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The Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies
CIA Wine Studies > Facilities > Rudd Center

The Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies

The ultimate setting to evaluate, appreciate, and communicate about wine-every detail of the Rudd Center, from its 4,500-bottle wine cellar to its choice of wine glasses, was designed to provide you with that experience.

Classrooms Designed with Wine in Mind
In the Rudd Center's Napa Valley Vintners Tasting Theatre and Viking Range Corporation Tasting Theatre, you will taste and analyze wines at individual student stations. Thoughtfully designed for optimal visual evaluation of wine color and clarity, each seat is equipped with light boxes featuring color-correct illumination. Cooling systems keep wines at correct tasting temperatures, and the classrooms' air filtration systems remove excess odors, enabling you to focus solely on the aroma of the wines you're evaluating. And the classrooms' audience response system technology allows you and fellow students to instantly report and discuss your findings from tasting exercises.

Equipped with Everything You Need
From decanters to dishwashers, the Rudd Center is stocked with carefully selected professional equipment. When you are evaluating wines, you will use glasses with a larger bowl and narrower opening to aerate the wine and concentrate aromas. Our commitment to your having the best wine education experience possible even extends to a dedicated washing machine-used only for wine glasses in order to eliminate outside odors and rinsing agents that might interfere with proper sensory evaluation.


Images of the Rudd Center
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"The wine sensory classrooms at CIA Greystone's Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies are designed to minute details for the optimal sensory evaluation of wine and the comfort of our students. Both classrooms are small and intimate, allowing for a high level of personal interaction between instructors and students. Combine these qualities with the sheer beauty of the stone building and vineyard views and you have a facility unparalleled in the United States."

Karen MacNeil,
Chairperson, Professional Wine Studies, the CIA at Greystone,
Author, The Wine Bible

Renting the Rudd Center

The CIA's Rudd Center is available for private wine tastings, receptions, public relations events, seminars, or meetings. You may rent either one or both classrooms, the whole center, or space in our private dining room. If you are interested in using the Rudd Center for your next special event, please contact Cherie Flores at 707-967-2307.