The Greystone campus is situated in and around the Greystone Cellars building, which William Bowers Bourn II conceived as a business concept.
His father, William Bowers Bourn Sr.,
was wealthy from ownership of the Empire Mine gold mine, as well as co-ownership of a shipping company.
Bourn II was a businessman with business interests and residences around California, although he had spent his summers during his youth at White Sulphur Springs Resort in St. Helena, before his parents bought Madroño, an estate in the town.

Around the 1880s, San Francisco wine dealers were purchasing wine from Napa Valley vintners at low prices (sometimes around 15 to 18 cents per gallon).
The dealers had facilities to store and age wines that most Napa Valley vintners lacked, and thus were able to purchase wine from the vintners at low prices.
Because of this, Bourn began a campaign to build the cooperative winery; he was in his early 30s at the time.
He created a business partnership with another businessman, E. Everett Wise, who was of a similar age.
Bourn then asked for support within the Napa County wine industry.
Bourn met with Henry Pellet, president of the St. Helena Vinicultural Club, who endorsed the idea and encouraged his associates to do the same.
Bourn and Wise ended up gathering enough support from the local wine industry, and they hired George Percy and Frederick F. Hamilton of the San Francisco architectural firm Percy & Hamilton to design the Greystone Cellars, along with Italian stonemasons to build the façades, and the Ernest L. Ransome firm to handle concrete work.
The plans involved the use of new materials and technology of the time, including the relatively new Portland cement.
The cement was used as mortar and also poured over the iron reinforcing rods built within the first and second floor elevations.
The heavy timber construction of the third floor provided structural support for not only that floor's cask, barrel and bottle aging space but also for the gravity-flow crushing area located on the floor above.
The architects planned for the cellars to hold two million gallons of wine at a time, with thirteen tunnels in the hillside behind the building to hold another million gallons.
Those tunnels collapsed due to effects of water seepage and of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

A large number of men were hired for the building's construction, and local workers were chosen over non-locals.
During the construction, many of the workers lived in tents beside their worksite, and cooked meals and stayed there when not working.
The cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1888; beneath it was laid several bottles of wine, a copy of a St. Helena Star and San Francisco newspapers, and foreign and rare coins.
The building, called the Bourn & Wise Wine Cellar, was completed around June 1889, along with a distillery north of the building and a superintendent's house to the south.
In September of that year Everett Wise became too ill to work and sold his share in the winery to Bourn, who between that time and 1890 named the winery Greystone Cellars.

The building cost $250,000 ($7.11 million in 2019).
At its completion, architect George Percy described Greystone Cellars as the largest wine cellar in California, if not the world.
Greystone was also the first California winery to be operated and illuminated by electricity, produced by a boiler and gas generator located in a mechanical room below the building's central front wing.
In the spring of 1894, a long-lasting phylloxera scourge made Bourn decide the winery was no longer profitable.
The Greystone campus is situated in and around the Greystone Cellars building, which William Bowers Bourn II conceived as a business concept. His father, William Bowers Bourn Sr., was wealthy from ownership of the Empire Mine gold mine, as well as co-ownership of a shipping company. Bourn II was a businessman with business interests and residences around California, although he had spent his summers during his youth at White Sulphur Springs Resort in St. Helena, before his parents bought Madroño, an estate in the town.
Around the 1880s, San Francisco wine dealers were purchasing wine from Napa Valley vintners at low prices (sometimes around 15 to 18 cents per gallon). The dealers had facilities to store and age wines that most Napa Valley vintners lacked, and thus were able to purchase wine from the vintners at low prices. Because of this, Bourn began a campaign to build the cooperative winery; he was in his early 30s at the time. He created a business partnership with another businessman, E. Everett Wise, who was of a similar age. Bourn then asked for support within the Napa County wine industry. Bourn met with Henry Pellet, president of the St. Helena Vinicultural Club, who endorsed the idea and encouraged his associates to do the same. Bourn and Wise ended up gathering enough support from the local wine industry, and they hired George Percy and Frederick F. Hamilton of the San Francisco architectural firm Percy & Hamilton to design the Greystone Cellars, along with Italian stonemasons to build the façades, and the Ernest L. Ransome firm to handle concrete work. The plans involved the use of new materials and technology of the time, including the relatively new Portland cement. The cement was used as mortar and also poured over the iron reinforcing rods built within the first and second floor elevations. The heavy timber construction of the third floor provided structural support for not only that floor's cask, barrel and bottle aging space but also for the gravity-flow crushing area located on the floor above. The architects planned for the cellars to hold two million gallons of wine at a time, with thirteen tunnels in the hillside behind the building to hold another million gallons. Those tunnels collapsed due to effects of water seepage and of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
A large number of men were hired for the building's construction, and local workers were chosen over non-locals. During the construction, many of the workers lived in tents beside their worksite, and cooked meals and stayed there when not working. The cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1888; beneath it was laid several bottles of wine, a copy of a St. Helena Star and San Francisco newspapers, and foreign and rare coins. The building, called the Bourn & Wise Wine Cellar, was completed around June 1889, along with a distillery north of the building and a superintendent's house to the south. In September of that year Everett Wise became too ill to work and sold his share in the winery to Bourn, who between that time and 1890 named the winery Greystone Cellars.
The building cost $250,000 ($7.11 million in 2019). At its completion, architect George Percy described Greystone Cellars as the largest wine cellar in California, if not the world. Greystone was also the first California winery to be operated and illuminated by electricity, produced by a boiler and gas generator located in a mechanical room below the building's central front wing. In the spring of 1894, a long-lasting phylloxera scourge made Bourn decide the winery was no longer profitable.
The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone