Castello di Amorosa
4045 Saint Helena Highway, Calistoga, CA 94515
Website: http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/
Castello di Amorosa is a nice place to stop in for people who are visiting Napa Valley with family or want a change of pace from the usual tasting rooms in the valley. The winery is an actual castle built by Dario Sattui, owner of V. Sattui Winery located in St. Helena. Although the castle looks more like a tourist attraction than a winery, there is a full production facility within the castle and they make an assortment of Italian wines. If visitors aren’t interested in doing the full tour, they can stop in to taste the wines and walk around some areas of the grounds without having to pay for a tour.
View from the front of Castello di Amorosa
As the story goes, Dario Sattui had a dream to build a Tuscan style castle and had studied medieval castles throughout Europe. He wanted to make the castle as authentic as possible and brought in 8,000 tons of hand-carved stone from Europe. He didn’t cut any corners in building his 121,000 square foot castle with 107 rooms and 8 levels. Features of the castle include a chapel, the hand-painted Great Hall, a drawbridge and moat, a torture chamber, and 900 feet of caves.
The Great Hall at Castello di Amorosa
The Premium or Reserve Tour and Tasting provides a guided tour through all of the different areas of the castle. The tour takes about 1 ½ hours and made me feel like I had been whisked away to a fairy tale castle. Much of the tour focuses on the very impressive rooms and caves in the castle, but there are also a few stops that focus on the wine. During the tour we stopped at the crushing pad and our guide described how the wine moves from the crushing pad to the fermentation tanks and then to the caves. There was also a stop in the caves where our group sampled wine from one of the barrels. The final stop of the tour brought us to a private tasting room where we were able to sample 5-6 wines. There are a variety of Italian style wines to choose from. Being a fan of dessert wines, I recommend trying the Il Raggio del Sole Muscat Canelli and La Fantasia sparkling rosé. There is also a wine and gift shop on the way out where visitors can pick up some bottles or souvenirs to take home.
View from top of driveway at Castello di Amorosa