Good gosh this place was neat. They took us back among a few hundred barrels and helped to educate us on the process of how they source their barrels and what wood they use when placing it. One thing we learned is that each barrel can go for anywhere between $400 - $1600. (We are now considering planting a few oak trees. Give us 30 some years and we should be pretty well off.)
We got to try different varietals and our guide just kept trying to gauge what wines we liked the most. Ellaine and I clearly have good taste as my favorite clocked in at a svelte $175 per bottle while Ellaine's was $205. We have been to some wineries with their top ends being delicious, but the lower ones lacking. Not so much here, despite being advised to pour out our excess wine after every tasting, we only poured it out once as everything was so good.
Of great fascination to me (and not so much to Ellaine), was the mold and slime growing on the inside of the cave walls. I have heard about this before, especially with cheese caves, but I had never actually seen for myself what this actually was. Literally every inch of the walls was covered with a slime called Baudoinia compniacensis. It only grows in areas with significant alcohol vapor for multiple years. I probably spent more time staring at the walls and all the colors of the slime than I did at the tour guide. 
The penultimate part of the whole tour was after they brought us out of the caves and served us some cured meats. Turns out, there were a few individuals from another Napa winery in the group with us. Each of the wineries seems to have a friendly rivalry with each other, so Del Dotto decided to bring out their A-Game to impress these guys. They went and shared a glass of their Beast Wine from a cask that had already been sold out. Great googily, this was something else.
I can't take any credit for this one, it's all on Ellaine. Thank you to my wonderful wife for arranging such an awesome venue for us to visit.
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