The Best Wine Tour in Napa

When my the Maid of Honor in my wedding tells me that she's coming to visit me in California you plan fun adventures. I'm recruiting her to move to the west coast so of course I had to think of the best places to take her. We knew that we wanted to visit San Francisco, but of course there's wine country.The first place that came to mind when she said she wanted to visit Napa was the Castle Winery also known as... Castello Di Amorosa.

 

My husband and I have toured this winery before and we loved it. It's located in Calistoga on the top of a huge hill. Castello di Amorosa opened it's doors to the public in April of 2007 and is the sister winery to V. Sattui located just a few miles down the road. What makes Castello unique is the fact that it was modeled after a Tuscan Castle. The Castle was created by using materials brought over and hundreds of thousands of hours of labor to recreate the look of an authentic Tuscan Castle in the 13th century. This winery isn't stuffy like some of the others can be and the wine is excellent. The tour takes you through the castle and ends with a tasting of all their finest wines.

Every detail of the winery sets you into the mentality that you are in Tuscany living in the 13th century.

And you thought that's all there was? Wrong! They have livestock too! Just how a real 13th century winery would have....

The winery was a hit! Erica loved the winery so much she bought a case and became a member! Now we just need her to visit again so we can get that member pricing tour. The tour never gets old and the tasting is always a great time. The wine just gets better and better. Their most popular bottle is La Fantasia. I highly suggest taking the tour or buying some online. This wine isn't available in stores so if someone tells you they bought it in a store don't believe them. It's only available by coming to the winery or online.

30 Before 30 Progress

5. Visit the Castle Winery in Napa.

One of the many things I've wanted to do since moving to Sacramento was to travel the short distance to Napa, California. On Friday, April 4th and in less than two hours, I arrived to Castello di Amorosa also known as the Castle Winery. Technically the winery is in Calistoga but is considered a part of Napa since it's right there with it and many other wineries. Castello di Amorosa is known as the Castle winery because obviously it looks like a castle.

As far as wineries in Napa go this one is fairly new. It was built and finished in 2007 and since then it's become one of the greatest. The winery is considered a boutique winery because it only bottles about 25,000 cases a year compared to larger wineries that bottle about 250,000 cases a year. The wine made at Castello can only be found and bought at the winery. It's not available in stores outside of the winery.

 Outside the Castle after the tour.

 some of the grounds

We did the standard tour and tasting. It lasted about two hours and didn't seem too rushed or too slow. We were able to see the entire property and taste 10 different wines.

 touring the property

 tasting

 

Everything about the Castle was as authentic as possible. The owners had as much as possible brought over from Italy. They flew painters over, fixtures, scoured the country for authentic historical pieces of equipment etc. They really tried to do it right. I think they succeeded. The winery was great and I think I'll probably go back in the fall for the stomping of the grapes. I was glad to be able to cross this one off my 30 Before 30 List!