Inside a collection of luxe homes now for sale in prime Napa Valley

Specifically, that’s 20 fully furnished, two-bedroom, 2.5-bath homes, which make up The Villas at Stanly Ranch Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection. The sales push for the Villas follows the 2021 launch of a limited collection of three- to six-bedroom Vineyard Homes, half of which are sold despite completion expected in 2024.

That’s just for starters: 20 more Villas are planned for this massive 95-acre development, and there will be 70 Vineyard Homes in total. The timeline on those, however, is to be determined.

Currently, Stanly Ranch’s larger Vineyard Homes range from 5,814 to over 8,945 livable indoor-outdoor square feet.

The first-floor Terrace Villas and the second-floor Sky Villas span 2,590 to 3,126 square feet of indoor-outdoor, open-plan living space. The completed (some are ready for move-in) cozy condo-style Villas have white oak wood-clad living rooms. Even the ceilings are laid with wood, and there are also natural stone fire surrounds. Vineyard Homes start at $5.8 million.

Situated in the Carneros region at Napa Valley’s southern end, the ranch dates to 1856, when it was reputedly founded by Judge Edward Stanly. This is the busier end of the valley, about 6 miles south of Downtown Napa and 50 miles north of San Francisco.

The decades-in-the-making Stanly Ranch development comes courtesy of Nichols Partnership and Selby Development Group. It also includes Stanly Ranch, Auberge Resorts Collection resort, which opened last year with a swanky spa featuring therapeutic pools, plus a trio of restaurants.

Besides having a luxurious bucket-list resort experience, the development offers the rare opportunity to own a vacation or permanent home among the vineyards in Napa Valley, something that’s not easily attained given the area’s strict regulations on developments.

Second-home living is frowned upon, for one thing, because the area is a long-seated year-round community — and an agricultural one, at that. It needs year-round residents, not visitors, to sustain the community.

Also, its most valuable asset must be protected: unpolluted land. Visitors pour in for the wine, but it’s the thousands of bottles of wine that pour out of the county each year that forms what is a $2 billion-plus industry.

“The effort needed to scale the restrictions and conditions of this precious agricultural gem is a formidable one,” Randy Nichols, president and founder of The Nichols Partnership, told The Post. “First contracts on the vineyard land were [signed in] 2006, and the architecture and design was guided by a number of design charrettes to define the spirit of a new social resort tucked within Napa’s very established [Los Carneros] vineyard appellation.”

It’s about keeping Napa Valley … Napa Valley.

“This was a multiple-decades-long process of attaining land-use approvals and entitlements to build the largest luxury resort community in Napa Valley,” said Chris Crosby, EVP of the Nichols Partnership.

Though development is happening in Napa, most of it is within the wine industry. Several new tasting rooms opened with the last 12-or-so months, the latest of which saw wine giant Robert Mondavi Winery open Arch & Tower, downtown on Third Street, this summer. Other newcomers to Napa’s already mammoth tasting opportunities include the new Rococo-chic Chateau Buena Vista tasting salon set in a super-glam turn-of-the-century building; Acumen Wine’s urban lounge, which blends art and wine pairing, including live painting from an artist in residence; Compline Wine Shop, an offshoot to the excellent Compline Restaurant; and the newly built spectacular Serge Sorokko Gallery + Martin Ray Tasting Room, Sonoma-based Martin Ray’s first-ever standalone tasting room. And in Napa, at that.

Up-Valley in Rutherford, the Mathew Bruno Rutherford Estate set its new sleek boutique tasting lounge in a renovated 1800s home; venerable Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’s new tasting room brings a lounge vibe and comfy couches to this noted vineyard — you know, the one that took top prize in the infamous 1976 Judgement of Paris contest and put Napa Valley on the world’s wine map.

Napa is buzzing, making a home there all the more desirable. Stanly Ranch home owners have the benefit of top-notch resort amenities on their doorstep, and downtown Napa’s delights are a 15-minute car ride away. Add in carefree property management from Auberge and the choice for owners to participate in the resort’s rental program, making their property available to resort guests on a nightly basis when not in use. Nightly Villa rents are about $4,000.

So, who is the Stanly Ranch resident? Is it a wine drinker?

“It’s a foodie and a naturalist — someone who celebrates the bounty of the land. Those groups are absolutely inclusive of wine enthusiasts,” said Crosby.

“There is a strong connection to the land as the resort only occupies 95 acres of the 712-acre ranch, which is mostly designated for vineyards, farms and grazing for local livestock,” added Nichols. “Many of our owners will call this their primary home, while others will choose to stay for an escape to a fully serviced epicurean life on the ranch.”