Napa Valley Here I come!

Do you know there are more than 500 wineries in Napa Valley? If you count the vineyards in the Sonoma area, then you can understand why the San Francisco area is the wine-making capital of the U.S. I knew I wouldn't have the time to tour several wineries so after researching a few major ones, I decided on touring the Castello di Amorosa. The vineyard, which translates into Castle of Love in Italian, is regarded as the "Disney" of Napa Valley, according to my tour guide Sarah, and is located in the highlands of the valley (Calistoga to be exact.)

The winery was modeled after a 13th century European castle

The castle was modeled after a 13th century Tuscan Castle, which is quite obvious from the moment you drive through its gates, past the massive vineyards, toward the castle's entrance. Not that I have been to Tuscany, or Italy for the matter, but judging by what I've seen in movies (Diane Lane's Under the Tuscan Sun comes to mind,) it seems right on the money. Lol. Just kidding. But really, I have toured quite a few European castles and the Castello di Amorosa would fit right in with most of them. Built on 30 acres over 14 years, it is unbelievable how much money and details were put into building what was meant to be just a winery. Of course it's since been featured in a couple of movies and was even the scene of a date during one season of ABC's The Bachelor.

The welcome room features floor to ceiling murals such as this titled Good Government

Not being much of a wine connoisseur, I signed up for the tour just for the experience along with a bit of history. For $40, I got an accompanied guide on a tour of the castle, including sections not open to general admission entry. I also had a choice of five wines to sample. If you're truly interested in sampling a variety of wines and not there just to get drunk, here's a tip: go on a tour with someone else and pick completely different wines to taste. You can share your samples, so you get to taste 10 wines, instead of just five. I went with a friend of a colleague who was visiting my colleague, so we chose to combine tastings. Before sampling from five wines, we were allowed to sample from an 11-month-old Cabernet Sauvignon straight from the barrel. I actually liked it. I realized that I prefer it to the product that gets bottled up. Not a fan of Cabernet.

I thought about hijacking one of these tanks. Just one.

White wine fermenting

Older wines dating back several decades

Sampling the 11-month old Cabernet Sauvignon was great

Since I'm more of a sweet wine drinker, I ended up buying two bottles I had tasted (the La Fantasia and the Late Harvest Gewurztraminer-not the dry one.) I also bought a Balsamic Vinegar dressing and Roasted Garlic Grape Seed Oil that were just too good to pass up after I tasted them at the marketplace. I've already cooked dishes with both and can tell you that you undoubtedly notice their flavors in dishes.

My purchases for the day

This castle may not be the cheapest option for wine tasting, but I can see why it is one of the most popular, if not the most, wineries to tour in the Napa Valley region. If you have a few days to spend in this area, you can try some of the smaller wineries that may offer more tastings for less. But as previously mentioned, with about 500 wineries in the area, and only one day to tour, I'd say this is a pretty good choice. There's also a small farm right outside the exit point, which had some sheep and a few other animals that little kids would enjoy.

You can watch these farm animals without paying for the tour

On a final note, unlike the Sterling, which requires a tram (with paid ticket) to get to, you can drive up to this castle and take pictures of the vineyards, farm animals and the exterior of the building without paying. The other point to note is that the winery does not partake in commercial sales despite producing 25,000 cases every year. It only sells directly to visitors to the castle or online. I imagine this opens it up to possible commercial sales, but the castle does not have any supply partnership with any restaurant, hotel or commercial establishment.