Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves

Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves opened for tastings by appointment in early November 2007 and was fully open for appointment only tours on Thanksgiving Day 2007. Those who are impressed by the visual appeal of Castello di Amorosa located near Calistoga in the north part of the valley, will certainly want to visit this winery. It is just as unique but on a smaller more elegant scale. We visited several times during the construction and have since taken more detailed tours. The winery is located just off the west side of Highway 29 south of St. Helena in the Rutherford sub appellation. For easy reference, look for the two large 300-year-old amphora ceramic vases at the entrance to their driveway.

Not many wineries can boast of having four wineries within Napa Valley: the original historic winery on Atlas Peak Road (near the city of Napa), Villa del Lago on Pritchard Hill (the old Girard Winery), this property (in Rutherford) and not one to stop with merely three wineries, Del Dotto opened a 4th winery (Piazza del Dotto Winery & Caves) in Oakville just north of Yountville on the East side of Highway 29 in September 2017.

Real estate and TV infomercial man, now Napa winery mogul, Dave Del Dotto was raised in Modesto, CA; his father was Italian and his mother Portuguese. Dave’s paternal grandfather immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800s from Tuscany and settled in Merced, CA. And like many Italians who came to the U.S. he kept up his winemaking heritage by making home-wine in his basement.

Dave traces his ancestral roots to the early 1100s in Venice, Italy. Del Dotto relatives still live in Lucca, Italy (near Pisa). As a result, his heritage plays a big part in the visual look and feel of his Napa Valley wineries as well as the actual wine making. This winery is everything a classic Italian villa should be from the ancient, gnarled olive trees in front to the marble façade on the outside of the building to the gorgeous 1-ton marble columns inside. In addition, the interior features colorful and ornate tile work, the Venetian chandeliers, the ancient mosaic marble floors, and a beautiful bright orange onyx window upstairs.

It took several years to build this 16,000 square foot masterpiece. On a trip to Italy, while in Florence, Dave and his wife Yolanda spotted a marble butterfly being worked on by artist Ilio de Filippis at his studio. Dave and Ilio became friends and Dave soon commissioned him to oversee the design and construction of Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves. Italian stone masons were brought over to build the intricate brick ceilings as well as to work on the detailed floor tile mosaics. They lived in Napa Valley until their work was completed.

But one local artist also contributed; Italian born but Calistoga resident Carlo Marchiori painted all the frescos on the inside the wine cave. Marchiori runs his own gallery in Calistoga; Ca’ Toga Galleria D’ Arte. He is a well-known muralist who has created murals around the world primarily in North America, Europe and Asia – in select hotels, wineries and casinos. He lives in his self-titled Villa CA’TOGA in the northern part of Calistoga and opens his impressive house to visitors for tours by appointment during select times in the summer.

Oh, and did we mention their sound system is tops with fantastic acoustics in the main part of the winery, the bathrooms and into the cave. As one faces the tasting bar, one will see the impressive audio control screen built into the wall on the right. Thanks, Dave, for turning us on to the modern opera band, Amici – good taste.

No expense has been spared on the construction and furnishing of this winery. From the parking lot, the winery building appears to be low to the ground and this is by design. Dave did not want to build a structure that would dominate the surrounding vineyard landscape. Its foundation was set 16 feet below the surface; this is the only Napa Valley winery that we know of and have visited that features a cave built right into the valley floor. Almost without exception, winery caves are built into hillsides.

Visitors descend steps below ground to the winery entrance, passing a custom-designed fountain made from rocks shipped over from Italy. Vines are planted on top of the cave and from the outside of the winery one has no idea there is a cave on site.

The cave is lined with 39,000 pieces tile that were originally used in 300-year old villas from Lucca, Italy. A VIP room and several alcoves near the end of the cave contain some of their most sought-after wines including the Villa del Lago Cabernet Sauvignon and ‘the Beast”, a proprietary red blend made from grapes from their multiple vineyard sources. Their 2012 vintage of this wine earned a perfect 100 score rating from prominent wine critic, Robert Parker Jr.

Also of note are their two Salumi rooms (very unusual for Napa Valley wineries); both are located at the end of the cave and contained a number of curing meats used by their culinary team.

In 2015 in conjunction with author, Kate Silver Del Dotto Vineyards published a coffee table book titled, Del Dotto Napa Valley, The Dream Becomes a Reality. This book details some of the Del Dotto family history, but primarily highlights the construction and efforts that were required to build Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves.

While focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyards throughout Napa Valley, Del Dotto also owns a 359-acre ranch called Cinghiale in neighboring Sonoma County. The vineyard is located on the Sonoma Coast not far from the ocean. As a result, this is completely different growing climate than in the central part of Napa Valley. Their coastal vineyard is cooler, foggy (often moist during certain times of the year) and contains a diversity of soil types. That property is planted to some 40+ acres of grapes including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. As of our latest update to this review, Del Dotto owns 437 acres with 121 acres planted to wine grapes.

Select Wines
Whites/Rosé
The 2021 Del Dotto Chardonnay Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma Coast is from the Del Dotto owned Cinghiale Vineyard. This gorgeous piece of property is located close to the Pacific Ocean and is planted to a number of other varieties including Pinot Noir, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache. Cinghiale, pronounced ching-gyah-lay is Italian for wild boar. This wine is medium gold in color; nose. The bouquet is a bit closed when its cold, but opens as it warms in the glass. It offers scents of pear, apple, white peach, white nectarine and citrus blossom. It offers a refreshing crispness from the entry through to the finish. On the palate there are flavors of Sierra Nevada gooseberry, grapefruit pith, red delicious apple, honeycomb, pineapple guava, white peach, and pineapple. The fleshy texture is balanced perfectly by its bright acidity. Easy drinking. Looking for an oaky or buttery expression? That is not this wine nor the characteristics of this cool weather site.

The 2014 Del Dotto Sauvignon Blanc Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma Coast Cinghiale Vineyard; this wine offers notes of red apple and pear on the bouquet and as it continues to open the bouquet becomes much more tropical in nature with pleasing aromas of lychee. The palate offers a wide depth of flavor; its texture is rounded and is accompanied by flavors of citrus. It is clean, crisp and very well balanced for such a young wine at the time of our tasting.

The 2014 Del Dotto Pinot Noir Rosé Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma Coast Cinghiale Vineyard; it shows notes of fresh strawberry with a flinty minerality and as it opens further, it reveals notes of lime. There is a pleasing creaminess on the front and middle of the palate. The extended and weighty finish is noticeable and somewhat rare for a wine of this style.

Reds
The 2021 Del Dotto Pinot Noir Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma Coast is pale to medium ruby in color; the bouquet offers scents of dark raspberry, cherries and blueberries with a healthy dose of bacon fat. And there are additional aromatics which become more pronounced as the wine evolves, including of mocha, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, white pepper and old cedar box. This not an earthy or overtly spicy showing, but has plenty of aromatic appeal to draw one in, although we are not sure we could identify this as Pinot Noir in a blind tasting. On the palate there are flavors of cherry, dark raspberry and dark chocolate. This wine lingers with some ‘coffee in the morning’ flavors including mocha, espresso and roasted coffee bean. The tannins are fine-grained and polished and linger seamlessly with a subtle drying character on the fruit and barrel influenced finish. This is a riper expression of the variety; the alcohol is a listed 14.8%.

NOTE: this section of this review has been identified as needing a *major* update including additional current release tasting notes.

Hospitality
The barrel tasting tour takes at least an hour and includes stops at hand painted frescos built into the walls which correspond to historical wine making events. If a tour is a part of your visit here allow at least 90-120 minutes including some time spent in the wine salon after the actual tour. As with tour groups at their winery on Atlas Peak Road near the city of Napa, small groups of people simultaneously take tours with individual tour guides.

Besides being functional, the cave is also a shrine to the history of wine making. Tours include a healthy pour from barrel samples of premium wines; typically, guests will try 8-to-10-barrel samples. Small leaflets describing each wine sampled are available on the heads of the barrel or one can see a summary of what was tasted with a printout available at the end of the tour.

Del Dotto is perhaps Napa Valley’s number one producer in terms of making the largest number of individual bottlings of Cabernet Sauvignon. As of the time of this review they produce approximately 35 different types of Cabernet bottlings with many very small lots, i.e., often 50 cases. As a result, this is an excellent opportunity to see how various types of aging can really change the, aromas, texture and flavors of a wine. The wine educators provide samples of the “same wine” but in different types of oak. The nuances are pronounced and noticeable. Let’s just say the wine thief gets some serious workouts on these tours. At the end of the tour, you will head to their impressive wine salon where you will try the actual finished products (from bottle of course).

‘Delicacies by Del Dotto’ is a memorable combined barrel tasting experience followed by a sit down pairing in their upstairs VIP room accompanied by small plates. While no longer with Del Dotto, talented chef Joshua Schwartz (formerly of Bouchon and French Laundry) used to prepare the cuisine for ‘Delicacies by Del Dotto’. The last we heard Joshua is traveling the world as a fishing guide and chef for his own company, Travel Creek Hospitality. Allow about 2 hours for this experience, usually offered Fridays and Saturdays. While the bites are small – unless you are extremely hungry this tasting/culinary experience makes a nice light lunch, and you won’t leave hungry. To get you salivating, during a recent visit one of the small bite highlights was a Pan Seared Hudson Valley Foi Gras Morels n’ Smoked Yams Black Truffle Jus. NOTE: As of September 1, 2017, this tasting experience has been moved to Piazza Del Dotto near Yountville.

Joshua has reign over one of the nicest winery kitchens you will see in the valley. His culinary domain increased dramatically once he moved the culinary team over to Piazza del Dotto on Highway 29 (just north of Yountville). When Piazza del Dotto opened, the culinary epicenter of the Del Dotto empire shifted to a space that is even more impressive than their Rutherford kitchen.

Sometimes Dave sits behind the bar on Fridays enjoying the results of his wine making team’s efforts and interacting with guests.

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All oak used for aging is always 100% new and is either American or French; they use only organically grown grapes, always handpicked and hand sorted. In addition, only free run juice is used (the highest quality juice) resulting from the natural compression of the grapes prior to pressing.

The number of wines created by a variety of different wine making methods is probably the single most key factor that separates Del Dotto from every other commercial wine producer in Napa Valley (and yes there are over 1,100 of them). Del Dotto crafts such a wide variety of wines that they have wine for most every preference. Dave’s philosophy is that consumers are the kings and queens; therefore, at Del Dotto guests can mix and match purchases from what seems like an almost limitless number of choices!

Hopefully by now after reading this review and our reviews of their other properties in Napa Valley, you will have concluded that Del Dotto is known for fun, experimentation, and creativity. This carries through to their wine aging program. They are already a Napa Valley winery leader in oak barrel experimentation as they use barrels from numerous coopers, including a variety of oak. How many wineries carve out additional grooves inside their wine barrels to increase the surface area? Del Dotto does this for some of their experimental programs.

Historically the inside of barrels have been toasted with coopers assigning levels of toast based on the amount of toasting each barrel receives. However, Del Dotto has worked with Vicard Cooperage in France – using a small number of barrels that are ‘toasted’ not by the traditional means of fire but rather by radiation. The temperature can be computer controlled so the toasting remains even throughout, along with maintaining a fairly constant temperature.

They take the aging of wines a step further. For some of their wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Zinfandel etc.) starting with their 2005 vintage, they began conducting both fermentation and aging of the wine in large clay amphora vessels located in the cave at this property. The original vessels they used for this are over 300 years old. This is how wine was made starting two thousand years ago and Del Dotto even buried several of these vessels to represent historical duplication. This type of aging brings a certain earthiness and softness to the wine.

We know of a number of premium Napa Valley wineries aging their wine in what those in the wine industry affectionately called “eggs”, concrete oval shaped tanks; when Del Dotto began using clay amphora very few Napa Valley based wineries were aging their wines in these vessels. Today more wineries in the valley are using clay amphora.

For more information on this unique winery, to schedule a visit to the property or to to join either their wine club or the more coveted VIP membership, visit their primary website here: www.deldottovineyards.com

Note: Piazza del Dotto, Dave Del Dotto & family’s newest winery opened its hospitality center on September 1, 2017 (tastings by appointment). Construction continued on their cave for many months after and as of our latest update, the 40,000 square foot cave is open for visitors. See our review on this site, filed under Piazza del Dotto.

Grounds/Exterior

Interior/Cave