Del Dotto Winery – St. Helena
Napa Historic Winery & Caves – 1055 Atlas Peak Road, Napa, CA 945584
St. Helena Venetian Estate Winery & Caves – 1445 St. Helena Hwy South, St. Helena, CA 94574
Website: http://www.deldottovineyards.com/
When I went to Napa Valley for my honeymoon I asked some locals for recommendations of wineries to visit. A couple of people said “You have to see the Del Dotto wine caves”. I had never heard of Del Dotto before, but my husband and I decided to check it out. All tastings and cave tours are by appointment only, but fortunately the day we stopped in wasn’t too busy and we were able to make a reservation for the same afternoon.
Del Dotto has two different wine caves in Napa. The original winery is located on Atlas Peak Road, and the new winery is in St. Helena off of Highway 29. Both locations offer an exceptional cave and barrel tasting experience. They also offer an Estate Winery Bar Tasting that includes a sample of 5 wines with an array of cheese, almonds, and chocolate. The tastings at the winery do not come cheap, but I thought it was worth paying a little more for a truly unique cave tour.
Interior of the Del Dotto tasting room in St. Helena
We went through the cave tour at the St. Helena winery. This winery screams out “luxury” from both the exterior and interior. The landscaping and outdoor fountain is pristine. The winery architecture is reminiscent of the Del Dotto family’s Venetian roots. The winery in St. Helena is built of marble and is referred to as the “Cathedral”. The marble columns, tiled floors, and chandeliers inside the tasting room do give the feel of being in a cathedral. The entrance to the wine cave is located off the tasting room with a large sign indicating no photos allowed. Inside the cave there are chandeliers and barrels with candles on top lined up on both sides, extending the entire length of the cave giving it a very romantic feel. For the tour, we walked down the long walkway of the cave stopping to taste wine from barrels along the way. We tasted a lot of wine and I would caution anyone else taking this tour to sip and dump the extra wine to avoid getting totally drunk by the end of the tour. My husband and I knew enough not to drink every last sip, but the 5 or 6 other people on the tour with us were quite inebriated by the time we reached the end of the cave. When we finished tasting wine from the barrels, our tour guide led us back to the tasting room where we sampled some bottled wine that was offered with a plate of meat and cheeses. The tour takes about an hour from start to finish. I thought that they had good quality wines, but I had palate fatigue by the time we got to the end of the tour. It was worth the visit just to see the winery and definitely for the cave tour.