Stoli owner’s Highland estate listed for £67m

A 21,768-acre Speyside estate on the River Spey is being offered for sale with a guide price of £67 million. The property belongs to Stoli vodka owner Yuri Shefler, the Russian-born billionaire behind the Luxembourg-based Stoli Group and SPI Group.

One of Scotland’s most prominent Highland sporting estates has been placed on the market. Tulchan Estate in Moray, owned by Stoli proprietor Yuri Shefler, is being offered for sale with a guide price of £67 million.

According to Savills, the sale will take place through the transfer of 100% of the shares in Tulchan Sporting Estates Limited, the company that holds the estate as its sole asset. The structure means a purchaser would acquire the entire rural enterprise through the corporate entity.

Tulchan extends to approximately 21,768 acres along the River Spey, east of the Cairngorms National Park. As reported by Savills, the estate combines sporting interests, agriculture, hospitality and property management within a single business.

A lodge at the centre of a large rural enterprise

At the heart of the property stands Tulchan Lodge, a Category B-listed Edwardian lodge completed in 1906. The building offers 14 en suite bedrooms and five principal reception rooms, together with facilities including a cinema, wine tasting room and spa complex with sauna, steam room and outdoor Japanese hot tub, according to Savills.

The estate also includes Knocktulchan Lodge, which provides six bedrooms and views across the surrounding countryside, as well as 28 further dwellings. Among them are four holiday cottages which generate recurring income through visitor bookings.

Sporting heritage on the River Spey

Tulchan’s reputation has long rested on its sporting opportunities. The estate controls eight miles of double bank salmon fishing on the River Spey across four beats.

Recent seasons have recorded close to 400 salmon and more than 120 sea trout, according to Savills. The property also contains two driven grouse moors covering more than 13,000 acres, alongside pheasant and partridge shooting, wild duck flighting and red and roe deer stalking.

These assets contribute to Tulchan’s status as a destination for traditional Highland field sports.

Farming and hospitality operations

Tulchan functions as a diversified rural business rather than solely a sporting estate. The property includes a livestock farm run in hand together with five tenanted farms.

According to Savills, beef, lamb and game produced on the estate are served to guests at Tulchan Lodge and at Feast, the estate’s seasonal restaurant. Produce is also sold through a smaller retail venture called Take Tulchan Home.

Environmental work forms part of the estate’s activities. Savills reports that Tulchan holds accreditation from Wildlife Estates Scotland and has restored around 1,100 acres of peatland to support biodiversity and curlew populations. Native woodland and commercial forestry also form part of the landholding.

Royal guests and international visitors

Tulchan’s history stretches back more than a century. Tulchan Lodge was completed in 1906 for printer and publisher George McCorquodale after he had visited the property as a guest of Sir Philip Sassoon, according to Savills.

The estate’s fishing and shooting attracted a number of prominent visitors. As reported by Savills, guests included King Edward VII, King George V and King George VI, alongside figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, J P Morgan, William Vanderbilt, the grand duke of Luxembourg and King Leopold of Belgium.

Remnants of that era remain across the grounds, including King Edward’s Hut overlooking one of the river beats.

Ownership linked to Stoli group

The estate belongs to Yuri Shefler, the Russian-born billionaire who owns Stoli. The vodka brand, formerly known as Stolichnaya, forms part of a wider drinks portfolio controlled through the Luxembourg-based Stoli Group and SPI Group.

Despite its Russian origins, Stoli vodka is produced in Latvia. The brand has long been involved in a dispute with the Russian state over ownership of the Stolichnaya name, with Russia claiming the brand should have reverted to the state after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Shefler acquired the rights to the brand through SPI Group in 1997. Russia continues to sell its own state-produced version under the name Stolichnaya.

The businessman has lived outside Russia since 2000 and now runs his business operations from Luxembourg.

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