Daryl Sattui’s 13-year odyssey brings a medieval fantasy to fruition.
Wait a minute. Are we in Europe or California? Visitors to the Napa Valley may ask themselves this question as they pass through Calistoga and gaze up to see a medieval castle perched on Diamond Mountain. While such a view may appear out of place outside of western Europe, a closer look makes one wonder if it weren’t here all along.
Castello di Amorosa is the brainchild of Daryl Sattui, owner of V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena. While the initial plans were not to build an actual castle (the original name was going to be “Villa Amorosa”), the project kept growing as Sattui’s passion and vision slowly came to fruition. More than 13 years after starting construction in early 1994, the 121,000-square-foot “Castle of Love” finally had its official grand opening on April 2, 2007.
The first dream
Daryl Sattui’s great-grandfather was Italian winemaker Vittorio Sattui, who arrived in San Francisco in 1882. Daryl always dreamed of reestablishing Vittorio’s thriving V. Sattui Wine Company, which had been closed since Prohibition. His grandfather operated the winery out of San Francisco since 1885, personally selecting the grapes from St. Helena during harvest and then hauling them by horse-drawn wagon to Napa for transfer to San Francisco by ferry.
Despite being a fouth generation winemaker, Daryl had to overcome a slew of obstacles—including little practical knowledge of the wine industry and, more important, no capital—when he started pursuing his dream in earnest in the early 1970s. After graduating college, he traveled around Europe for two years, then began apprenticeships at various Napa Valley wineries. Once he had some experience, he developed a business plan and began looking for investors. He leased and later purchased his first property, a small walnut orchard south of St. Helena in early 1975. The house there was in such bad condition, he had to live in his Volkswagen van for more than a month while making it livable.
Investors proved difficult to come by. Finally, with his last $500, Daryl paid for one more month on the property. During that “last” month, Daryl talked a Napa real estate broker into buying the property, building a small winery on it and then leasing it back to Daryl with an option for future purchase.
That’s all it took for Daryl to begin realizing his vision. Within 10 years, he was able to build a beautiful stone winery in St. Helena and purchase a 34-acre adjacent vineyard. Soon afterward, he purchased Carsi Vineyard in Yountville, the 556-acre Henry Ranch property in Carneros and a 128-acre ranch in Solano County. He now also owns a 36-acre vineyard in the cooler Andeson Valley climate (where he grows Pinot Grigio and Gewürtztraminer).
“When I first came into the wine business I was living in my Volkswagen van, trying to figure out, ‘what’s the secret here?’” quips Daryl when asked about his secret to success. “After 34 years, the secret is a lot of hard work, dedication and passion. Never give up. Just go after your dreams and try to do the best you can, knowing there will be obstacles along the way.”
An idea takes hold
Throughout this period of building his business and seeing the V. Sattui Winery thrive, Daryl continued traveling to Europe—primarily Italy, Austria and France—and never let go of his fantasy of one day building a castle. On his many travels, he would visit old and abandoned castles and other beautiful buildings. He collected ideas, thousands of photographs, plans and more than 80 books about castles.
“I have a passion for medieval architecture and had such a fascination for these beautiful buildings I saw in Italy,” explains Daryl. “I would visit hundreds of them. Nobody ever went with me twice, because I would get up before dawn and I’d be gone until dark because I loved it. Other people didn’t love it like I did. I started formulating an idea in my mind but I never knew if I was actually going to do it.”
But in a serendipitous moment that would alter the next 13 years—and even change his whole retirement plan (he’d initially planned to retire in Italy, but spent his life savings building his dream instead), his fantasy started taking shape.
“I was in Italy on my motorcycle looking for a castle on a hillside, and I was trespassing on a winery property,” says Daryl. “This lady came out of the house and said, ‘Had I been in a bad mood, I would have thrown you off the property. But I’m in a good mood.’” She invited him in to taste some wine.
It turned out that the woman’s husband was Lars Nimskov, a Danish engineer who built two houses on his own property in the old style and was interested in coming to the United States. On a whim, Daryl decided to approach Lars (who was actually a naval architect that specialized in cement boats) and ask him if he’d consider coming to the United States to build a castle. After a 90-minute discussion, Nimskov said he would come.
“I didn’t believe him—a lot of people talk—but then we had a series of discussions, and he came,” says Daryl. “I had the ideas but I didn’t have the skills. I designed this whole complex, and he was able to build what I designed.”
While Lars was on the project for approximately 10 years, personality conflicts between him and Daryl finally sent him back to Italy. Another builder out of Italy, Paolo Ardito, has been on board for the last three years to finish the project.
“He’s great…[Paolo] works mainly in refurbishing or remodeling buildings done in the old style and he has great taste,” says Daryl. “When he first came here, he didn’t speak any English, so for the first year or so I only spoke to him in Italian. But then I finally realized that I was really holding his English learning capability back, so one day I just stopped speaking in Italian. It was a struggle for a while, but now he speaks great English.”
Beyond an architectural feat
When visiting Castello di Amorosa, one first wonders whether it was created with old stones and building materials or was simply made to look that way. The answer is both. But even the “modern” materials were handmade in virtually the same way they would have been in medieval times. One door leading into the “great hall” has more than 2,000 nails, each one made by hand.
“This castle was built of virtually all old materials,” explains Daryl. “These bricks in the floor are more than 200 years old. We know that because they were built by the royal brick maker to the Hapsburg. Every stone is hand chiseled, no two stones alike. Nothing is modular, nothing is manufactured. Nothing is done in a series. Everything is individual. Every chain link in that chain in the light fixture was handmade over an open forge. We did it, not entirely, but for the most part, the way it would have been done 800 years ago. That was the only way to do it to make this place real.”
Daryl estimates he imported up to 180 containers of building materials from Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia and Romania. Fifteen to 58 workers were employed at any given time from eight different countries, depending on available funds.
The length of time to build the castle was not so much dependent on waiting for permits, permissions and other political roadblocks. It had more to do with finances and with Daryl’s growing and changing vision.
“It never seemed like we were waiting,” says Rich Castle, part owner and founder of Santa Rosa-based Castle Concrete Pumping, whose firm has worked on the project since its inception. “There was always something going on. But there was never a huge crew for the size [of the building]. The craftsmanship is very, very time consuming—each and every brick laid by hand—it’s so labor intensive.”
Authenticity is vital
Besides being built by either handcrafted or existing old materials, Daryl ensured the structure would have all the elements of a European medieval castle. This includes everything from small details like horse tie racks, an outdoor oven and a deep well to defensive towers, a great hall, a drawbridge and moat, a church, stables, apartments for the royal nobility—and a dungeon complete with torture chambers.
“Castles were the center of farming areas,” explains Daryl. “They were built in strategic locations at the confluence of a river or a valley or at the border of a city-state. They showed off the prestige of the nobles, and also defended against both internal and external enemies. But they were also the centers of farming areas. So, most castles made wine. I tried to incorporate a slice of Italy here including everything a castle in 13th century Tuscany would have had.”
Daryl was so passionate and precise with the details that he not only took care to incorporate all the elements of a medieval castle, but also some of their inherent quirks. Visiting castles in Europe, Daryl would often find a part of the building ruined due to battles, or walls destroyed and rebuilt. Also, as castles were taken over and progressed through time, additions and expansions were built. To reflect this, Castello di Amorosa has a stairway that leads into a wall, doorways that were built and then changed or filled in, and one of the towers will remain unfinished to make it appear battle scarred.
“We had presented a wall section for the stair tower in the gatehouse that was our typical two-foot thick wall: eight inches of stone on both sides of an eight-inch thick concrete structure,” says Doug Osborn, a principal architect for St. Helena-based Lail Design Group project which has worked on this since 1995. “But for Daryl, that wasn’t thick enough. He directed us to revise the design to create a wall twice that depth to duplicate the thick-wall stone construction of the castles in Europe. It wasn’t structurally required—and it’s probably in a place few people will even go—but he wanted to make sure that when someone stepped into the arrow loops located along the stairwell, they would experience the thickness of the wall and have that sense of authenticity.”
Is there a building code for a moat?
So how does one build a medieval castle while conforming to modern day California building codes and standards? The task wasn’t always easy, and sometimes caused a lot of additional time, aggravation and expense. For example, almost $2 million was spent on a fire prevention system for a building that physically cannot burn, just to conform to California’s fire regulations.
“It’s been a marathon,” quips Osborn. “I’m sure the county had to buy a few new filing cabinets for all our use permit modifications.”
New wineries aren’t always welcome additions to some Wine Country communities already burdened with excessive traffic and noise caused by wine industry tourism. However, perhaps because of the unique quality of this structure (most would agree this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill winery), neighbors and Napa County have been very supportive and excited about the establishment.
“Everyone who sees it is entranced by the whole experience,” says Osborn. “It seems like everyone wanted to do what they could to help make it happen.”
Castle agrees. “Usually, with huge projects like that, somebody gets uptight, but we never saw it. Everybody was a joy to work with. [The feeling was], ‘This is the way we’re going to do it. I don’t care how long it takes, we’re going to do it right.’”
The real attraction
For Daryl, the castle is really just a beautiful setting to showcase his first passion: his wines. He’s quick to explains that, “For centuries, many of the great wines of Europe have been made in castles. Castles have always been agricultural centers as well as defensive fortifications. It’s really all about the wine; I built a beautiful building to make beautiful, great wines.”
Indeed, most of the building is dedicated to winemaking, including four levels of underground cellars and about 95 of the 107 rooms. The initial releases include Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Bianco, Gioia (a Rosé), Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, “Il Barone” (a reserve Cabernet Sauvignon) and a “Super Tuscan” (a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Sangiovese) that he labeled “La Castellana,” meaning “the feminine head of the castle.” It’s named for his wife, Yana. Prices range from $19 to $68 per bottle.
Daryl puts the same passion and drive for detail that he put into building his castle into his winemaking. For this winery, they’ll all be created in the traditional Italian style. Modern techniques will only be used if they’re better for the wines, otherwise, the winemaking process will be very similar to the way it’s been done in Italy for centuries.
This is one of the major reasons two of the acres occupied by the winery are underground, and why Daryl spent 10 of the 13 construction years on just the underground portion. Not only the white wines, but even some of the reds, are barrel fermented to extract more flavor. In addition, he’ll wait a minimum of four years before releasing wines (many other wineries wait two) to give them 20 to 22 months in the barrel, plus another two years in the bottle. Daryl believes this softens the wines, makes them more complex and heightens the flavors.
“It’s important that we age them in caves—we have 900 feet of caves in the hillside—and in our cellars because of the high humidity,” explains Daryl. “This keeps the barrels swollen, which provides less evaporation and keeps the barrels full so the wine doesn’t contact the air. It’s a cool, constant temperature of 58 to 59 degrees, which is ideal for wine. Many wineries have modern buildings with air conditioning, which dries out the air. In doing so, a vacuum is created that causes a lot of evaporation in the aging wines—and increases the alcohol content. The caves and cellars have high humidity, so you’re not pulling water out of the wine, thus reducing the alcohol content. We think that makes the wines more balanced.”
As he has operated V. Sattui Winery, Daryl plans to only have the wines available at the winery with no outside distribution. In fact, the Castello di Amorosa Winery is producing a smaller quantity of wine (currently 8,000 cases annually) than his V. Sattui Winery, and will eventually increase to a goal of an annual 25,000 cases. He will most likely limit his castle tours to a maximum of 12 people (by appointment) and, because he wants the wines to be the first and foremost attraction, tours will only be available for those tasting wine (tasting will not require an appointment).
Daryl hired Gerardo Sainato, a chef out of Italy who was second-in-command at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, to spearhead the many corporate dinners, luncheons, political functions and other events the castle will host. He also hired Brooks Painter as chief winemaker.
“Brooks Painter was the winemaker at Stag’s Leap and was third in command at Robert Mondavi,” explains Daryl. “He’s an accomplished winemaker and has done a great job—he has more than 30 years’ experience.”
Now what?
How could one possibly surpass the accomplishment of building an authentic medieval castle? Daryl has had a lifetime of making his dreams and passions a reality, from reestablishing his great-grandfather’s winery to building a fairytale castle. Undoubtedly, whatever dream he chooses to pursue next, he will accomplish.
“We’ve talked about building houses and wine cellars, but I would be a silent partner and only help with designs because I want to devote my time to making Castello di Amorosa and V. Sattui Winery great,” says Daryl. “We have a body of knowledge now that I don’t think anyone else in the United States has. We can do things the Romans did, we know medieval techniques of building. This body of knowledge would be a shame to let die. We have the workers who can execute it, because we’ve trained them. And we know where to get the materials.”
Indeed, most of the individuals involved in building the castle have been affected by the challenges, joys and overall feeling of accomplishment surrounding the experience. Some are almost sad to see the project finished after spending so many years working on it, as one would miss an old friend.
“It’s kind of sad it’s over,” says Castle. “I have guys who work here who’ve been working on that project since they started working for us. We have some old snapshots [from when we started this project] of pumps that we don’t even have anymore because they’re outdated.”
“It was such a rare opportunity,” agrees Osborn. “It’s not even like once in a lifetime. How many architects in the world get to develop this level of detail for a castle? It was fun trying to get into the heads of the castle-builders of the 12th century.”
Regardless of where Daryl Sattui will next focus his passion, the North Bay is certainly lucky to have this little slice of history in its own backyard.
