Alexander Valley, Sonoma County
Healdsburg, California
Realize your dream and own a boutique winery and a second home
Be a part of one of the first fractional Winery Estates in the California Wine Country
Watch the sun rise over your vineyard.
Sip a morning latte as the dew settles on your organic vegetable garden.
Enjoy the bounty of the harvest from the garden to your table. Fractional ownership at The Ranch on Soda Rock makes this dream a reality.
Escape the stress of your daily life and retreat to the peace and tranquility of your ranch. Nestled down a quiet country lane among the vineyards and wineries of Alexander Valley is The Ranch on Soda Rock. Be a part of one the first fractional ownership homes in the world to include a boutique winery with winemaker and a biodynamic and organically farmed vineyard, vegetable and flower garden.
Open floor plan is optimal for entertaining connecting all the living areas
The house has been remodeled using green materials wherever possible
The kitchen features granite slab counters, a Jennair 6-burner stove with flame recognition technology, a built in refrigerator, an under the counter wine refrigerator and a Bosch integrated dishwasher and microwave oven.
Three master bedrooms with baths that feature French doors opening up to the expansive deck with vineyard views
All master baths are tiled and include marble, travertine and/or granite
An 20'x40' salt water swimming pool
A new outdoor kitchen for al fresco dining
Mature Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard-grapes historically sold to Silver Oak, DeLorimier and Mosaic Winery
A "Boutique Winery" housed in an old redwood equipment shed that has been renovated to host dinner parties, as well as, act an actual working winery
The winery will produce one case of estate-grown wine per usage week plus additional cases depending on the vineyard’s yield and will be bottled under a private label by well-known Napa Valley winemaker, George Vierra.
A biodynamic and organically farmed vegetable and cutting flower garden by viticulturist, Kelly Mulville to ensure the highest quality fruit
Property management and concierge services
An on-call natural chef is available for an additional fee
Pet friendly, 1 pet maximum
Location
The Ranch is situated 6 miles outside the quaint town of Healdsburg in the internationally recognized wine region of Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California-just about a 1-hour drive from San Francisco. This community recently celebrated its 150th anniversary and has grown from a tranquil agrarian center to a top travel destination with hip boutiques, internationally renowned cuisine and world-class wineries. Here you will find "The Ranch on Soda Rock" a quintessential country home. The house, vineyard and gardens are set on a one-acre parcel nestled in the heart of the vineyards. The property overlooks unparalleled views of the valley vineyards and surrounding mountains.
Fractional ownership occurs when a single property is purchased collectively by a group of people. A co-ownership agreement will be provided and is authored by renowned attorney Andrew Sirkin of San Francisco specializing in shared ownership agreements for 20 years. These documents have been developed to define the rules and regulations of the ownership program to promote a successful partnership.
Each ownership interest equals 1/10 th interest in the property and vests the owners as Tenants in Common. With the advent of fractional ownership financing you now have the ease and ability to purchase and resell your share on the open market easily. This shared ownership model reduces the acquisition and operating costs to you significantly creating an affordable alternative to whole ownership of your second home. Property management is included allowing you the luxury of a worry free vacation home with none of the maintenance, housekeeping and bookkeeping responsibilities.
Our initial offering price is $300,000 per 1/10th share.
Unlike private residence clubs or timeshares the fractional ownership model allows owners to control their operating costs. The Manager will create an operating budget to cover all operating costs such as insurance, winemaker, gardener, landscaping, pool service, supplies, utilities and management fees. Additionally this fee will include a reserve account for the replacement of furniture, fixtures and general improvements to the property over time.
Property Management
A full time management company has been chosen to provide the owners with all the needs of maintaining a vacation home. The list includes, but is not limited to, housekeeping, maintenance and accounting. You will also have on call, at an additional charge a certified, natural personal chef, Monica Sallouti.
Our Commitment to Green
Our focus in remodeling The Ranch on Soda Rock was to reduce our footprint on the earth. North Bay Interior designer Lauren Brandwein utilized green materials wherever possible and maintains the sustainable quality of the ranch's interiors.
All recessed lighting is hi efficiency LED and uses only 15 watts per fixture. LED lighting coupled with occupancy sensing controls save energy, improve performance and reduce maintenance.
Low flow toilets, showerheads, faucet aerators and a front-loading clothes washer all save water. Planting natives and other drought tolerant plants in the gardens minimized with drip irrigation and other water efficient irrigation systems realize additional water savings.
All appliances are Energy Star rated and an energy-efficient furnace has been installed
Insulated doors, windows and water heater
Sustainable bamboo hardwood floors from Teregren, recycled content carpet and FSC lumber has been used for all cabinets
Low VOC paint throughout
The use of open spaces and expansive insulated door openings located on the north east of the building to incorporate natural daylight and ventilation
The Ranch on Soda Rock will be one of the first to offer the vineyard and gardens farmed biodynamic and organic by your own vineyard manager. Biodynamic agriculture was the first ecological farming approach to arise in response to chemical fertilizers and specialized farming practices that developed after the turn of the last century. Based on a series of eight lectures given by Austrian scientist and philosopher Rudolph Steiner, biodynamic has recently gained the attention of wine drinkers due to the exceptional quality of wines being produced by a limited number of biodynamic growers throughout the world. Some of the key elements of biodynamic farming include the following:
Creating farms that are self-sustaining by using animals and cover crops to capture and transform sunlight into fertile soils and thus reduce the need for bringing outside inputs to the farm.
Preventing pests and disease by maintaining healthy soils and plants that are naturally more resistant to potential problem outbreaks.
Encouraging biodiversity for ecological stability. This would include planting crops for beneficial insects, bringing livestock into the vineyard and encouraging natural predators like barn owls to help control gophers.
Paying attention to and following the rhythms of the solar system and moon for cultural practices like planting, pruning and harvest, (when possible). Research (and old-time wisdom) has shown that certain phases of the moon are more conducive to specific farming practices.
George's winemaking style can be described as "complementary style". The overriding criterion in all his winemaking decisions is that the finished wine be complementary to the food. His winemaking incorporates many modified French techniques utilizing grapes that are used in French production. However, the California climate, among other things, insures that our wines are not identical to their French counterpart.
Believing that good winemaking begins in the vineyards, he maintains a close association with our viticulturist. His winemaking synthesizes old world tradition with the most up-to-date technology and scientific knowledge.
Each vintage will spend 18 months in French oak barrels, monitored on site within the Ranch winery. Each privileged owner will receive a case of wine per usage week plus additional cases depending on the vineyard’s yield, bottled under The Ranch on Soda Rock label.
A sampling of George's past clients include the Napa Valley Co-op, InterWines.
Ltd. (Hong Kong), Eisele Vineyards, Sebastiani Vineyards, Shadow Mountain Enterprises, Jackob Gerhardt, W.G. Best Weinkellerie, SZK Enterprises and Las Cerezas Vineyards. Additionally George authored and produced a TV program about wine education and marketing for KPIX-CBS.
After an early start in agriculture at his family's market farm in West Texas, the path was set for our vineyard and garden manager. Kelly went on to study biodynamic farming and ecological horticulture at UC Santa Cruz and followed that with studies in Holistic Management with famed African ecologist Allan Savory. Early stints in Colorado as a high altitude gardener, environmental restoration specialist and foreman of a 16,000 acre cattle ranch eventually led to a wine tasting event that forever focused his interest.
For the past 10 years Kelly has designed, managed and consulted with vineyards in California, Arizona and Spain. In addition he has traveled extensively and studied sustainable viticulture practices in Europe, Australia and America. His passion is growing the highest quality wine grapes that vividly express the uniqueness of their site using the most sustainable methods available.
In order to achieve this ideal at The Ranch on Soda Rock, Kelly will be farming using biodynamic and organic techniques. In addition to farming the vineyard and gardens with only hand tools, he will also use a number of biological "tools" such as geese and sheep for grazing the cover crop, and specific plants to attract beneficial insects. This approach is quite different from the more common conventional type of farming which relies heavily on chemical inputs, big equipment and fossil fuels. We expect our farming practices will not only lead to much better wine and garden produce than the conventional approach, but will also have a positive impact on the health of the entire property.
Wine Country, California 
