Castello di Amorosa
DETAILS:
Location: 4045 St Helena Hwy, Calistoga, CA 94515
Hours of Operation: Open Daily 9:30AM to 6PM
Parking: Free parking lot on site.
Cost:
General Admission: $30 - includes wine tasting & access to select areas of the castle. No reservations required for groups up to 14 people. Please note that when the Castello gets busy, priority access is given to wine club members and tour members before allowing general admission guests access.
Guided Tour & Premium Wine Tasting: $45 - hour guided tour which includes access to the torture chamber, armory, and grand barrel room. Tour ends with a private tasting of 5 premium wines.
Diamond Estate Tour & Reserve Wine Tasting: $60 - hour guided tour which includes access to the production area, torture chamber, armory, and grand barrel room. Tour ends with a private tasting of 6 reserve wines.
Cheese & Wine Pairing Tour: $75 - hour guided tour followed by an intimate wine & cheese tasting in the Il Passito Room.
Antipasti & Wine Pairing Tour: $95 - hour guided tour followed by an intimate wine & antipasti tasting.
Royal Food & Wine Pairing Tour: $115 - hour guided tour followed by an intimate wine & dining experience in the Royal Apartment tasting salon. (2.5 hours. Reservations required)
Time Commitment:
General Admission: 1 hour
Guided Tours & Tastings: 2 hours which accounts for the hour-long tour and tasting that follows.
Miscellaneous:
Dogs welcome inside the Castello and on tours.
Most tours can be purchased upon arrival based on availability, but reservations strongly recommended and can be made on their website provided below under “resources”.
All tastings can be upgraded to add reserve wines or chocolates for an additional fee.
Club members receive discounted prices on all tours and tastings.
No strollers allowed.
Let me begin by saying that this is NOT a wine review. I need you to understand that I know nothing about wine and that my palate can’t discern the difference between a bottle of 2 buck Chuck and a bottle of Chateau Margaux. The cheaper and sweeter the better (I can feel all the wine purists out there closing out of this post as we speak). So the quality of any winery experience for me usually boils down to the ambiance, and by that measure, I can hardly think of a better location than Castello di Amorosa. I know, I know, there’s hardly a shortage of ambiance when it comes to the wineries of Napa Valley, but how many can be found on the grounds of a castle? A freaking castle!
Located in the town of Calistoga in Napa Valley, Castello di Amorosa is the passion project of Dario Sattui; a fourth generation winemaker who wanted to honor the history of his family’s winemaking legacy and their Italian heritage. The great grandson of Vittorio Sattui who founded St. Helena Wine Cellars in 1885, winemaking was always in Dario’s blood and it eventually lead him to opening his own winery in 1975. Always fascinated by medieval architecture, Dario’s vision of building his own 13th century Tuscan-style castle began in earnest after purchasing 171 acres of idyllic land in Calistoga in 1994. Authenticity was paramount to Dario. This wouldn’t just be one of those lazy structures that had the facade of a castle and nothing else, Castello di Amorosa would be real from top to bottom in every regard. To that end, eight thousand tons of local stone and almost one million antique bricks imported from Europe were used to construct the castle, only employing building techniques that were available during that period. It took 15 years to complete and finally opened on April 7, 2007.
Today, Castello di Amorosa sits perched on the rolling hills of Napa Valley as if materializing straight out of a fairy tale. Surrounded by lush vineyards in every direction, the castle itself resides on 3 acres and houses 107 rooms located on 8 levels (4 above ground and 4 below). In addition to the on-site wine production facility, some of the castle’s other highlights include a labyrinth-like cellar that leads to the grand barrel room, a medieval torture chamber & armory, a chapel, an opulent dining hall, several courtyards, and five Rapunzel-worthy towers. Standing at the head of the drawbridge truly does make you feel like you’ve been transported back to King Arthur’s court, or at the very least, on one of the sets of Game of Thrones. And while any general admission visit will definitely have you checking off your Napa Valley bucket list, I’d recommend splurging a little (which isn't that much more actually) for one of the guided tours since it will give you additional access to the castle which only immerses you more into the castle’s enchanted allure and includes a tasting in one of the private tasting rooms located in the cellar. In my humble opinion, Castello di Amorosa is a can’t miss experience if you’re venturing to Napa Valley. Oh, and I’m told the wine we had was absolutely fantastic.
RESOURCES:
Castello di Amorosa website.
