Castello di Amorosa tour

"Castello di Amorosa" in English is "Castle of Love". It's a good place to go to tour a medieval period-inspired Italian castle, to taste some wine, and to see some unusual animals in Napa Valley. Anna, Val, and I drove all the way there one morning. The skies were not cooperating so we didn't see the castle in the light of the bright California sun. Instead, I remember my brief visit to the Nottingham Castle in England during winter... cold and cloudy.

The castle offers a great view of the Palisades mountain range, which is beautiful even with its cloud cover.

The exteriors of the castle reminded me of Château de Chillon, a castle on an islet in Lake Geneva. Guests to Castello di Amorosa get greeted by winged gargoyles chained to stone walls and then enter the castle through a drawbridge.

Once inside the castle, visitors get to see the quadrangle or. The arches reminded me of those in the University of Sydney.

In one corner of the castle was a chapel. Outside, it's marked by a bell tower. I'm not sure if Mass is being heard in the castle or if weddings are allowed here. Curious, we wanted to see what's inside the chapel.

But first, we came across a large room. Inside this "Great Hall" was a long banquet table being prepared for a private function scheduled for later in the day. The room is adorned by frescoes from floor to wooden ceiling. These frescoes seem to show rural life during the medieval times. At the opposite end of the room is a huge fireplace. I don't know if this is functional (i.e., winters in Calistoga being cold enough to warrant a roaring fire in the fireplace) or merely ornamental. We couldn't get closer because the room was cordoned off. Only authorised people could go behind the velvet cord.

So we opted to have a photo op outside the Great Hall.

And then we went inside the chapel, where visitors were free to explore. Val's first order of business was to light a candle.

I, on the other hand, was reading a bit more about the chapel. It also contains numerous paintings, but of the religious sort, this time. With limited light penetrating through the windows (thanks to the rain clouds) of the chapel, it looked quite similar to the interiors of Our Lady of Caysasay Church in Batangas.

The visitor's guide indicated that aside from the chapel and the Great Hall, there were only a few rooms available to us on the self-guided tour, apart from the room where wine tasting was being held. One of the rooms we could visit were about wine-making.

It's actually room containing gigantic wine barrels, frames containing information about the winery's best selections (based on wine experts' evaluations), and a rather small telly with a video (on repeat) showing the history of the winery. When we got inside, I thought that this room was rather cramped and poorly planned.

But it's a good shelter from the drizzle that started outside. So we watched the video about the winery, why there's a castle there, and what reviewers had to say about the wines.

Finally, it was time to taste the wines. The cellar had a tasting room and we were allowed to try five wines. There were reds, whites and rosés, reserves, and dessert wines to choose from. I tried the Gioia (rosé), Gewürztraminer dry (white), the Merlot (red), the Cabernet Sauvignon (red), and La Fantasia (dessert rosé). Except for the dessert wine, I found the wines I tasted to be full-bodied and highly astringent (because of the tannins, particularly for the reds). Through this wine-tasting session, I figured out that I prefer merlots to cabernet sauvignons and that I'm not particularly fond of dessert wine (which I found too sweet). But perhaps, this is because I'm not a wine person.

After this wine-tasting session, I still have a bias towards rosé wines from the south of France, particularly in the Côtes des Provence and the Languedoc Appellations d'Origine Contrôllées (AOC), where the grapes used are of the Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah varieties. In fact, my favourite wines so far are from these regions: Domaine Ott Clos Mireille Rosé Cœur de Grain ($48 a bottle) and Gérard Bertrand Côtes des Roses Rosé ($17 a bottle). Mommy, Daddy, and I couldn't find Domaine Ott when we were shopping for wine, which is why we discovered Gérard Bertrand.

The trip to Castello di Amorosa, despite not changing my mind about French rosés, taught me about the AOCs of the Napa Valley region. In a relatively small region of California, there were 10 distinct viticultural regions have been defined based on geography and microclimate. Castello di Amorosa produces grapes in nine of these Napa Valley regions, providing diversity in the wines this winery offers.

After our wine-tasting activity, we opted to breathe the fresh mountain air once again. We explored the second floor of the castle, looking at the courtyard from a different angle.

We also went to the rooftop where we could see the sprawling vineyard.

There's a spot on the roof where people can host parties and functions (but probably not a good idea to do it on the day we visited because of the weather).

Castello di Amorosa is not just a place for adults. Though wine tasting isn't allowed for minors, there was no shortage of things to occupy the kids. There was a peacock guarding the drawbridge, for one. It was the main attraction for kids and adults alike.