I’ve mentioned before of my visit last month to the CIA at Greystone with my brother Bruce and my future brother-in-law Bill.

After our CIA flavor bar experience, it was time to tour the 117,000 square-foot facilities of this California branch of the Culinary Institute of America.

Situated in the heart of California’s wine country, the school was originally known as Greystone Cellars and was once  the largest stone winery in the world for the processing and storage of wine. The walls are 22 inches thick and made of locally quarried tufa stone.

The property was later purchased by Christian Brothers in order to increase their well known brands of wines, brandies and ports.

Then, in 1993, the CIA was able to acquire it along with a 15-acre merlot vineyard. . Renovation was completed in 1995 and exceeded $15 million dollars.

Once inside this amazing structure we saw its huge collection of over 1,000 cork screws and numerous wine cellar keys.

Tyffani Peters took us through the school’s beautiful facilities which included a 15,000 square foot open teaching area, the DeBaun Theater, and the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies.

The school’s 90 foot high entrance atrium displayed flags of the major wine producing countries of the world-France, Italy, Spain, Russia, United States, Australia, Portugal, South Africa, Germany, Argentina and Canada.

We also saw Greystone’s Vintners Hall of Fame, a popular banquet facility on the second floor where the greats of the wine industry of the Napa Valley are featured on the front of each large cask.

And what goes best with wine (or for that matter everything)?-chocolate!  We were able to see the wonderful creations that the chefs had made from this delicious substance.

All of this travel and walking definitely built up an appetite and we were looking forward to dining at the school’s prestigious  Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant.

Next: Dinner at Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant.