A Visit to the Castle with my Grandkids

Since I had taken my oldest granddaughter to Italy two years ago, where we visited a number of impressive castles, I suddenly realized I hadn’t taken my youngest two to our castle. It was time for a visit to Castello di Amorosa.

I arranged reservations for what I hoped would be a relatively cool day and we lucked out.

Arriving at 10 a.m., we (my daughter and son-in-law came, too) collected our tickets, then were greeted by our guide, Cindy, who was everything you could hope for in a guide (and pretty, too!) We were in a regular your; the only concession to the kids was a promise to be discreet in the dungeon.

We started in the chapel, where traditional Catholic mass is celebrated each Sunday. It’s for real; women have to wear coverings on their heads. And contrary to rumors, no weddings are allowed in the chapel, though I don’t believe the county could prohibit them in a consecrated church even in the Ag Preserve, as this is.

Cindy gave us the background, and while she was talking about him, owner Dario Sattui happened in on the way back from exercise. Looking very fit, he greeted us and wished us a great tour.

Most people here are familiar with his story. Arriving here with very little money, he decided to resurrect the memory of his grandfather Vittorio Sattui’s old winery in San Francisco before Prohibition closed it.

Cleverly finding a property zoned commercial, he started V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena, initially selling relabeled wine made by others. He added a deli – the only one at a winery in Napa Valley (at least until one opens in the city of Napa) – and the rest is history.

Unbridled by snobbishness, he sold, and eventually made, wines that the customers wanted. Since most wineries in Napa Valley didn’t offer the sweet wines about a third of the population prefers, he did.

Now, his sweetish red Napa Gamay is the most popular wine, with Rieslings, Moscatos and Gewürztraminers also very popular. But he also makes traditional dry wines. Since the wines are only sold direct to consumers, critics ignored them for years. Once  they realized that that’s also true of some top-rated cult wines, the critics have  finally started ranking V. Sattui’s wines, many of the wines made by winemaker Brooks Painter have received excellent scores.

I concur, though I also like some of the off-dry and even sweet wines – but can’t get excited about those sweet reds (which are becoming very popular with consumers all over America, by the way).

Anyway, the business was very successful, and Dario bought a large Victorian mansion in Calistoga on a large piece of land that happened to come with the last full tasting and touring permit and a 150,000-case capacity ever issued in Napa County.

Though vines had been grown on the hilly site, the winery hadn’t been built, so Dario decided to build an 8,000-sq.-ft. Tuscan villa winery honoring his Italian heritage (The family was actually from Liguria, like most San Francisco Italians.)

As they says, it got out of hand. Eight years and an estimated $35 million later, Castello di Amorosa crowns the hill, overlooking well-tended vines and the Napa Valley with Sterling’s Greek monastery on a nearby knoll.

I’ve been to many castles in Spain, France and especially Italy, and this one is amazingly authentic looking. Dario imported workmen and materials from Europe, and apparently, just sort of let it evolve. There was no overall mater plan – just as was true of many castles in Europe.

One of the interesting touches in places he built, then tore down and rebuilt in another style and materials, as is typical.

Anyway, after the talk, we started the tour. We walked past the courtyard set up for Festival del Sole concerts, then to a tower where we could see the valley.

Then we visited the very modern winery – they were unloading some chic concrete egg-shaped fermentation tanks, the newest fad in the business – and headed down into the depths of the castle.

Lars, 8, and Annika, almost 10, were quiet, but drank it in. Lars is a serious history buff, and has many books on history in his growing library plus a number of model castles. They attend Stone Bridge School, which makes sure they learn history as well as other subjects, too, and the school has reenactments with wooden swords and costumes.

The castle is huge, and it seemed that we walked forever, ending at an exhibit of old armor and weapons, then went into the dungeon. Cindy toned down the gore for the kids and I was worried that it might bother them, but Lars announced that he knew all about that stuff anyway.

Then to the tasting in a private room. We tried about half a dozen wines, and considering the weather, I stuck to the lighter wines. I was impressed by the Pinot Bianco, dry Gewurztraminer and off dry Moscato. The rosato of Sangiovese and Merlot was fine, too, but the regular Sangiovese needed food – as Chianti does in Italy.

Cindy gave the kids Gewurz grape juice and coloring pages., but eventually Lars complained – “Too much wine. Not enough castle.”

He would have preferred more time in the dungeon, but I couldn’t have figured out how to get back there anyway.

We bought some wine and a 3D paper model of a castle and some other books and left, having had a great time.

On the way back, we stopped at Armadillo in St. Helena. The Gringo Mexican food was tasty and perfect for the kids.

Lazter that week, we all took another trip to Italy – to watch Much Ado About Nothing. They loved that, too.

Visiting the castle

A guided tour through the castle and winery followed by a tasting of five of wines is $32 and a private tasting of six wines including reserve wines is $42 including entrance fee).

Tour fees per child, ages 5-20, are $22 (includes juice and entrance fee).

Entrance without a tour including tasting is $17. Entrance fees for children and young adults are $7 per child and young adults 4 years to 20 years.

The castle offers a 50 percent discount with photo ID for residents of Napa Valley (I assume really the county).

Tours for locals are offered Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to noon (excluding holidays). Call 967-6272 for reservations.