Trump gets grape deal
DONALD Trump ( inset), who doesn’t drink, also doesn’t own Trump Winery in Virginia.
The mogul, who announces Tuesday at Trump Tower whether or not he will run for president, evidently sold or gave the 1,000acre vineyard he bought in 2012 — the largest in Virginia — to his son Eric.
The Donald, who likes a bargain, bought Albemarle House and its accompanying vineyard for $ 6.5 million after Patricia
Kluge, the exwife of billionaire John Kluge, let it lapse into foreclosure.
Patricia was asking $ 100 million three years earlier. She lost her $ 100 million divorce settlement on converting the ranch into a vineyard. She declared bankruptcy in 2011.
Donald spied an opportunity to rescue another national treasure ( as he did with Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Palm Beach estate Mara Lago), and local laws simultaneously changed to allow the mansion to be used by guests.
Albemarle Estate, a bed and breakfast with 10 suites, opened lastst month with rooms starting at $ 349anight, and Eric in charge.
“It’s an amazing property,” general manager
Kerry Woolard told me. “Thomas Jefferson knew what he was doing when he built next door.”
Writer Gregory Speck, who moved to Virginia last year from NYC, told me after a visit: “Its opulence and elegance will satisfy even the most jaded plutocrat in need of a country respite.”
But remember, Jefferson had his wine shipped from France.