Last week, I looked at the 5 most affordable homes in Sonoma County. In the spirit of fairness, I decided to find the 5 most expensive houses currently on the market. 3 of these homes are located in Calistoga, which can spill into Napa County depending on location, but these are all listed as being located in Sonoma County.

In the same manner that many of the least expensive homes required extensive construction or updating, the most expensive homes have their own caveat: most are opulent single-family homes on working farms or vineyards.

While the prices may be may be as high as they are because of the acreage included, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be costly with even half the amount of land; these are impressive houses.

Take a look at the 5 priciest homes on the market in Sonoma County right now:

 

7927 Briggs Ranch Road, Calistoga – $39,000,000
5 beds, 5 baths, 3,304 square feet. Year built: 1963.

 

39 million dollars is a price that makes me immediately think of a grand estate along the lines of say, Highclere Castle (of Downton Abbey fame), as opposed to a sprawling ranch in Northern California. Because it’s on over 8,000 acres of land, it does straddle both Sonoma and Napa counties – but I’m not going to haggle over a couple of thousand acres either way.

 

This living room is rustic, comfortable, and welcoming. No evening gown or silk gloves needed to come inside and relax.

 

After all, Santa Angelina is a working ranch with year-round cattle farming.

 

The land also offers plenty of opportunities for leisure activities like horseback riding, hiking, swimming, fishing and hunting

 

Having access to this view on a daily basis would be priceless.

6861 Briggs Ranch Rd, Calistoga – 32,000,000.00
5 beds, 12 baths, 23,916 square feet. Year built: 2006.

 

Talking about Highclere Castle again, this house may be on ranch land, but it’s what I imagine a 32M dollar home would be: built to resemble an Austrian Villa, and with amenities like a caretaker’s residence, stone barn, party barn, pool, cabana & exercise pavilion.

 

Forget looking like an estate; this courtyard appears to be the entrance to an entire country village.

 

This majestic living room, while architecturally meant to remind visitors of the ranch land it’s on, seems to be somewhere you wouldn’t want to dress down in.

 

This more casual sitting area is next to the kitchen, and is the first area that gives a glimpse into how this house would work as a home, not simply an enormous estate.

 

If you lived here, you’d never worry about having enough rooms for your guests to sleep in.

568 White Oak Dr, Santa Rosa – $17,000,000 
9 beds, 10 baths, 13,175 square feet.

 

We’ve seen this estate before; it’s a working equestrian training and boarding farm, with a professional barn large enough to house 20 horses.

 

The house is quaint, not at all gaudy and not what you’d expect a 17M home to look like.

 

But here, it’s less about the house and more about the view and the land that comes with it.

 

…and the horses. It’s actually far more about the horses.

 

But if you must spend time inside, there’s no place better than a well-stocked library.

8322 Franz Valley Rd, Calistoga – $14,750,000
8 beds, 10 baths, 5,500 square feet. Year built: 2003.

 

 

This house is on 153 acres of vineyards, so if you’ve been interested in growing grapes, this is how you can do it in style.

 

Of course with a pool. According to the listing, you’ll also get: 3 guest suites and office in separate buildings, caretaker’s home, 4 rental homes, tennis court, pool, spa, pool cabana, pond and barn.

 

This is a view of the pond, in case you needed to escape from the main house for a breath of fresh air.

 

However, since even the living room opens to the outdoors, you’ll probably never use that excuse.

 

And it should be noted that 153 acres is a whole lot of land. Fresh air abounds.

16700 Gehricke Rd, Sonoma – $13,000,000
3 beds. 3,810 square feet. Year built: 1990.

 

The prices are getting lower, but the homes are just as stunning.  This house is located in the Moon Mountain Appellation in Sonoma, the area known as an American Viticultural Area – and this estate does come equipped with 34 acres of vineyard, already planted.

 

My best guess is that you would have some fine wine to enjoy while relaxing in the spa, or a few laps in the pool.

 

I’m impressed with how well the layout of this home takes advantage of the view and the afternoon sun. The oversized windows are a must when living anywhere in Sonoma.

 

Even the kitchen is equipped with custom windows to open the space up and make the most use of the natural light.

 

The master bathroom makes use of the views too. No need to be modest, there’s no nearby neighbors trying to invade your privacy.

 

 

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