Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
daylilies. There's a camellia tree that was planted in 1876, and if the palm trees
seem odd, you should know they were brought from the Canary Islands in the
mid-20th century. The wine is dirt cheap—bottles go from $5 to $8, and four
tastings are free. There are a few ports and sherries to try, too. I imagine this label,
known as a drinkable wine but not an award winner, takes a lot of flak from the
boutique vintners in the region, which may account for how friendly the cus-
tomer-service staff is here. You can benefit from that overcompensation.
On the flip side of Napa cachet is the swanky
Robert Mondavi
55
(Hwy. 29,
Oakville;
%
888/766-6328; www.robertmondaviwinery.com; daily 10am-5pm),
started by the acknowledged pioneer of modern-day California winemaking who
died at 94 in 2008. There's a sign off the visitor's parking lot directing trucks for
GRAPE DELIVERY
—if your winery needs one of those signs, you're not growing
everything yourself on-site, and you're big. The grounds are laid out like a preppy
college campus you wish your parents had the money to send you to. As you drive
up, you're greeted by a handsome bronze-and-glass-mosaic statue of St. Francis by
Beniamino Bufano, and from there, the Mission-style buildings open up into a
view of the vineyards and the hills beyond. This may be the most theatrical win-
ery that also makes wines that connoisseurs care about. Check into the Visitors
Center, to the left, for a highlight history of the winery and to arrange a tour.
There are hourly 80-minute tours ($25) from 10am to 4pm, and the noon tour
also accommodates kids who are too young to drink but older than 13 ($10). You
can't roam the vineyards, although you'll be sorely tempted to, but you can stroll
around the building; to the right, you'll encounter a collection of more chunky
Bufano works; my favorite is the walrus. Benny Bufano was famous for chopping
off his trigger finger and mailing it to President Woodrow Wilson rather than
fight in World War I. His digital protest didn't seem to affect the power of his art.
The tasting rooms generally offer about 10 types that are exclusive to the winery,
and the Appellation Room charges $10 for 3 tastings. All summer long, the win-
ery hosts outdoor concerts on its grounds, something it's been doing since 1969,
3 years after Mondavi kicked off Napa's post-Prohibition rise. It's wise to have
tickets in hand, since big names like Lena Horne and Tony Bennett have been
lured in the past.
Just when people begin to accept that Napa has its own American identity
quite distinct from the European vineyards, someone goes and builds something
like this, which fetishizes Europe in a way that would embarrass a Continental.
The exuberant, over-the-top European pretensions of some of the area's landlords
is on no more immoderate display than at the sublime
Castello di Amorosa
Winery
(4045 N. St. Helena Hwy., Calistoga;
%
707/942-8200; www.castellodi
amorosa.com; Dec-Feb 15 daily 9:30am-5pm, Feb 16-Nov daily 9:30am-6pm),
a
fake medieval castle—completed 2007—of 107 rooms, 121,000 square feet, a
basement dungeon outfitted with antique torture devices, and a 72-foot-long
Great Hall with a 22-foot-high coffered ceiling. Its reputation is more for a tourist
attraction than for its quality wines, which are only sold here. Entry fees are in
place at $10, which includes a tasting, or $5 for the underage. Combined tours
and tastings (1hr and 45min) go for $25 weekdays and $30 weekends, reserva-
tions required. I guess he's gotta pay for his white elephant somehow. It's no
Biltmore or Breakers, but there's nothing else like it around, making it at least
worth a drive-by. Its owner, Daryl Sattui, also runs the V. Sattui Winery in St.
Helena, which is popular with picnickers.
