Napa Valley, California
Castello di Amorosa
The Sattui family is one of the most iconic names in Napa Valley with three generations of wine makers. First founded by Vittorio Sattui in 1885 and re-established in 1976 by his great-grandson Dario, V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena is one of Napa Valley’s most historic wineries. It was the life-long dream of Dario Sattui to build an authentic Tuscan castle in Napa Valley where he could make world-class Italian-styled wines and honor his Italian heritage. This is what led to a 30-year labor of love to construct Castello di Amorosa which opened in 2007 on a hilltop in Calistoga overlooking Napa Valley.
Castello di Amorosa (Castle of Love) was built as an authentic 13th century medieval Tuscan-styled castle. Medieval designs and building methods were employed over a 15-year construction period. For the project, over 200 shipping containers of handmade bricks, tiles, doors, windows, and furnishings were brought over from Europe. Ironwork, doors, and windows were all made by Italian artisans and feature authentic leaded glass in windows. The castle is 136,000 square feet with a total of 107 distinct rooms of which 95 are devoted to winemaking. There is a total of eight levels with more than two-thirds of the castle below ground, much of it for aging and storing wine. Just as you would find in any medieval castle, Castello di Amorosa features towers, ramparts, a Great Hall, chapel, prison, torture chamber, drawbridge, and moat. In addition to tours of the castle and wine tasting experiences, Castello di Amorosa is also available for private functions.
The winery at Castello di Amorosa specializes in producing small lots of superior quality wines. They annually produce around 400,000 bottles of wine while larger wineries in the Napa Valley produce as much as 10 million bottles. Grapes are sourced from the winery’s vineyards found throughout the twelve growing regions of Napa Valley and arrive in the courtyard for processing. Red and white wines are fermented in different fermentation rooms to meet their different requirements. Wines are then placed in oak barrels imported from France and placed in the Grand Barrel Room which is located three levels below ground and features a beautiful, arched vaulted ceiling constructed of antique bricks imported from Europe. Older vintages of bottled wine are stored in the many wine cellars located deep in the bowels of the castle. Castello di Amorosa wines are only sold at the winery or shipped directly to customers’ homes.
Old Faithful of California
Located in the town of Calistoga within the Napa Valley, the Old Faithful Geyser of California was declared by the National Geographic Society as one of only three “faithful” geysers in the world because of its regular eruptions over several decades. Not as powerful as the other Old Faithful in Yellowstone, it consistently sends a column of water 80 feet into the air over a 2–6-minute eruption. Eruptions are consistently at 30-minute intervals which was what I encountered when I visited. The entire Napa Valley is volcanic in origin and modern-day activity heats groundwater below the surface in Calistoga. Once the water boils, it produces steam which forces the super-heated water out of the ground in the form of a geyser. Part of what makes this particular geyser so fascinating is that scientists have found that it can help predict earthquakes. When the geyser’s regular eruptions are delayed or diminished, an earthquake is likely within the next couple of weeks in the 500 miles surrounding the geyser.
Petrified Forest
One of the finest examples in the world of an ancient forest is preserved at the Petrified Forest in Calistoga, California. Approximately 3.4 million years ago, a powerful eruption of a volcano only seven miles away knocked down the forest of a now extinct species of Redwoods known as Sequoia langsdorfii. Thick layers of volcanic ash billowing from the volcano rapidly buried the fallen trees, creating an anaerobic (oxygen deprived) environment which discouraged the presence of the bacteria that decomposes organic material. The thousands of years that followed the eruption were characterized by mineral-rich water seeping through the ash deposits and saturating the pores of the organic tissues of the Redwoods with silica. As the water evaporated, the minerals were deposited in the cells and tissues of the trees, creating a three-dimensional fossil and perfectly preserving even the most minute details of the wood.
The petrified trees remained buried for 3.4 million years until, in 1870, a Swedish homesteader by the name of Charles Evans unearthed a buried tree that he found to be as hard as stone. His initial discovery led to a number of scientists to visit the property including the famed American paleontologist O.C. Marsh. Through his observations at the site, and analysis of the petrified wood back at Yale University, he wrote an article titled “A Fossil Forest in the Tertiary of California” which appeared in the American Journal of Science and Arts in 1871. Research of the site continues to this day with the University of California Berkley leading the way. During his lifetime, Evans (better known as “Petrified Charley” to the locals) befriended the famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson who was known for such classics as Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Following a visit to the site in 1880, Stevenson recorded his experience at the Petrified Forest in his book The Silverado Squatters which furthered the interest in the site to the public. The site passed through several owners until Ollie Bockee purchased the site in 1914 and developed it into the tourist attraction we see today. If you have ever wanted to own a petrified forest, then you are in luck because it is for sale at a mere $12 million asking price.
Hendy Woods State Park
The history of Hendy Woods State Park begins with the Pomo people who lived here for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Russian fur traders in the early 1800s. Arriving during the California Gold Rush, Joshua P. Hendy was an English immigrant who established an ironworks in the area where he made a fortune selling mining equipment. Hendy loved the ancient redwoods and vowing never to let them be cut down, he purchased the land the groves grew on. After his death in 1891, the property was willed to his nephews with a stipulation to protect the redwood groves. Despite the stipulation, the property changed hands several times eventually landing in the hands of the Masonite Corporation that logged much of the area. However, they never logged the Big and Little Hendy groves which remained a popular destination for picnics. In 1958, the Masonite Corporation donated 405 acres to the State of California, which, along with other land, became Hendy Woods State Park.
Located along State Route 128 in Philo between Ukiah and Mendocino, Hendy Woods State Park has expanded to 816 acres. The park’s centerpiece are its two groves of ancient redwoods. The Big Hendy Grove features accessible trails and interpretive signs that take visitors into the ancient redwood forest. The Little Hendy Grove is smaller and has less developed trails, but it is unique in that it is adjacent to the Cowan family apple groves. There are also two campgrounds, access to the Navarro River, and day use areas. In 2011, the park faced closure due to state budget cuts but was kept open through the efforts of the community and the Save the Redwoods League.
In addition to redwood groves, Hendy Woods State Park is also known for being the home of the “Hendy Hermit” for almost 20 years. The hermit, Petrov “Petro” Zailenko, is believed to have been born in the Soviet Union where he fought in World War II and was wounded and captured by the Nazis. He is believed to have entered the United States illegally in the late-1950s when he jumped overboard from a Soviet fishing trawler that was in San Francisco Bay. Zailenko made his way into the Ukiah area where he was working in a lumber mill until he was asked for his Social Security number by his employer. Fearing that authorities would return him to the Soviet Union, Zailenko fled into the forest just outside of Hendy Woods State Park where he lived throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He constructed several huts which were nothing more than planks of wood leaned up against fallen or hollowed-out redwoods. He subsisted on small game like squirrels and would collect items discarded by campers at the nearby state park campground. Some visitors to the state park were alarmed when Zailenko would emerge from the woods to try and bum cigarettes and matches from guests. Over time, he began to entrust some of the park staff with his story and made friends with Joan Cowan who operated the nearby apple orchard and she would give him blemished produce. In August of 1981, Zailenko’s health began to deteriorate and following his collapse in the picnic area the park’s staff had him hospitalized. He died on August 31, 1981 of stomach cancer and his ashes were scattered in his beloved forest.
