Harkening back 11 generations on Eastern Long Island, John Wines can claim ancestry back to the 1640s, as a direct descendant of Captain Barnabas Wines, one of Southold’s original settlers. His lineage includes his great grandfather, George Wines, a key figure in the establishment of Southampton Village in the 1890s, and his father, Roy Wines Jr., who served as chairman of the Southampton town planning board, mayor of Southampton Village and the first chairman of the Peconic Land Trust.
Wines can also claim having his hands in most aspects of the housing trade—from joining the family construction business shortly after college to migrating to real estate finance for a variety of residential and commercial transactions, and his eventual transition to real estate sales. He is a broker with Saunders, working with his son, Bill, and daughter-in-law, Marina, as the Wines team within the larger Saunders brokerage. He is also involved in design and development planning for residential homes.
Southforker: You’ve had a consistent thread of real estate in your career, from construction to finance to sales. How did each of your roles inform the next?
John Wines: It’s sort of been a progression, and where I am today is a culmination of everything that I’ve done and experienced and enjoyed over the years. I was around my father’s family business, so I was constantly on job sites and working around construction and that ties in directly with real estate. After college, I evolved into the mortgage business, which pulled together my knowledge of real estate and my finance background, but I stayed away from real estate sales for a specific reason. My father was for many years chairman of the Southampton Town Planning Board, and he was very involved in the establishment of the 1971 master plan, so it seemed a bit of a conflict of interest. It wasn’t until after he passed away that I even looked at the idea of real estate sales.
I tend to like variations of classical architecture … something that looks like the community around it and yet has all the modern features. But I think the biggest thing, is to be mindful of what everyone [originally] liked about the area and not try to turn it into a suburban subdivision.
John Wines
SF: What are some of the challenges in preserving that legacy in the face of development pressures?
JW: I think it depends which town you’re talking about, but I think the biggest issue out here in Southampton township right now is traffic, and especially east of the canal. The difficulty originally was how to limit the development. But you limit [that] through zoning, not through deprivation of infrastructure. So, what happened? The development came anyway, but we don’t have the infrastructure to deal with it.
SF: How would you like to see communities become involved in preserving what’s special about the East End?
JW: There are challenges that are beyond the scope of just the local township or village, because the state has mandates that allow certain things to happen and not happen that maybe doesn’t take into account the unique characteristics of a community like Southampton or East Hampton. The big challenges are how do you keep farmers here? How do you keep the shop owners local? Housing affordable? It’s hard between the traffic situation and finding solutions for housing for year-round occupants. … I don’t know what the solutions are.
SF: Are there trends in the real estate market you would like to see retired?
JW: Real estate trends tend to go in cycles, and for a long time, everyone wanted the Dutch gambrel style, the shingle style house or the cottage style house, and lately it’s been the white house with black windows. I think it’s a herd mentality and I hate to see that happen. I tend to like variations of classical architecture … something that looks like the community around it and yet has all the modern features. But I think the biggest thing, is to be mindful of what everyone [originally] liked about the area and not try to turn it into a suburban subdivision.
SF: What do you like doing in your spare time?
JW: I spend a lot of time with my family. I have a Westie—my fifth now—and I love to go down to the beach at sunsets. I have to be near the water. I’ve lived a couple of other places over time, but it always calls me back. I belong to the local boat club, and it’s on the water and has some beautiful views and I love to go there. I like the farm stands and local spots that produce really good quality food. I like to cook and I like to eat. So, I like to go exploring for food, go over to the North Fork. I feel like, if I’ve taken a trip over to Greenport or to the North Fork, even if I go for an afternoon, I feel like I’ve been on vacation to New England.
