Napa - Castello di Amorosa

Gargoyle guards the Napa castle

Drawbridge goes over a moat!

Castle walls from inside courtyard where they setup for parties and concerts.

Stone cutting styles from different centuries - Castello di Amorosa

Mural in one of the great rooms.

Kids love the battle scenes on the murals.

The artist's signature. - Castello di Amorosa

Modern meets the medieval. Wine making technology inside the castle.

Dario Sattui himself has his office across the parking lot in another castle.

View of vineyards from castle tower - Castello di Amorosa

Built to withstand siege of angry wino's w/ hot burning oil through those holes.

Dragon detail.

Wine storage in the dungeon of Castello di Amorosa

The Pit of Doom.

The Torture Chamber

Weapons on the torture chamber wall.

This bar stool has my name on it.

Torture rack - Castello di Amorosa

Authentic iron maiden. We did not get to see the inside.

The Cage.

This part of the dungeon is far more pleasant.

Thousands of wine barrels are stored down here.

Barrel tasting deep in the dungeons of Castello di Amorosa.

Can't wait to open these!

Some tourist traps in Napa Valley are totally worth seeing -- especially when that trap includes a torture chamber with a Pit of Doom and an authentic Iron Maiden. The wine is pretty good too (we like their Rosé, aka "Gioia.")

There's a right way to visit Castello di Amorosa and there's a wrong way. The right way: dig into your wallet and take the castle tour that includes the dungeons. And if you have kids,,, make sure you do this in the morning. The castle itself is astounding! If you don't pay for the tour, you overpay for tasting and only get to see the exterior and gift-shop portions of the castle. You are totally missing the show.

Napa's castle/winery opened its drawbridge in 2007 after being under construction since the early 90's. The castle was built to replicate medieval anti-siege castles from Italy -- and is "authentic" as possible (aside from earthquake retrofit and embedded sprinkler systems.) The stones are hand-cut and display several different eras of stone cutting. The castle tour is excellent and reveals many of the anti-siege characteristics of the castle, including a drawbridge w/ moat, defensive archer posts, holes for pouring hot oil on attackers, and a torture chamber. My kids really enjoyed this tour, especially because they are big fans of the Lord of the Rings movies and the battle at Helm's Deep.

Within the "ancient" walls is a very modern wine distillery. You will learn much about their process but more about the castle. I'd say the tour is 2/3 castle, 1/3 wine. After the underground torture chamber you pass through the underground halls where all of the wine barrels are stored. Our tour guide tapped one and we enjoyed a barrel tasting. Eventually the tour brought us to a private tasting room that was set up like a long, royal bar. The wine is decent but not remarkable. We enjoyed the Gioia so we bought a few bottles. The castle was built with love by Dario Sattui, who also owns the world-famous winery and picnic spot V. Sattui just down the road. You are welcome to take Castello di Amorosa wines to the V. Sattui picnic grounds and drink them there.

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