Quick answer
Castello di Amorosa is a winery housed in a hand-built replica of a medieval Tuscan castle near Calistoga, opened to the public in April 2007. Fourth-generation vintner Dario Sattui spent $40 million constructing it, with 107 rooms on eight levels, a moat, a drawbridge and a torture chamber.
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The Castle Builder
Dario Sattui comes from four generations of vintners. His great-grandfather Vittorio opened a winery in San Francisco in 1885, after emigrating from Italy, and the family business grew into the Napa institution V. Sattui. Dario took the idea further than anyone. After business school he spent two years traveling Europe, photographing castles, monasteries and farmhouses, and in 1993 he bought 171 acres near Calistoga for 3.2 million dollars with a plan: build a Tuscan castle that would double as a winery. The family winery, V. Sattui, still bears Vittorio's name, and Dario runs it alongside the castle, which is how a working tasting room ended up inside a fortress.
Medieval on Purpose
The castle opened to the public in April 2007, and the details are not decoration. The masonry, ironwork and woodwork were done by hand, with 8,000 tons of locally quarried stone and 850,000 bricks shipped from Europe. Inside, 107 rooms spread over eight levels: a moat and drawbridge at the gate, a chapel, a torture chamber, and a great hall with a coffered ceiling. Below the castle, a labyrinth of caves runs about 900 feet into the hillside, where the wine ages in a two-acre barrel cellar.
Cross the Drawbridge
Start where the builders did: cross the drawbridge, pass under the defensive tower, and stop in the courtyard before going inside. In 2020 the Glass Fire swept the property — the farmhouse was badly damaged and the castle stood. Take the self-guided tour down into the barrel cellar, where the tasting rooms sit among the aging barrels, and save the view from the castle walls for last.