An English Lord and Lady are selling their Napa Valley vineyard for $35 million

Juslyn Vineyards, located in St. Helena’s Spring Mountain District, is the latest high-end wine property to be listed on public real-estate databases — something that used to be a rarity. 

“A lot of the bigger ones don’t want people to know what they’re doing, and then they announce that they’re sold,” said Butler. The public listing, he added, “gives us maximum exposure around the world.”

Butler and his wife, Lady Carolyn Butler, have tried to sell the property on and off since 2014, previously listing it for $14.5 million and $28.3 million. Eventually they realized that their property was too unwieldy for many prospective buyers. Some wine businesses would be attracted to Juslyn’s vineyard, but wouldn’t need a mansion; wealthy individuals might be looking for a home, and wouldn’t want to take on a working vineyard.

So the Butlers split it in half. They got a lot-line adjustment and divided the lot into two parcels. They’re offering each at $17.5 million, but are still hoping that a single buyer might take both.

One parcel, at 2900 Spring Mountain Rd., contains the 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom home, with its 5,000-bottle wine cellar, plus a small vineyard. The other, at 2910 Spring Mountain Rd., contains the majority of the vineyard — 6 densely planted acres — on a total of 29 acres. There’s about 6 additional acres that could be planted, Butler estimated. (Spring Mountain’s steep slopes make it difficult to plant
in many places.)

The Butlers bought the property in 1997 after selling their computer business, Global Dynamics. (Their title is hereditary; TKTK explanation) They built the house, planted the vines and started a wine brand, its name a portmanteau of Justine (their daughter) and Carolyn. Over the course of 22 vintages, Butler said, the Juslyn wines have perennially earned between 91-98 points from the publication the Wine Advocate, with the sole exception of the 2011 vintage.

The couple want to retire now, and they feel they ought to downsize. The 12,000-square-foot house is “wasted on us,” Butler said. “We used to entertain a lot, and we’d have over 100 people sitting for dinner outside. But as we get older we don’t do that as much.”

The vineyard property does not house a winemaking facility, but it does possess a license to build one — a precious commodity in Napa County, which has become extremely strict about granting new ones. (The Juslyn wines are currently made at an offsite custom-crush facility.) The license would also allow its holder to open a tasting room offsite, such as in downtown St. Helena or Napa. The Butlers have built a tasting room on the Spring Mountain property but have never opened it to the public.

Whoever buys the vineyard will also inherit Juslyn’s wine inventory, which Butler estimated to be worth $7 million. Plus, he added, “we have water, and this is a really big deal in Napa.” The vineyard has an 800-foot well that can yield 200 gallons of
water per minute.

A history of winegrowing on this property dates to the 19 century. According to Butler, the parcel was part of the dowry of Caroline Bale when she married Charles Krug, founder of the eponymous St. Helena winery. Eventually, Krug abandoned the land. But coincidentally, for about three years, the Butlers employed as their winemaker Angelina Mondavi, whose family has owned Charles Krug Winery since 1943.

The 2020 Glass Fire overtook Spring Mountain, and flames consumed the edges of the Juslyn property, burning some of the forests. The house and vines were spared. Afterward, Butler said, his insurance company paid for considerable fireproofing upgrades to the property, including clearing brush, insulating the house, improving the water system and building a new swimming pool. He hopes that the fact that it’s safer than ever will be an enticing asset.

Butler suspects he’ll end up with “a buyer from overseas,” probably someone who’s not currently in the wine industry and sees the vineyard as a financial investment. That tracks with a recent sale handled by Butler’s realtor, Nick Muccitelli, who helped sell Seven Stones Winery in St. Helena for $34 million. The Seven Stones buyer was reportedly a South Korean corporation whose business interests include solar energy.

The new owner of the vineyard property will be welcome to start an entirely new wine brand. But Butler said he hopes that they’ll keep the Juslyn name alive, and maybe that they’ll even keep him on as a consultant. “I would prefer that I’m involved because I planted every single vine,” he said. “I know the rows, I know the blocks.”

Reference: https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/juslyn-vineyards-napa-valley-17782067.php