What’s a Napa Valley home without a connection to the wine community? A newly-listed Napa property, hitting the market for the first time, offers oenophilic associations and more for the robust price of $25 million.
Betsy Moulds of Moulds Family Vineyard is the only previous owner, having resided there for roughly 20 years. The property is highlighted by a large main house along with a pair of guest houses, a pool, and an event barn sitting on the residence’s 56 acres. With expansive entertaining spaces and a vineyard, it is a versatile space with the potential to be much more than where the owners lay their heads at night.
The connection to the region’s rich wine legacy is not subtle. The property comes with a 9.28-acre vineyard featuring cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes. The vineyard sits within the Oak Knoll AVA (American Viticultural Area), a sought-after region for grapes, making the home inextricably tied to what made Napa famous.
Architects Ed Keiner and John Kasten, who designed hundreds of homes throughout Napa and Sonoma counties, also designed the Moulds estate. Completed in 2002, the residence was crafted by builder Dale James, the late landscape architect Jack Chandler, and interior designer Erin Martin.
The airy home features a neutral color palette throughout, brought to life through varied textures from materials like stone, wood, glass and steel, as well as textures from the surrounding landscape through its many large windows. Space was also planned to showcase prized possessions and furniture the family “collected in their worldwide travels,” per the listing. Martin, who led the interior design, said it was the first time she “was given free rein to run with [her] ideas.” The home is being sold partially furnished, according to the Press Democrat.
The 4,950-square-foot main house, represented by Hillary Ryan of Sotheby’s International Realty, touts three bedrooms and plenty of outdoor space to host large gatherings, intimate dinners, or simply lounge poolside with a view of Napa’s rolling hills. The great room is adorned to wow guests with wide-plank hickory pecan wood floors, exposed beams and a wood-burning fireplace. Its French doors open onto 2,000 square feet of covered IPE decks, providing a 180-degree view of the scenic grounds. The deck is large enough that the listing claims it could “comfortably host 100 guests.”
It also, of course, has ample space to store hundreds of the new owner’s favorite wine bottles.
The adjacent guesthouse has two bedrooms. A second guesthouse, an apartment attached to the event barn, has another pair of bedrooms. All told, those spaces combine for 7,766 square feet of living space and 7,322 square feet of entertaining space.
That party space is largely what has been called the “party barn.” The 5,000-square-foot barn features a significant main event area with vast vaulted ceilings. The main space features locally-made light fixtures, a workspace for storage or vineyard management, and a loft space. The upstairs portion of the party barn includes an office and a conference area. A single-level guest apartment is attached to the barn with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining nook, a living room, a laundry room, and a covered outdoor dining area.
The vineyard was designed to evoke the Oak Knoll District’s distinctive terroir. The region’s consistent temperatures allow for “maximum time on the vine” prior to harvest. The result is a grape yield the owners say offers “balanced, expressive, and healthy fruit for winery clients.”
