British nobles list Napa Valley vineyard and mansion for $35M

The mansion where an English lord and lady have slept, together with an award-winning vineyard in the Napa Valley, are on sale for $35 million.

Lord Perry Butler and his wife, Lady Carolyn Butler, both titled nobles from the United Kingdom, are selling Juslyn Vineyards and their hilltop estate at 2910 and 2900 Spring Mountain Road in St. Helena, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Juslyn Vineyards, atop Spring Mountain, is the latest high-end wine property listed on public real-estate databases — 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,” Butler told the Chronicle. The public listing, he added, “gives us maximum exposure around the world.”

The noble couple 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 might be drawn to Juslyn’s vineyard, but wouldn’t want a mansion. Some wealthy people might want a mansion, but wouldn’t  want 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.

The home half contains the seven-bedroom, five-bathroom home, with its 5,000-bottle wine cellar, plus a small vineyard.

The vineyard half contains most of the grapes, in 6 densely planted acres, on a total of 29 acres. 

The Butlers bought the property in 1997 after selling their computer business, Global Dynamics. They built the house, planted the vines and started a wine brand, Juslyn Vineyards. It’s name is a portmanteau of Justine (their daughter) and Carolyn.

Over the course of 22 vintages, Butler said, the Juslyn wines have perennially earned between 91 and 98 points from the publication the Wine Advocate, with the exception of the 2011 vintage.

The couple now want to retire and move into smaller — but still noble — digs.

The vineyard property doesn’t house a winemaking facility, but it does possess a license to build one — a precious commodity in Napa County — and 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 supply 200 gallons of water per minute.

Butler’s realtor, Nick Muccitelli with Compass, recently helped sell the 45-acre Seven Stones Winery in St. Helena for $34 million. The buyer was reported to be a South Korean corporation whose business interests include solar energy.

— Dana Bartholomew