V. Sattui - Napa Valley

Here at V.Sattui winery you will be treated to an amazing wine country experience. It's not just about getting into a shuttle and visiting some wineries on this tour. The picnic lunch will give you an opportunity to relax and take in the California Wine Country and some good food with others in your group. We will take part in an in incredible value tasting experience and then eat lunch. V. Sattui only charges $5 per person to taste 6 wines. For the picnic lunch, you will have the opportunity to select what you want from a wide selection of lunch sandwiches and salads. The Wine Country Tour Shuttle will give you a $10 coupon for lunch. You might want to spend a little extra and try their olives and rare cheeses along with the V.Sattui wines during lunch. Be sure to ask a V.Sattui wine pourer which wines go best with their olives and cheeses. We will not be rushed for lunch, we will have 90 minutes to taste the V.Sattui wine selections and have lunch.

Winery Facts:

Over the years, V. Sattui Winery has garnered hundreds of Gold Medals for the excellence of thier wines. They produce a wide variety of wines at various price points, because they believe in having a selection for every taste, preference and pocketbook. The V.Sattui vineyards are located throughout the Napa Valley and beyond, with key locations in St. Helena, Yountville and the Carneros District. Farming more than 300 acres, we produce over eighty percent of our grape needs.

Accolades:
V. Sattui was named the top winery in the State of California for the second time in 3 years. California State Fair recognizes V. Sattui Winery as “TOP WINERY IN CALIFORNIA,” for 2006, an award that V. Sattui won in 2004 as well. Small (40,000+ case) V. Sattui, whose wines are sold only at the winery or through mail order, takes top prize at State Fair Wine Competition Awards Ceremony. Sacramento , July 14, 2006: The California State Fair yesterday presented Daryl Sattui with the Golden Winery Award, recognizing V. Sattui Winery as THE TOP WINERY IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2006! This award is presented annually to the winery which has the greatest number of wines winning the highest number of awards. The top awards included eight wines selected "BEST OF CLASS," one wine voted "BEST OF REGION," and nine GOLD MEDAL winners, including one DOUBLE GOLD. The California State Fair is the largest state wine competition in California.  This year, 651 wineries entered nearly 3,000 wines from around the state.

Featured Wines:

2005 Muscat - Unique, with fresh-grape flavors, this excellent dessert wine has nuances of apricot and orange blossom. Delicate, sweet and refreshing. Goes great with fresh fruit desserts or with blue cheeses. Gold Medal Winner by Tasters Guild.

2006 Sauvignon Blanc- The extraordinary symbiotic relationship that Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon can have is borne out in this recent bottling where the Sauv Blanc (76%) lends aroma and acidity and the fig-like quality of Sémillon (24%) tempers any grassiness and adds additional structure and flavor.

2005 Carneros Pinot Noir-On the heels of the multiple-Gold-Medal-winning 2004 Henry Pinot Noir, the just-released 2005, with its intriguing dark fruit character and complex spice and cedar notes, will not be around for long. Its supple texture and tannins, and smoky, toasty oak invite enjoyment with earthier dishes. GOLD MEDAL- San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

2003 Cabernet Sauvignon- Three-quarters Preston Vineyard Cabernet, this excellent ’03 Napa Cab has about 13% Henry Ranch and 7% Morisoli Vineyard Cabernets in its blend. It’s been bottled since mid-summer and is wowing a lot of people who sample it, who find it a solid Cabernet, easy on the palate, with plump cherry fruit and a sprinkling of vanilla and root beer-like spice. Drink now through 2010. 2 GOLD MEDALS- Florida State Fair and Amenti del Vino.

 

Tasting Room:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V. Sattui Winery offers a unique opportunity to our tour customers with their beautiful picnic grounds, Tasting Room, Deli & Cheese Shop and Gift Store. In the Deli alone we offer nearly two hundred cheeses, a variety of meats and a selection of unique salads and gour met foods specially prepared in their own kitchens by their executive chef.

V.Sattui and our Tour:

    

 

At V.Sattui we will have our own picnic table setup for us by your Tour Guide, where we will be able to enjoy a lovely lunch and beautiful surroundings and lush grounds of the V.Sattui estate. Please note that If we arrive late or if V.Sattui is having a special function on the day of your tour, we will have our picnic lunch on picnic blankets on the grass.

 

V.Sattui Winery History:

Italian winemaker Vittorio Sattui arrived in San Francisco in 1882 with his new bride, Kattarina, to begin their life in America. Born in Genoa, Vittorio, like his father before him, was by trade a baker from the small hilltown of Carsi. At first, Vittorio indeed worked as a baker and made wine in his spare time while Kattarina took in washing. Soon the industrious Sattui family had saved enough money to start a boarding house in the Italian colony of North Beach. Vittorio continued to make wine, serving it to his patrons at the boarding house; and, by 1885, the reputation of Vittorio’s wines allowed him to quit the bakery and devote himself full-time to his real passion, winemaking. Vittorio quickly established a thriving com mercial venture (located at 722 Montgo mery, now Columbus Avenue) called the St. Helena Wine Cellars, taking the na me of the small, bucolic, Napa Valley town were he obtained his grapes. Vittorio always said, “There is nothing like St. Helena grapes.” He would personally select the grapes during the harvest and then haul them by horse-drawn wagon to Napa for transfer to San Francisco by ferry. When Vittorio moved his expanding winemaking business and family (Kattarina and Vittorio eventually had six children), to the Mission district at 2507 Bryant Ave. near the corner of 23rd Street, he adopted the new name V. Sattui Wine Company. Vittorio continued to ferry his grapes to the city from St. Helena, crushing them at his new winery. The V. Sattui Wine Company’s high quality wines were sold directly to its customers and delivered to their houses in barrels and demijohns (one to 25 gallon sizes) throughout the Bay Area by horse-drawn wagon. Eventually, Vittorio’s clients reached as far north as Oregon and Washington. The family business thrived. In 1920, Prohibition sounded the death knell for Vittorio Sattui’s family business. “I’ll do nothing against the law,” Vittorio said, and V. Sattui Wine Company lay dormant for the next sixty years, a dream deferred and half-forgotten.

Napa Valley:

Daryl Sattui remembers visiting Vittorio, his great-grandfather, who continued to live upstairs at the long-closed Bryant Street winery until his death at age 94. “As a small child, my first recollection was the aroma of wine emanating from the old building as soon as I entered,” Daryl says. He played among the barrels and ovals in the cellars, stories of the old family wine business ringing in his ears. It was then, Daryl believes, that the dream of reopening the winery began. In 1972, after two years in Europe beyond college, Daryl began his apprenticeship at various Napa Valley wineries. He still had his dream, the same dream he’d had as a child, that he “would reestablish V. Sattui Winery to its former glory.”But just how to do this was the problem. Daryl had almost no capital and little practical knowledge of the wine industry. So he dedicated himself to developing the tools and skills he’d need to make the dream become a reality. Soon he had a business plan and began looking for prospective investors. Later, he found a parcel of land for sale that had a small walnut orchard with an old house on it. Daryl remembers bringing prospective investors to the property telling them, “’Here is where we will build our Winery,’ all the while being afraid that the people living on the property would throw me off for trespassing.” Since he couldn’t afford to purchase the property outright, he managed to get a lease-option for $500 a month. “The house was in such bad condition we lived in my VW bus for more than a month while making it suitable enough to live in.”Time passed as Daryl continued to look for investors, but there were no takers. He’d only raised half the capital he needed to begin the Winery. With his last $500, he paid for one more month on the property. He managed during that “last” month to talk a Napa real estate broker into buying the property, building a small winery on it, and then leasing it to Daryl with an option to purchase it back so meti me in the future. Still short of funds, Daryl took investors with skill, but no money who helped him create the Winery building. They began the building in the summer of 1975 and it was finished in early 1976. Renting the winemaking equip ment he needed, and using his great-grandfather’s hand-corking machine and Vittorio’s original design for the wine bottle labels, the Winery was open for business. When Daryl was living in Europe, he’d seen small, family-run neighborhood delis filled with freshly made foods and wonderful selections of cheese. He was able to convert this memory into what was to become the perfect match for great wine, the now-famous Cheese Shop and Deli. Years passed and the struggle continued. Slowly, the winemaking process improved and success came. In those first few years, times were hard and Daryl lived frugally, sometimes spending his nights sleeping on the floor of the Winery so he could put what money he had into the new business. This original Winery building is now the main tasting room. As the business grew, Daryl began to be able to accumulate the best equipment available. By 1985, V. Sattui Winery was able to build, amid 300-year-old oak trees, a beautiful stone Winery, reminiscent of late 19 th century wineries in Italy and France. With its two stories, tower, wine caves and underground aging cellars, it was a fitting tribute to help celebrate the centennial of Vittorio Sattui’s dream. That same year, the 34-acre vineyard adjacent to the Winery became available. Renamed Suzanne’s Vineyard after his wife, it was soon joined by 30-acre Carsi Vineyard in Yountville. Then, in 1994, the Winery was able to acquire the 556-acre Henry Ranch property in the Carneros grape-growing region. And in 1998, the purchase of a 128-acre ranch in Solano County secured Napa Gamay grapes for its most popular wine. These, along with other acquisitions, will in the near future allow V. Sattui Winery to supply over 85% of its grape needs from five very distinct microclimates. From the very beginning, Daryl refused to compromise on the quality of the wine. The production and retailing concept offers insight into the reason for V. Sattui Winery’s success. Daryl’s vision has always been to fully integrate the process of winemaking from the grape to the consu mer. This vertical control over all aspects of viticulture and winemaking is the future for V. Sattui Winery. It is because of Daryl Sattui’s dream that V. Sattui Winery has been able to provide the finest wines possible while continuing to sell them at a fair price directly to the consumer. Daryl’s enthusiasm and passion for the venture that Vittorio began so many years ago has contributed to the renaissance of the small family business of today. The traditional, family-business approach remains the Winery’s commitment to the highest-possible quality wines and foods for its customers. This shared vision, stretching over four generations of the Sattui family, is a fitting tribute to the success and continuing possibilities of the American dream.

Visit V. Sattui's winery website - click here

Buy V.Sattui's wines direct - click here