Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE CULINARY
INSTITUTE OF
AMERICA AT
GREYSTONE
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When New Spain achieved independence in 1821, Alta California was under the control of the new
government in Mexico. General Mariano Vallejo commanded the military troops stationed north of
San Francisco, but he was sympathetic to the wishes of many Californios to be free, even from the
new administration.
After the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, Vallejo supported the new government and
had title to a vast land grant, which encompassed much of the current Napa Valley. The City of St.
Helena is located in the center of Vallejo's land grant.
From its beginning, the fertile valley has been an agricultural center. Noting the wild grapes
growing in the region, French varieties were eventually imported, giving rise to the largest and most
prolific wine region in the Americas. St. Helena has since become an important business and bank-
ing center for the wine industry.
Food and wine go together, and The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is one of the
best places to experience that commingling. The CIA at Greystone was originally built to serve as
Greystone Cellars. When it was completed in 1889, Greystone was the largest stone winery in the
world. A cooperative winery serving Upper Napa Valley grape-growers, it had a planned capacity
of 2 million gallons. The 117,000-square-foot structure, with 22-inch thick walls of locally quarried
tufa stone, was designed by Hammond McIntyre, who also designed Trefethen, Inglenook (now
Rubicom Estates), and Far Niente.
The phylloxera epidemic in the Napa vineyards at the close of the nineteenth century lasted
through the Prohibition era, and drastic decline in wine production rendered Greystone virtually
dormant. In 1950, the Christian Brothers, a Catholic lay teaching order, purchased the property to
increase production of their well-known brands of wines, brandies, and ports under the direction of
Brother Timothy, whose world-famous corkscrew collection of more than 1,000 items is displayed
on the first floor of Greystone.
The Greystone facility and the exclusive marketing rights to the Christian Brothers' brands
were acquired in 1990 by Heublein, Inc., an international food and beverage distributor. The
