PRESS

PRESS is the restaurant that wine country's winemakers, vineyard owners, and serious wine collectors choose when they want to eat well and drink better. Under the leadership of owner Samantha Rudd and Chef Philip Tessier — a Bocuse d'Or silver medalist — PRESS has earned and maintained a Michelin star by doing something deceptively difficult: cooking food that matches the caliber of its extraordinary wine program.

The wine list is the main event for many. PRESS maintains the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world — thousands of bottles, deep verticals of the valley's greatest producers, a selection that turns dinner into a master class in what this place is capable of growing. The sommelier team is among the most knowledgeable in wine country, which is a high bar. For serious wine people, a dinner at PRESS is a structured argument that the Napa Valley is among the world's great wine regions. The food, to its credit, is equally serious.

The dining room is warm and grounded: high ceilings, warm wood tones, a fireplace that anchors the room in winter. It feels like a place for important conversations. The seasonal menu showcases the greatest ingredients from legendary Bay Area purveyors alongside emerging culinary talent from the valley. The signature caviar pretzel — served warm, topped with roe, with butter alongside — is a precise rendering of indulgence. The American Wagyu preparations and the 21-day tomahawk are the calling cards that regulars plan their visits around.

PRESS is most powerfully itself in autumn, when harvest energy fills the valley and the wine list becomes even more relevant. A table here in September or October, during crush, with a bottle from a grower whose vineyard is visible through the window — this is Napa Valley dining at its most complete.