Very last minute, Steven decided we should visit wine country over Memorial Day weekend. We booked a hotel room in Calistoga and off we drove. World famous Napa Valley is pricey, as we discovered, but it is world reknown with the biggest names in wine outside of France and Italy. (If you want reasonable, visit Walla Wall, WA, which has a burgeoning wine industry and that I view as just as delightful. See previous post.) Tasting fees have jumped in Napa, likely to make up for closures during the pandemic.
Our first stop was at the "Castle Winery" in Calistoga,
Castello di Amorosa. Wine tasting here is $50-60 per person, but comes with a 14th century style Tuscan castle, complete with moat, drawbridge, chapel, dining hall, frescoes, tapestries, dungeon, torture room, etc. (A separate tour takes you to the torture room.)
Outside, emus, chickens, and goats are corralled next to grapevines on a hillside, all used as backdrops for the thousands of selfies taken here.
We descended to the cellar to have our wine, poured by a young woman from South Africa. Next to us were tasters from Israel, originally from France. This winery sells only on site and via subscription. I suppose that adds to its cachet. It certainly was doing a brisk business on our visit.
Next day we had coffee at Calistoga Roastery (highly recommend for the hippie vibe, signage and good eats), then stopped in at the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce for suggestions for our next wine tasting. Maybe it was the free tasting offered at Sigma 6 Ranch, or the chance to explore lesser-visited Lake County, but we decided to go north and visit our second winery outside of Napa County.
After a pleasant drive, we entered Six Sigma Ranch, which is part vineyard, cattle ranch, and soon, glamping. Here we had lunch (and wine).
Hutopia is building a glamping outpost here. Glamping is high end camping. That means you can book a tent with all the comforts of home, including a flush toilet. It's like a cabin but with canvas walls. An example was ready for us to explore after our wine tasting. Here you see Steven on your own private deck, and inside, with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchenette, dining hall. Steven pronounced it "acceptable."
Then we headed back home, through the thick of wine country. Did you know that in the U.S., 90% of our wine comes from California? We can attest there are a lot of grapes in Cali.
