Perfect Your Culinary Skills in Napa Valley

This month, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone introduces its first-ever weekend classes for food enthusiasts. “Saturdays at the CIA” offers a wide array of hands-on cooking and wine exploration classes for Napa Valley visitors with no previous professional training necessary. Ranging from “Hot Latin Cooking” to “Street Foods of the Middle East,” these unique  cooking classes take students on a culinary journey while creating dishes inspired by global cuisine. Class sizes are small—just 12 students—so all participants have the opportunity to work one on one with the chefs of the CIA.

Over the course of the two-hour classes, students work in teams to prepare a tasting for their fellow classmates to enjoy. Complementing the culinary program, Saturdays at the CIA wine exploration classes introduce students to the world of viticulture at the state-of-the-art Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies. Instructors guide students in tasting a number of grape varieties and explore the diversity of wine regions throughout the world. Participants also learn helpful tips when tasting, buying, and serving wine for their friends and family. Each of the two-hour classes—taught by the same expert faculty that has made the CIA one of the world’s premier culinary colleges—costs $75 per person.

Enrolled students can get even more out of their trip to campus by making a lunch or dinner reservation at The Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. Guests who make a reservation before class will receive a seat at a communal table with their classmates and enjoy a special fixed-price menu for only $19 for lunch or $29 for dinner. All Saturdays-at-the-CIA participants also receive a 10% discount on any purchases from the college’s Spice Islands Marketplace. And for those who can’t make it on a Saturday, the new food enthusiast offerings also include a limited number of exclusive Sunday classes taught by Chef John Ash focusing on how to pair food and wine ($95 per person).

Schedules are currently posted online and reservations (which are recommended) can be made by calling  707-967-2320. Bon appetit!