Castello di Amorosa Archives - Wine Country Getaways

The Castle is alive and well in the Napa Valley

December 20, 2015 by Joe Becerra

The beautiful Castello di Amorosa – The Castle

The Castle – Castello di Amorosa

Shortly after the Castello di Amorosa opened in 2007, Janelle and I booked ourselves a tour and tasting at the Castle. Eight years later, the Castle is alive and well in the Napa Valley. We visited again this past Thursday with friends and took the basic tour and had the reserve tasting. I have to say that the glitches we encountered back in 2007 were ironed out and we had a most enjoyable tour and tasting led by Anthony Makoujy. The Castle has become an extremely popular winery for wine country travelers. During the summer months, a tour departs every ten minutes. Given that the tour is an hour plus, it is remarkable that they can pull this off. One reason is the vast size of the Castle. It is 121,000 square feet! The Castle is so authentic, a re-creation of a 13th century medieval Tuscan castle. Complete with a dungeon and a torture room, the tour offers a fascinating look at what it is like to be in a real castle. Yes, it is a bit of a Hollywood adventure, but the bottom line is The Castle is a fully-operating winery, producing 25,000 cases of wine each year. The tour takes one through the entire winemaking process from fermentation to the bottle. The owner is Dario Sattui, who also owns and runs the popular V. Sattui winery down the road in St. Helena. Dario purchased the property near Calistoga in 1993 with the idea of growing vineyards there. One idea lead to another, and suddenly Dario Sattui found himself building this amazing Castle in the Napa Valley.

The tour at the Castle includes a barrel sample; ours was the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon. The barrel sample was delicious and, as far as we were concerned, it was ready to be bottled and drunk. It will stay in the barrel several more months and most likely be a fantastic wine. The 2014 vintage may be one of Napa Valley’s best in years. In the tasting room, there are various options for tasting. We chose the reserve tasting. Brooks Painter is the director of winemaking and overseas the wine production at both Castello di Amorosa and V. Sattui. The wines we sampled were very tasty and balanced to perfection. I very much enjoyed the floral and dry Gerwurztraminer, the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, and the beautiful 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. This Cab was from the same vineyard as the 2014 we tasted in the barrel. Since the emphasis is Tuscan at the Castle, the winery also produces many fine Italian wines. Our favorites were the Sangiovese and the Super Tuscan, the La Castellana. One of the amazing facts about the wine produced at the Castle is that none of it is distributed. All the wine is sold at the winery, to wine club members, or online. This can be contributed to the very large numbers who visit The Castle and, of course, the quality of the wine.

If you would like to visit The Castle check the Website for a variety of tours and tastings and schedule your visit. The winery is easy to miss because it is not in view from Highway 29. The winery is almost to the town of Calistoga. Once you pass the Bothe State Park, driving north, begin to look for the Castello di Amorosa signage. There is a left turn lane just as you approach the entrance to the Castle. Our tour guide Anthony was terrific. He was very knowledgable but very simple with explanations, knowing that several on our tour were wine newbies. I can’t speak for all the tour guides at the Castle, but Anthony was very good and not over the top.

A quick slide show of Castello di Amorosa

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Napa Valley Fall Colors

November 2, 2014 by Joe Becerra

Northern end of the Napa Valley.

Napa Valley Fall Colors

It is time to view the Napa Valley Fall colors. November is a fabulous time to visit the Napa Valley. The harvest has been completed and things begin to slow down in the wine cellars of Napa. We have some gloriously sunny and clear days in November and those days bring out the best for viewing Napa Valley Fall colors. We took this shot in November of 2013 at the Castello di Amorosa winery near Calistoga at the northern end of the Valley. The winery sits up on a hillside affording great views of the Napa Valley. The Napa Valley sits between the Mayacamus Mountains on the west and the Vaca Mountains to the east. Other good spots to view the Napa Valley Fall colors are the Rutherford Hill Winery, Robert Sinksey, Mumm Napa, and the Miner Family Winery. There are several cross roads that run between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. Zigzag across the Valley on a few of these roads and you are likely to find some great views of vineyards changing colors. Except for Thanksgiving weekend, the Napa Valley tourist season is winding down. You will find much less traffic and less crowded tasting rooms. It is a great time to travel in the Napa Valley.

Blending wines at Castello di Amorosa

November 17, 2013 by Joe Becerra

14 years to complete

Castello di Amorosa

The last time we had visited Castello di Amorosa was in May of 2007, shortly after it had opened to visitors. The winery was nearly completed except for a few landscaping details. Tours were fun but there were a few kinks to be worked out. Today all looks good as tourists flock to see this amazing castle and winery owned by Dario Sattui. It is a marvel! We were invited to Castello di Amorosa for a media event on Thursday, November 14. It was an event where each member of the wine blogging community tried our hands at blending five wines into a Super Tuscan wine.

The Great Room prepared for the blending event

The Great Room preparing for blending event

We met in the Great Hall and, as you can see in the photo, the Great Hall features fresco paintings with brilliant images and colors that immediately catch your eye. All the important people were present to lead us through our blending exercise. This included the man himself, Dario Sattui, a very tall man dressed Italian in style. Flanking Dario Sattui was winemaker Brooks Painter, associate winemaker Peter Vellano, consulting wine maker Sebastiano Rosa, CEO Georg Salzner, and VP of Marketing Jim Sullivan. What a treat to be surrounded by all these wine gurus.

Winemaker Brooks Painter with Dario Sattui

First we learned what constitutes a Super Tuscan wine. In the 1970’s a group of Tuscan winemakers wanted to produce wines outside of the very detailed restrictions of the Chianti area. They felt they could make better wines by using other varietals along with the Sangiovese grape. They made various blends adding Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to make their Super Tuscan varietal. Today these wines made in Tuscany have their own official designation, IGT. This designation denotes wine of high quality and characteristically these wines are big and bold, and they command steep prices. The Castello di Amorosa winery makes a Super Tuscan Reserve they call La Castellana. We tasted the 2007, 2008, and 2009. They were all very delightful and elegant wines. They are pricey wines but deservedly so. It takes the best grapes, barrels, and attention to make a distinctive Super Tuscan.

Blending a Super Tuscan wine

It was our task to take five different barrel samples of the 2012 vintage and make our own Super Tuscan wine. We had a Sangiovese, two different Merlot samples, and two different Cabernet Sauvignon samples. This was my first taste of red wines from the fabulous 2012 harvest. Folks are raving about this harvest as being one of the best in many years. I must say that the barrel samples we tasted were quite delicious and in particular the Sangiovese. I can’t wait to try this wine. This Sangiovese juice will be bottled in June and perhaps released in 2014.

Because I liked the Sangiovese so much I decided to make it the prominent portion of my blending experiments. In the first try I used 50% Sangiovese and equal parts of Merlot (Carneros) and Cabernet (Rutherford). I made a second blend but this time, 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet from the Rutherford AVA. This one was my favorite and quite excellent in my humble opinion. One thing the blending exercise emphasized to me was that winemaking to a large extent is part art. It is a creative activity requiring expertise in taste, experience, and imagination. All in all, the blending exercise was a great educational experience.

The blending session was followed by a gourmet lunch and the chance to continue tasting the fine wines produced by the Castello. As we concluded, each wine blogger was presented with a lovely bottle of the 2010 Sangiovese to enjoy at home.

I was amazed to learn that all the Castello di Amorosa wine is sold online, at the winery, or to the wine club members. That means you will not find the Castello di Amorosa wines in any wine shop. If you want to sample the wines, mostly Italian style of wines, you must visit the winery to get started. The winery at this time of the year is looking spectacular. The fall colors of the vines make the castle look even more brilliant. General admission is $19 per person, free for wine club members, and includes a tasting of five premium wines. Tours are $34 per person, followed by a tasting of five premium wines. The winery is open daily and reservations are recommended. Check the Castello Website for more information.