Calistoga revels in its ruggedness

ByABC News
October 25, 2007, 8:30 PM

CALISTOGA, Calif. -- Unlike the other once-obscure farm towns dotting the Napa Valley, this outpost at the northern tip has resisted most of the country-club pretensions that took hold when tourists discovered their taste for the wine-country lifestyle in the 1980s.

St. Helena has become a mecca for boutique shops and traffic jams, Yountville reigns as an elite dining destination, and Napa aspires to a chic cosmopolitan vibe.

But rugged Calistoga, which sits atop a network of geothermal springs, is where folks build fantasy castles, soak in hot volcanic mud and enjoy food and wine that fit a workingman's budget. Even though the moneyed interests have arrived here, too, their new ventures still adhere to the quirky, laid-back ethos of the area.

As this mellowest of towns settles into the mellowest of seasons, now's an ideal time to see what has bubbled up lately between the mountains.

Keeper of the castle

For much of the past two decades, Daryl Sattui worried about making a fool of himself as he invested a fortune in a winery project that charitably could be called quixotic or not so charitably, downright strange.

After all, he says, Napa Valley "is a small place, and people talk. A lot of them said, 'He's absolutely crazy.' "

But since April, when Sattui finally unveiled Castello di Amorosa, the centerpiece of his 171-acre estate on Diamond Mountain, a lot of people have been left speechless.

And who can blame them?

Sattui's "Castle of Love" is a full-scale, brick-by-brick re-creation of the medieval castles built in Italy between the 10th and 16th centuries. There's a moat with a drawbridge; a Great Hall with hand-painted frescoes on the walls and ceiling; a dungeon; a torture chamber outfitted with an iron maiden, a rack and a stump for beheadings; 60-foot watch towers affording stunning views of the valley; a chapel; a royal apartment; a vast piazza where Schwarzenegger, Pelosi, Giuliani and a Russian symphony orchestra have staged receptions; and four underground levels totaling two acres.