{"id":3141,"date":"2026-06-27T13:06:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3141"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:06:03","slug":"auction-of-charles-shaws-former-napa-valley-winery-estate-ends-at-9-million-opening-bid-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3141","title":{"rendered":"Auction of Charles Shaw\u2019s former Napa Valley winery estate ends at $9 million opening bid price"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>A 42-acre Napa Valley winery estate once home to the Charles Shaw brand appears to have found a buyer after multiple conventional and unconventional attempts to sell it in the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3139\">Aiming to boost government efficiency, San Jose trains its 1,000th worker on AI tools<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The virtual gavel dropped Wednesday afternoon  on the online auction of Benessere Vineyards property at 1010 Big Tree Road near St. Helena. The apparent winning bid was the $9 million bid that met Concierge Auctions\u2019 market reserve and served as the opening bid to get the sale rolling June 15. The auctioneer had estimated bidding would start at $8 million to $12 million.<\/p>\n<p>Auction winners have two business days \u2014 in this case, until Thursday afternoon \u2014 to sign a purchase agreement and pay a 12% nonrefundable deposit into escrow, according to the company. Sales are expected to be completed 30 days after the close of bidding.<\/p>\n<p>Charles Shaw and his wife, Lucy, purchased the property in 1977, planted vineyards and launched their namesake wine brand. The Shaws lost the estate in bankruptcy, and Fred Franzia bought rights to the brand in 1995, and it later garnered the nickname \u201cTwo Buck Chuck\u201d from its longtime $2 price (now $4) in the Trader Joe\u2019s store chain.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in 1994, John Benish, founder of Chicago-area school bus giant Cook-Illinois, and his wife, Ellen, acquired the estate and undertook extensive redevelopment, now with nearly 30 acres of vines.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3137\">Sharks takeaways from NHL draft: Mike Grier, scouts put on a masterclass<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The property went on the market in a conventional real estate listing in November 2024 at $35 million, came off at the end of 2024, was relisted in February of last year at a 20% discount ($28 million) then was removed from the market in February of this year. The listing agent, Kevin McDonald of Sotheby\u2019s International Realty, then took the unusual route of sale at auction.<\/p>\n<p>Demand for auctions of wine-related real estate prompted Concierge to launch its Global Wine &amp; Vineyard Division with Benessere.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jeff Quackenbush joined North Bay Business Journal in May 1999. Reach him at jeff@nbbj.news or 707-521-4256.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3135\">Opinion: Ordeal to fill Swalwell\u2019s seat exposes a broken system \u2014 and a better alternative<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 42-acre Benessere Vineyards was listed for $35 million two years ago but went to auction this spring amid a challenging time to sell wine-related properties the conventional way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Auction of Charles Shaw\u2019s former Napa Valley winery estate ends at $9 million opening bid price - 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