This farm is located about 30 minutes from San Rafael, in between the
little pueblo of La Llave and the town of Monte Coman. It has a brick house
estimated at about 700 square feet that has a good roof and is solid. It is
currently being renovated, so the picture needs to be updated. There is
plenty of space to build an addition.
FEATURES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
* 8 ACRE VINEYARD: About seven of the acres of table wine grapes, and the
there is over one acre of cabernet sauvignon grapes that have been grafted onto
the old vines there. The vineyard has not worked, but not worked properly. It needs
better pruning, fertilizer and more attention to reach the 50,000 to 60,000 kilos per year
that it should produce. It is in the parral-style, which is a canopy-style vineyard, which
generally produces more grapes than the espaldero style, which is the standard rows of
vines. The vineyard is probably about 45 years old, but I have not seen documentation.
* 5 ACRE PEAR ORCHARD: The pear orchard essentially looks good for the most part. There
is a section (about an acre) where the trees are not as large. The type of pear is called
Williams Pears here -- what we would call Bartlett Pears in the States. The orchard needs
to be plowed and improved, but in good shape compared to many.
* 10 ACRES OF POPLARS: This is a positive or negative aspect, depending on how you
view it. As regards beauty, the poplars are nice. They were planted for the purpose
of harvesting as timber, and some years ago that was done. However, there are still
many nice tall trees and it lends to the attractiveness of the property. It would be a
pleasant place to build a few houses and feel nestled among the trees. However, the
downside is that in order to make this land apt for planting something profitible you are
looking at a substantial cost to rip out 10 acres trees.
Some people do that, but I am not sure the cost is always justified. I used to own
a farm with many acres of poplars (planted in a row style like this), so we planted oats
and other pasture grasses in the 15-foot free spaces between the trees and let cattle graze
there. It was the best use of the property at that time, and the cows seemed happy.
* 5 ACRES FALLOW FOR PLANTING: There is a large area that is leveled and needs
plowing to be put into agriculture again. It is situated at the front of the property.The house is located at the front entrance, and has an old barn close by than needs to
be torn down and eliminated. Electric does not come to the property boundary at the moment.
The last line of electric is a couple hundred feet away, but the cost of doing so is not very great,
and sometimes the electric company picks up that cost and only requires that you build a
concrete column in front of the property and install an electric meter.
LOCATION ISSUES:
This is a quiet, peaceful piece of land. The neighbor on one side has a well-kept vineyard,
and there is rough campo across the road, so there are no neighbors there. However, this
farm is not on a paved road and could seem a bit isolated for some folks. To get there
from the main highway you have to wind down a dirt road for about 3.5 kilometers
(almost two miles). The farm is located 6 miles from the pueblo of La Llave, and about
6 miles from the town of Monte Coman.
Monte Coman -- located east of San Rafael on Route 146 (the road to San Luis) -- is an
under-potentialized little town where there is talk about reviving the train station.
Monte Coman has two small supermarkets, a couple of farm-supply/hardware stores,
3 restaurants (one of which has an owner who is a singer and sometimes serenades diners),
a medical clinic, 2 pharmacies, a gas station, 2 Internet cafes and a bus station. There is
also a river and small recreational area there where local folks swim in the summer.
Monte Coman is about midway between San Rafael and General Alvear (a small city of
about 40,000) where over-night buses stop for more passengers on the trip to Buenos Aires.
The property has full water-irrigation rights and there is a nice park area
around the house with a variety of trees. There are a few olive trees on the
farm as well. The property could be sub-divided with a simple survey. |
