Blue Skies Sunny Days Travel

Claim to Fame: Authentic medieval Italian castle/winery
Location: Napa Valley in Calistoga, California
Website: http://www.castellodiamorosa.com

Note: This post was originally written in 2014.

Castello di Amorosa was the first winery that we visited on our San Francisco/Napa Valley Trip. Like, I think most wineries in the area do, Castello di Amorosa had a couple different options to explore the winery. We opted for the guided tour and tasting package, just a little more expensive than the general admission option.

The guided tour & tasting package includes a tour of the castle grounds and then a tasting of five premium wines/six high-end wines at the end of the tour. General admission lets you explore the castle yourself and end with a tasting of five wine premium/six reserve wines.

We had a great guide named Jeff that explained to us about the history of Castello. Built from 2003-2007 reflective of castles of 13th and 14th century Tuscany castles. Using only building materials and methods from the 13th and 14th century (and a few modern touches such as wheelchair ramps, sprinklers and exit signs), Castello is an authentic medieval castle and is complete with a moat and even torture chambers.

It really was a crazy feeling to be standing in “medieval surroundings” that were actually built in this century.

Though slightly touristy, overall, we really enjoyed this winery. The guided tour was very informative and gave us a history of this particular winery along with a quick introduction on making wine, which was especially helpful since this was our first winery of the day. If you’re going to multiple wineries on your visit to Napa Valley, I would highly recommend getting a guided tour at at least one of the wineries, and I think Castello di Amorosa was a good choice for a guided tour since it has such an interesting story.

The guided tour took us through the Courtyard, the Great Hall, the dungeon (with medieval torture devices!), and the barrel room. The tasting was a fun experience and Jeff was very knowledgeable about the different wines we were tasting.

One thing I noticed was that each winery we visited had a unique hook to grab you in. For Castello, it was the authentic medieval castle. At Sterling, the next winery we visited, it was a gondola ride from the parking lot up to the actual winery. Though we didn’t actually get to taste wine at the Chateau Montelena, highlighted by the movie Bottle Shock, we did explore the winery’s Chinese Gardens.