We arrived in Napa Valley in time to make a 3 p.m. tour at Castello di Amorosa (Castle of Love) an authentic Tuscan castle. 
Not “authentic” in the sense it was dismantled from it’s location in Tuscany and reassembled here in Napa Valley, but using only old, hand-made materials (like nearly 1 million antique, hand-made bricks from Europe) that would have been used 700-800 years ago. This castle is a marvel transforming you to medieval Italy surrounded by 171 acres of vineyards.
The castle is over 121,000 square feet with 2/3 of the space underground being used for the winery processing and storage of barrels of wine for aging. These caves stay a cool 60 degrees all year without any air conditioning or cooling of any kind.This property is a contradiction between medieval times and modern processing methods for making wine. Since the castle has actually been built in the last 25 years, there are plumbing lines that go from the special vats on the ground floor through the walls down 3 levels into the caves to fill the French oak barrels stored below ground for two years. Then when the wine is ready, it is drawn out of the barrels and into the bottling area using more built in plumbing.
Grand Barrel Room
We tasted wine right from the barrel – it was made in 2017 needs to ferment for another 2 years
The castle is complete with a courtyard, great hall with frescos decorating the walls, chapel, torture chamber and dungeon.
Chapel
The Great Hall
Courtyard
MG flirting with guard in Torture Chamber
There are authentic antiques everywhere in the castle bought at auction to help make the castle as real as possible. The grounds have various animals wandering around including this peacock and baby we saw outside.
The winery is dedicated to Vittorio Sattui, great grandfather of, Dario Sattui, the current owner and visionary who conceived the idea and plans. Vittorio was a pioneer winemaker in California from 1885-1920. There are still wine bottles containing wine made by Vittoria stored in cave. The wines are not sold in stores or to restaurants but only at the winery or shipped directly to customers.
Actually, tomorrow we are scheduled to visit V. Sattui, the original winery established by Dario in 1978. I hope it will come close to the wonder we experienced today. I may be wrong, but I believe you can appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of this property even if you don’t drink wine and based on what we saw driving to this area, there are many more properties in this area worth seeing.
One of hundreds of vineyards along road in Napa Valley
Cluster of grapes on vine
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