‘Castle’ winery owner thought Glass Fire would stop at Napa River

The sting of the Glass Fire incident in the Napa Valley sears the dreams of Dario Sattui, who estimated at his Italian “castle of love,” the Castello di Amorosa property, experienced more than $10 million in losses by Monday.

Sattui surveyed his grounds off St. Helena Highway near where the now 42,560-acre fire roared between Deer Park and Bothe Napa Valley State Park and discovered he lost 15,000 square feet in warehouse space filled with 3,000 cases of wine, a laboratory, all offices and vintage wine in an auxiliary building. It was a heart breaker.

“At least the castle was saved,” he told the Business Journal, adding the fire came to within 150 yards from his home.

Sattui, who retains full ownership in Castello di Amorosa and a stake in the fully intact V. Sattui Winery farther south, was awakened at 3:45 a.m. Monday morning by neighbors.

“I thought: ‘No way can it jump the Napa River, and it did. Then, I thought: It can’t jump the highway. And I was wrong,” he said in painful surrender. “We were just unlucky and will have to rebuild. We’ve gone through COVID. This has been a horrible year for us.”

That pretty much sums up the sentiment heard from many residents and business operators fed up with what 2020 has delivered — even for the more resilient of “Sonoma Strong.”