Napa Valley

Wine country!

We are definitely not wine connoisseurs, but we enjoy a nice glass of wine every now and then. Napa is only about an hour away from Nanny's, and it's always been a place that I wanted to visit. While we were dating, we went to Chateau Morrisette for a tour and wine tasting and had a lot of fun. There are billions of wineries in Napa, and we had no clue where to go.

We got some good advice from Emily and Tim, to go to V.Sattui Winery for a picnic lunch and Auberge de Soleil for dinner. Not only did we want to check out a winery or two, but we wanted to just see the scenery of vineyards, gourmet restaurants and the town of Napa.

Right when we got into Napa, we stopped at the visitor center. The sweet lady who helped us gave us all the information we needed, maps, and directed us to a few wineries. She even gave us coupons for tastings and tours.

We first went to Mumm Napa. It was beautiful. They make sparkling wine. We tasted 3 different ones, and it was so delicious we had to buy a bottle of our favorite.

Then we continued down the road enjoying the scenery, and went to V.Sattui. They have a great garden area for picnics in a beautiful setting. The deli was very gourmet with cheeses and meats from all over the world, pre-made salads, sandwiches, and wines of course. We sat and enjoyed the weather outside for awhile, then did a tasting at V.Sattui.


When we finished, we went to Castello di Amorosa. We had heard a lot about it, and were excited to take a full tour and tasting. Even driving up to it was impressive.


The vineyards were beautiful and at the top of the hill sat the castle. It first opened its doors to the public in April 2007, so it's relatively new. It is the pet project of 4th generation vintner, Dario Sattui who also owns and operates the V. Sattui Winery named after his great-grandfather who originally established a winery in San Francisco in 1885. Sattui claims to have spent nearly all his resources and the 14 years building this medieval replica castle on the vineyard grounds. It was awesome! Almost everything down to the terra cotta tiles on the roof were imported from Europe. All the iron work was made by hand by a blacksmith in Italy, one of the few who still do it the old fashioned way. Read more about it. Check out their website here.

The owner, Sattui, made it as authentic as possible. It even has a moat and drawbridge.

There are 107 rooms on 8 levels with many medieval features including: defensive towers, an interior courtyard, a torture chamber with replicas of old torture devices, a chapel where they actually hold mass in Latin every week, a knights' chamber, and a great hall with a coffered ceiling and paintings all over the walls by Italian artists. (Wikipedia)

Even the construction was done as they would have in old times-the bricks were shipped in from Europe from old structures, and they didn't use cement to hold it together, they used sand, water and limestone. All the wood was hand crafted as well.

As part of our tour, we walked through the underground caves that extend 2 acres into the hillside, full of barrels of wine. We even tasted wine directly out of a barrel.


After walking around the castle and touring the inside, it was late afternoon. We drove back towards Napa. We stopped by the Culinary Institute of America to see what it was like. We watched some chefs work with chocolate, getting ready for a competition. Then we tried some of their gourmet chocolates. They were out of this world. Then we got back in the car and drove towards dinner. Auberge du Soleil was recommended by Emily and Tim as well as the lady at the visitor center. It's a gorgeous hotel, spa, restaurant, and bar. Next to the restaurant is the Bar and Bistro, which is more casual dining, but with the same terrace and view of vineyards. We decided to go there. It was very peaceful, the service was great, and the food was so good.

After dinner, we headed back to Nanny's. All along the roadside are beautiful fields and wineries. I tried to take as many pictures as I could...
The grapes were so pretty!


Some interesting Wine Facts and Statistics:

Age of vine before producing useful grapes—3 years

Age of vine before full production—5 years

Productive lifetime of a vine—30-35 years—Although the quality can remain good, the yield begins to decrease after that

Grape clusters in bottle—4-5

Grapes in a bottle—500-600

Clusters on a vine—40

Grapes in a cluster—75-100

Grape clusters in one glass of wine—1

Vines per acre—500-1300

Gallons of wine per acre—less than 500

Bottles per acre—4,000

Bottles per 60 gallon barrel—300

Cost of acre of new vineyard in Napa Valley—$120,000 (some existing property has been sold for $300,000 an acre)

Cost of French oak barrel—$600-850

Cost of American oak barrel—$300-550

Average age of a French oak tree used to make barrels—170 years

Number of years an oak barrel is used—5-8

Number of vineyard acres in Napa County (2008)—45,158 (out of a total of 485,120 acres in the entire county)—only 9% of total land area

Most popular varietals in Napa Valley (in order of popularity)

1.Cabernet Sauvignon
2.Chardonnay
3.Merlot
4.Sauvignon Blanc
5.Pinot Noir
6.Zinfandel

Proportion of total value at harvest of red varietals compared to white—Nearly 3:1

Number of wineries in Napa Valley—Approximately 400

Year grapes first planted in Napa Valley—1838 (by George Yount)

First large winery built in Napa Valley after Prohibition—Robert Mondavi (1966) (Louis Martini Winery was built in 1933 just prior to the end of Prohibition)

Number of cases of Napa Valley wine produced annually—9.2 million (2006)

Ranking of United States in world wine production (1999)—4th—533,596,000 gallons (behind Italy, France and Spain) (2008)

Napa ranking of United States in world wine acreage (1999)—4th—905,000 acres

Napa ranking of United States in world wide consumption—Second place - soon to become first

Percentage of U.S. wine made in California—90%

(www.napanow.com)