learned it from the ground up. I I literally did everything. And so I learned the business and I had a passion for it. I’m still involved in it. I go to association meetings. I go to all of the, any kind of farm meeting I can just to see what’s out there.

So I specialize in the wineries, which is the business and the land, and farms. Sometimes there’s flower farms and you pick farms and they’re kind of in the same boat. So I really enjoy what I do and doesn’t feel like work to me. it’s something that I guess I just learned from a young age.

Stephen Schmidt (05:16.817)
Mmm.

You know, you actually said the word that I was going to equate with it as you were speaking, which this is more than just business for you. It’s pretty rare that I run into somebody that’s just, this is my passion. Right. Like I think real estate, you know, I’ve talked to a lot of real estate investors and I think real estate is a very addicting industry to be in. In general, there is an aspect to it where there’s the chase and the hunt and the big checks and also some very

Janine Aquino (05:47.448)
Yes.

Stephen Schmidt (05:47.956)
low lows but for you like you emulate passion when you talk about what you do. And so in that, was that passion something that you started with or something that developed over time?

Janine Aquino (05:54.584)
Mm-hmm.

Janine Aquino (06:02.926)
totally developed over time because as a kid you’re just, doing stuff because you’re told to do it and I don’t want to do it. But I chose to work at wineries. So, you know, as soon as I could work, which was what 16 or whatever the age is that you’re allowed, I was out there and I was, I worked at farmer’s markets. So I, I knew that I enjoyed it. And then I just felt very comfortable in the winery atmosphere. I just, it was just like, you know, you just.

Stephen Schmidt (06:07.953)
Sure.

Janine Aquino (06:31.426)
you’re in something and you feel comfortable in it. And I felt like I knew it and I understood it. You know, I worked at other jobs and I enjoyed those jobs, but I didn’t feel the same interest level. So it developed, I think when I started working at wineries, I realized that this would be something I would like to do long-term. I didn’t have an idea that I was gonna own something like that.

but that really taught me how hard it is. As much as the wineries are pretty and they look nice, it’s a tremendous amount of work. So I respect the people that have been doing it for 20, 30 years. And I don’t know, it’s just something I was able to just tap into. I didn’t seek it out, I kind of had it at an early age and I just, over time,

Stephen Schmidt (07:10.107)
Hmm.

Janine Aquino (07:28.236)
Developed it and now what I’m doing now. I never imagined I was doing it was just something that somebody suggested to me and I Thought you know what? You’re right. I mean, why should I I’m not really the person to sell a house? That’s just not me. I’m the person that’s gonna sell something I know enough about and really understand

Stephen Schmidt (07:48.146)
Yeah, 100%. And so I guess there’s a natural question that I would have in here because of the amount of volume of work. Is there actually any money in the wine business? Because at the end of the day, you can’t run something for free. is it something that somebody has to get into that has money as a passion project because they just love it? Or is there actually any money to be made in the business?

Janine Aquino (08:12.802)
And that’s always the number one question, you know? So you’ve got different buyers. You’ve got somebody who’s, I just want a piece of land. I just want to grow some grapes and maybe I’ll have a few people on the weekend to just kind of taste my wine. And those are bootstrap. Yeah, just bootstrap. They’re just trying it out, seeing what it’s like. Maybe they have a house or a cabin on the property. So you’ve got that person.

Stephen Schmidt (08:15.035)
Sure.

Stephen Schmidt (08:29.073)
Sure. It’s a hobbyist.

Janine Aquino (08:41.602)
Then you’ve got the people that retired from tech or IT or finance and they want the trophy. Okay, so they’re like, okay, I made X amount, I want the trophy. As long as it breaks even, I’m good. And then you’ve got the people that are the true business entrepreneurs, which is what I am, I’m an entrepreneur. And it’s how do I make money?

What do I need to do? So yes, there’s a recipe on how to make money. and you have to do it a certain way. And depending on the state that you’re in now today, more than ever, people are going and looking for experiences. They’re not just looking to taste wine and buy a bottle and go home. They want an experience. So when I’m doing my consulting part of this, I’m teaching and consulting on how do we create those experiences? Cause you can

Stephen Schmidt (09:28.209)
Sure.

Janine Aquino (09:37.73)
those could be monetized. So you can have those experiences be monetized in addition to selling your wine. So there’s a combination formula that allows you to make money as long as you’re doing it a certain way. But yeah, there’s all different buyers and they can absolutely make money in this business.

Stephen Schmidt (09:52.155)
Sure.

Stephen Schmidt (09:56.594)
That’s a really good point. I like how you broke that down as the different types of individual that get into it for sure. So what with an already successful career in the business,

What’s really next for you? Like what do you see for the industry and even for yourself within the industry as a player in that game for the next three to five years with things rapidly changing as they have with AI and everything else? How are things going to change for you?

Janine Aquino (10:25.944)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I still think that, you know, when you’re selling land or you’re selling a farm or you can’t do that with AI, you have to have this human component. So you do no matter what, you can look at all the stats and you can do all the things. but at the end of the day, somebody still has to help you through something, you know, unless you’re coming from that industry and you understand it fully, which

is like finding a needle in a haystack buyer. These people have the dream, but they don’t know how to execute the dream. so AI is not gonna, that’s not gonna help you. Now in the marketing side of it, maybe AI can help. And I think that one trend I see is there has to be a lot more marketing. The people that were owning these wineries are 20, 30 years.

they didn’t rely on marketing. It was word of mouth, was whatever it was, tourism bureaus and different places like that, but the marketing is what sells. Marketing sells everything. So the more marketing, the new people that are owning these properties are understanding how important it is, whether they used AI or…

any of those mechanisms, they definitely have to market their product, market their experiences, and try to figure out how to separate themselves from the rest.

Stephen Schmidt (12:03.762)
And so for you on that second portion of that question, what do you see for yourself in the next three to five years as things are evolving and changing? What do you see yourself spending most of your time on?

Janine Aquino (12:14.316)
I mean, I’d like to preserve the industry. you know, for me, I’m in Virginia right now, but I can also do a, you know, a referral fee. Like for instance, I’ve got a referral going on in California. For me, it’s staying relevant in the industry and trying to preserve the art of making wine and not…

Stephen Schmidt (12:19.44)
Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (12:31.218)
Mm-hmm.

Janine Aquino (12:42.886)
I don’t want a bunch of robots out there making wine. You know, there’s a craft that I feel as if will never go away because wine always withstands time, always. No matter what the new beverage is out there, wine will always be kind of like a base beverage for people. So for me, it’s really just preserving it, helping people.

who have been running this and maybe they’re tired or burnt out, they wanna retire, helping them move on to their next chapter and getting the new people that wanna own these properties in and get them to be successful. So currently what I’m doing, but not seeing it end.

Stephen Schmidt (13:31.314)
Yeah. What do you like about the real estate side of the business?

Janine Aquino (13:38.776)
Well, the real estate side is really a lot of times the bulk of this. So you may have a winery or a flower farm or a you pick or something where maybe it’s just not generating a whole bunch of money. Maybe it’s just breaking even. Maybe it’s making a little bit of cashflow, but the real estate is important. And the crops that you grow on the real estate are worth money.

Stephen Schmidt (13:43.218)
Mmm.

Janine Aquino (14:05.804)
So when you have a piece of land and now you put a vineyard on that piece of land, you’ve got the land and now the vineyard adds value to that land or the flowers, anything adds value to that land. And then you’ve got the buildings, you’ve got your, whether it’s a store building that’s on the property.

Stephen Schmidt (14:16.402)
Hmm.

Janine Aquino (14:31.31)
Sometimes, and I would say a lot of times, there’ll be a home on the property where either the owners live and now more and more people wanting to put cabins. So you have this like, almost like a come and stay type situation. Come to the winery, come to the flower farm, but also stay overnight. So that provides additional rental income. So taking that…

Property with the real estate and figuring out how to monetize that real estate is of interest to me Should you put cabins on it? Should you put another crop on it? Should you what should you do with that land to make it worth more money? And so I enjoy Looking at that and trying to figure out and helping people figure out what they can do to maximize Versus building a bunch of homes on it. I mean, that’s the alternative you can build do development

Stephen Schmidt (15:26.51)
Sure. Right.

Janine Aquino (15:27.832)
But if you’re a farm and you wanna keep it that way, there’s wedding venues you can put on the property, there’s entertainment complexes on the property. So you have this large piece of land, could be 100, 200, 300 acres, and you could put all kinds of stuff on that property. that real estate is critical to the whole operation.

Stephen Schmidt (15:49.234)
Sure, yeah that makes sense. What’s mistake that cost you time, money, or both and what did learn from it?

Janine Aquino (15:59.074)
Me personally, or just in general?

Stephen Schmidt (16:02.043)
Yeah.

Janine Aquino (16:04.75)
So I think a lot of people, if I were to look at what people do, is they, don’t think they sit back and figure out what makes money. I think they put on there what they want and hope that it happens and not what the customer wants. And so that’s a big part of it. For me,

Stephen Schmidt (16:18.93)
Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (16:23.568)
Interesting.

For sure.

Janine Aquino (16:34.6)
I want to work with sellers who understand the market and just because you own something doesn’t mean it’s worth a lot of money. Just after we do all the research and we look at the comps and we look at everything and we present, here’s the price, they need to trust the individual versus saying, well, I think it’ll sell for this.

Stephen Schmidt (16:47.634)
Right.

Janine Aquino (17:03.744)
and then you come back and say, well, it’s probably gonna sell for this. And you’re trying to that fine line of, you don’t wanna hurt their feelings, but you wanna be real. So I like to work with sellers who allow me to use my knowledge to be able to price it correctly.

Stephen Schmidt (17:21.586)
Sure. Now obviously with what you’re doing, it’s got to be very relationship driven, which I think most real estate is, but especially with what you’re into, there’s so many different facets to it that you’ve got to develop some long-term relationships. So what’s your approach to building long-term relationships and nurturing them within your business?

Janine Aquino (17:29.88)
Totally.

Janine Aquino (17:50.316)
Yeah, so you know what I do sometimes, I just go in the car and I drive and I visit wineries or farms. Hi, this is my name. This is my card. This is what I do. If an owner happens to be around, great. I’ll chat with them for five, 10 minutes. The other part of this is being involved in the community. So every

Every industry has a community, whether it’s meetings or social gatherings where those people congregate. And so I’ll go to those meetings and just support it. So if that just means I’m there just to be a support or sometimes they have like expos where you can have like a table. So I’ll do those. And the more you see the same people, then they’re like, OK.

I know, you know, she came to my winery and it’s going that extra mile. It’s going to visit them. It’s going to talk to them and not immediately think that you’re gonna get a listing agreement. It takes time. And you know, maybe I throw an email occasionally or if I’ve got their phone number, I text occasionally, because it’s all about timing.

You you may have met them, but they’re not ready for another year. So I keep a spreadsheet of all the places and the people and you know, just every so often I’ll just contact them and see what’s going on. And sometimes they’re ready and sometimes they’re not, but it can take months to build that relationship. Sometimes years.

Stephen Schmidt (19:41.565)
Yeah, what are some trends you’re watching closely right now?

Janine Aquino (19:48.281)
Um, people are aging out. You know, people are at that point where they’ve run something for a long time or they’ve owned something for a long time and they want to retire. The, the, the children are not as interested in taking it over. And so they were, maybe they were hoping for that to happen, but it’s not like they thought it would happen. So

Stephen Schmidt (19:51.867)
Mmm.

Janine Aquino (20:16.194)
their plan B is I’ve got to think about selling this. So that trend of that generational ownership is not as much as it used to be. That to me is becoming more prevalent than aging out, looking to retire. Those are the two, I’d say, biggest trends that I’ve seen. Now, in terms of the wine itself or a farm, but just going back to wine,

We have to build experiences into those farms. So any farm that you’re selling something out of, it has to provide another, not just a retail component, but an experience component. So going on a hike, having a wedding, going on a tasting, anything that, telling the story about who you are and how you came to be.

Stephen Schmidt (21:14.131)
Yeah, that makes sense. So.

If you could go back to the beginning of when you got started in the business, but you could take all the knowledge that you’ve gained over the last 30 years, what would you do different and what would you do the same?

Janine Aquino (21:30.888)
I would say, you know, I just happen to be in a state where this is a very good situation. You know, you can’t do this in every state. You have to be in a state where there’s a lot of what you’re trying to sell. Now homes are different, but if I could think back and move to a state faster earlier on.

Stephen Schmidt (21:45.107)
Sure.

Stephen Schmidt (21:50.001)
Right.

Stephen Schmidt (22:01.117)
Hmm.

Janine Aquino (22:01.154)
that allowed me to do this, I would have. But I think for me, everything is about a learning experience. mean…

I could say what I would have done how many years ago, but that wouldn’t have put me where I am today. So I think just everything that I’ve done allowed me to get to where I am today.

Stephen Schmidt (22:16.819)
Sure, totally.

Stephen Schmidt (22:25.351)
Yeah, absolutely. Do you ever have intentions of owning another vineyard, winery, anything like that? Or do you plan to just sell them for other people and help other people as a consultant forever?

Janine Aquino (22:40.366)
So we talked a little bit about France, right? About the few roads. I don’t necessarily want to run it. The amount of work that it takes to run it is pretty intense because you’re dealing with so many facets. But you can actually lease grapes. You can actually like…

Stephen Schmidt (22:44.079)
Yeah, yeah.

Stephen Schmidt (22:52.829)
substantial. Sure.

Janine Aquino (23:05.646)
least rows of grapes from a place and make your wine from those grapes. Yeah, so that might be something of interest. Right now, I can’t tell you what I’ve never been like this, what I’m gonna do when I grow up. I have no idea. mean, in five years, I could be doing something else. I just go with the flow, see what happens next. I’m not good at planning.

Stephen Schmidt (23:06.856)
Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (23:11.185)
No kidding. Huh.

Stephen Schmidt (23:33.683)
Well, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. So if these fine folks want to connect with you more Gene or they want to go and learn more about what you’re working on, where should they go for that?

Janine Aquino (23:46.868)
So, well first my email would be Aquino, A-Q-U-I-N-O, Baron, B-A-R-O-N, at gmail.com. And then my website is AquinoBaron, B-A-R-O-N.com.

Stephen Schmidt (24:02.417)
There you go, folks. We’ll go show her some love from the real estate pros and the investor fuel community. We appreciate Janine being on here and I’m sure you guys got a ton of value out of this and some pretty cool tidbits about how things go in the wine business. So thanks again, Janine. We’ll see all y’all in the next episode.

Janine Aquino (24:19.032)
Thank you. All right. Thank you.