Napa Valley has been called the Disneyland of wine country, and with good reason. It's essentially a boozy amusement park for adults, with elite wineries and resorts packed along a highway.
Another reason for the comparison: The region has a medieval castle.
Nestled in the rolling hills of Calistoga, California, Castello di Amorosa is a world-class winery based in a replica of a 13th-century Tuscan castle. The owner, Dario Sattui, is a fourth-generation winemaker and ardent Italophile who spent $40 million to bring a slice of the old country to Napa Valley. At 142,000 square feet, the castle took more than a decade to build.
We recently took a guided tour of Castello di Amorosa. Here's what it was like.
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Castello di Amorosa looks like a 13th-century castle in the Italian countryside.
And it is — sort of. Its owner, Dario Sattui, once wrote: "Castello di Amorosa appears to be an authentic castle for one reason only. It is an authentic castle, though fancified."
Source: Castello di Amorosa
In the early 1990s, Sattui — already an established winemaker — bought the land with plans to replant a vineyard on the property and build an 8,500-square-foot winery.
His fascination with old-world Italian architecture took over, and Sattui began to draw up plans for a more grandiose winery. He spent years visiting and studying medieval castles and wineries throughout Italy and Europe as part of an exhaustive quest for authenticity. Sattui wanted every detail — from the drawbridge to the dungeon — to mimic 13th-century structures.
He hired master builders from five countries to bring his vision to life.
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