Castello di Amorosa – Napa Valley’s Castle of Love

A BIT OF HISTORY

Dario Sattui is no stranger to the wine business – he’s the great grandson of Vittorio Sattui, who founded V. Sattui Winery in 1885. The original winery, located in San Francisco, was shut down due to Prohibition. In 1975, Dario re-established the V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena.

In 1993, Dario purchased a 171-acre vineyard property in Calistoga and began construction on his 12^th-century style Tuscan castle winery as a tribute to both his Italian ancestry and his love of medieval architecture. After almost 14 years of construction, Castello di Amorosa opened in April of 2007. The 121,000 square foot castle features 107 rooms (95 are for wine), 8 levels (4 are underground), 900 feet of caves, a great hall with a 500-year-old fireplace and two-story Italian frescoes, a drawbridge, dungeon and torture chamber, stables, medieval church, a lake, and a wine barrel room constructed with ancient Roman cross-vaulted ceilings.

Castello di Amorosa produces approximately 16,000 cases of Italian style wines per year. All production takes place at the winery. Additionally, all wines are sold direct to the consumer from the winery or online. 

TASTING AND TOURING

Castello di Amorosa is different than most wineries in that you must pay a fee to enter the castle. The $17 entrance fee includes a premium tasting of up to five wines in the main tasting bar ($26 gets you a reserve tasting of up to six wines). You may be able to tour a couple of the levels on your own, but you’ll miss some of the key sites, including the torture chamber, the production areas and the barrel rooms. For $32, you can take a 1-1/2 hour guided tour of the castle and the winery, including a premium tasting of five wines and a barrel tasting in the private tasting bar ($42 covers the tour, barrel tasting and six wines, including reserve wines). Castello di Amorosa was seen in Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories and ABC’s The Bachelor. The workmanship and the detail are amazing and should not be missed. To make your “taste or tour” decision even easier, NapaValley.com features a special 2 for 1 offer on a premium tour and tasting. 

THE EXPERIENCE

Our castle guide was Bradford Reed. He kept the tour interesting and entertaining with stories of the castle, its history and some of the artifacts. Bradford also did a great job keeping track of the group – there are so many different tunnels underground that it would be very easy to get lost. Dario Sattui was at the winery during our tour and gave a quick wave as we passed him in the courtyard.

Our tour began in the Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel. A Latin Mass is held in the chapel every Sunday at 8:30am. After the chapel, we visited the Courtyard, the Great Hall and one of the towers for some history before heading downstairs to the very modern tank room and crush pad. 



After visiting the production areas, one of the castle gates was opened for us and we went back in time. We continued underground, past a suit of armor and a collection of armor masks, heading down to the torture chamber. Complete with three prisoner cells, the chamber featured a collection of torture devices, including an antique iron maiden, a chair of spikes and a beheading block. We continued through the maze of underground caves and tunnels to the grand barrel room for a barrel tasting. At the end of the barrel room was the private tasting bar. 

The bar was set up with glasses, a tasting binder (with full descriptions of each wine available to taste), and a tasting sheet / order form and pencil for each guest. The premium tasting menu included white and rosé wines (Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Dry Gewürztraminer, Rosato di Sangiovese), red wines (Sangiovese, Merlot, Il Brigante – a red blend, Cabernet Sauvignon) and sweet wines (Il Raggio Del Sole – a Muscato, La Fantasia – an Italian sparkling, Late Harvest Gewürztraminer). The reserve tasting menu offered additional white and red reserve wines (Chardonnay, La Castellana – a super Tuscan blend, Il Barone – a Cabernet Sauvignon, Il Passito – late harvest Semillon / Sauvignon Blanc). There were more whites and sweet wines than I expected. The wines were good, but not outstanding. My favorites were the Il Brigrante, La Fantasia and Il Barone. La Fantasia was an unexpected surprise.  It's a soft sparkling wine with a cherry hue and black raspberry / strawberry flavors.  It's not too sweet either – a good wine to sip on a warm summer night.

At the end of the tasting, Bradford led us through the gift shop and into the main tasting room where he ended the tour. The main tasting room is set up in a rectangle with the tasting bars in the middle and wine / products around the outside. The tasting bars were packed with visitors – it just reinforced that the Tour and Tasting option (with the private tasting bar) was the way to go. In addition to people trying to stand at the bar and taste, there were others milling about, either trying to find the wine they wanted to buy or checking out all of the wine tchotchkes for sale. There are baskets to carry your wine and other purchases to the registers at the end of the tasting room. The baskets are fine if you want to purchase a bottle or two, but if you want more, just take your tasting sheet / order form to the cashier and let them pull the bottles for you.

Outside of the main tasting room are some of the orchards. You’ll see the resident sheep milling about. You may also catch a glimpse of the castle cat hunting in the grass “moat” on the side of the castle.

TIDBITS

If you are planning a visit to Castello di Amorosa, make a tour reservation in advance. In addition to the premium and reserve tours and tasting, the winery also offers chocolate pairing options and horse-drawn vineyard tour. 

OTHER DETAILS

Castello di Amorosa

4045 North St. Helena Highway (Highway 29), Calistoga, CA, 94515

707.967.6272

Wine tasting hours: 9:30am to 5:00pm November - February, 9:30am to 6:00pm March - October.  Tours: 9:30am and 4:30pm Weekdays, 9:30am and 5:00pm Weekends & Holidays.

Chateau Julien – A Full Production Winery In Carmel Valley

A BIT OF HISTORY

In June of 1982, Bob and Patty Brower’s Chateau Julien Wine Estate in Carmel Valley became an official bonded winery, #5101 since Prohibition and #400 in the State of California.  Two years later, in 1984, the winery’s tasting room opened to the public.

Located on 16 acres at the foot of the Carmel Valley Mountains, five miles from Highway 1, Chateau Julien Wine Estate features a French country Chateau, cobblestone courtyard, picnic area, Chai (pronounced “shay”) barrel room, vineyards and cellar operations.  All wine production takes place on the estate, including the aging of over 1,200 oak barrels of wine.  

THE EXPERIENCE

The tasting room is located in the Great Hall of the Chateau, a replica of a home on the French/Swiss border. When you first enter the Great Hall, you see an impressive array of etched bottles in all sizes bearing a variety of ribbons for wine awards and honors.  As you round the corner, there is a fireplace at one end of the room and a set of French doors at the other end leading out to the garden and patio.  In the center of the room is an 18-foot mahogany table for tasting wines.  Chateau Julien is a bit unusual as there is no tasting bar.  The retail sales associate stands at the end of the table and pours the wines.  For the winery, it’s a good way to keep people moving around the room to check out the available merchandise for sale or outdoors, instead of sitting or leaning on a bar and taking up space.  As a wine taster, it’s a bit uncomfortable.  I want to be able to put my glass down and take notes, or just put my purse down, or get out of the way of the rest of the guests trying to get their next pour. If it’s a nice day, you can head outdoors to the patio.  If it’s cold or rainy, you’re stuck in the tasting room and it becomes a juggling act – especially when the tasting room is crowded and you’re trying to reach the only dump bucket in the middle of the table. 

John and I went to Chateau Julien with our friends Joyce and Gary. As we entered the tasting room, there were already ten other tasters in the room.  Shawn, a retail sales associate and certified sommelier, was pouring tastes for visitors.  He gave us a very hearty welcome and invited us to the end of the table to grab a glass and try some wine.  Chateau Julien featured six wines on their tasting list (2008 Sangiovese Rosato, 2008 Private Reserve Chardonnay, 2006 Private Reserve Merlot, Hawk House Red, 2006 La Conviviance, and Julien Port) for a $5.00 per person wine tasting fee.  Shawn was very friendly and shared great information about each wine, including how it was made, what makes it unique, the blend of grapes, and the aromas and mouthfeel.  Near the end of our visit, Shawn went to the retail area to ring up wine sales and was replaced by Melinda.  On the final pour, Melinda went a bit rogue and offered a taste of either a Carmel Cream Sherry (not on the tasting list) or the Julien Port.  I really like when winery personnel go off of the list and pour other wines they think you may enjoy.  They’re exposing you to more of the Winery’s offerings and you feel somewhat special because you got a little extra.  It’s a win/win.  When I worked at the tasting room and poured a wine that was “off the list”, more often than not, my guests purchased that wine.  What was so odd about this experience is that Melinda offered one or the other.   My friend Joyce is a big fan of the Julien Port and was excited to see it on the list.  Now she was asked to make a decision and try the port she loved or taste something new that she may or may not like.  In the end, it worked out as I got the sherry while Joyce got the port and we traded our glasses halfway. Rather than make the tasting room visitors figure out a solution, why not just pour both?

TOURS AND TIDBITS

If you visit Chateau Julien, be sure to make a reservation for the complimentary tour.  The tours are offered twice a day and include a visit to the vineyards and cellar operations.  It’s a great way to understand the process of winemaking from the grape to the bottle. The winery also offers a number of private tours and tastings, such as the Winemaker’s Tour ($50/guest) and the Grand Estate Tour ($25/guest).

Chateau Julien offers a beautiful setting for private events in the Chateau, Chai and on the grounds – a few years ago, I took my marketing team on a “field trip” to the winery for a private tour and wine tasting in the Conservatory.

Be sure to bring crackers or snacks with you, as there are no nibblers in the tasting room.  You can also bring a picnic lunch or purchase a cheese plate and a bottle of wine to enjoy on the patio. 

OTHER DETAILS

Chateau Julien Wine Estate

8940 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel, CA, 93923

831.624.2600

Wine tasting hours: 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday, 11:00am to 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday.  Tours by reservation: 10:30am and 2:30pm Monday – Friday, 12:30pm and 2:30pm Saturday and Sunday.

I Confess.

I fell in love with wine about 18 years ago.  My husband, John, and I visited his family in California and decided to take a day trip to the Napa Valley.  We toured the Christian Brothers Winery (now the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone), tasted some amazing wines and purchased a few bottles.

Back in New Jersey, John and I moved into our first home and decided to celebrate with one of our California wines.  We opened a bottle of Christian Brothers port and paired it with a cheese platter of a few really strong (and stinky) cheeses as instructed by the nice people at the CB tasting room.  I knew that port wine was called a fortified wine, but didn’t know that because of its high sugar and alcohol content, we should be sipping instead of slurping.  With its deep hue and mouth-watering flavors of dark berry and plum, the wine paired so well with the cheeses – we couldn’t stop.  We finished the cheese plate AND the bottle of port.  The next day I suffered the consequences of over-indulgence, but my love affair with wine was just beginning.

In 1996, we moved to California and visited wineries in Mendocino, Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, Livermore, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Carmel Valley and Paso Robles.  For three years, I volunteered in the tasting room at Picchetti Winery in Cupertino, CA.  I got to meet people from all over the world, educate them on the history of the winery and its vineyards, and pour great wines – plus, I got paid in wine.  My husband also worked at the winey as an assistant winemaker, so I got to help out with harvest every year.  I did punch downs, cleaned tanks, painted barrels (with wine) and tested barrel samples.  Very unglamorous, but so much fun.

Friends and family always ask, "Which wineries should I visit?"  That's such a difficult question to answer as everyone has different likes and dislikes (reds, whites, sparkling, dessert, big, fruit-forward, dry, sweet and so on). I make my recommendations based on the wines and the tasting room experience. A winery can produce phenomenal wines, but if they don’t treat you well, it’s going to leave a bad taste in your mouth.  The tasting room is often your introduction to a winery and it needs to make a good first impression.  The tasting room personnel should make you feel welcome.  They should help you explore and enjoy their wines.  They should want you to love their wines as much as they do. 

This blog is about my experiences at tasting rooms.  I’ll share my feedback on first impressions, friendliness and knowledge of the tasting room personnel, variety of wines on the tasting list, tasting fees, tours and other interesting facts or tidbits.  Rather than go from memory of previous tasting room visits, I’m starting from scratch and will add wineries as I go.  If you’re on your way to Wine Country and need a recommendation, feel free to email me and I’ll point you in the direction of my favorites. 

Happy Tasting!