Largest Restaurant Collection of Napa Valley Wines Debuts at PRESS, St. Helena with Napa’s Pioneering Vintners

PRESS Restaurant, one of Napa Valley’s most acclaimed fine dining experiences, celebrates the debut of its newly constructed wine cellar with over 25 of the valley’s pioneering vintners and the best of their older vintages. The cellar, designed by renowned architect Howard Backen, can house up to 10,000 bottles and is stocked with a groundbreaking collection of rare and older wines exclusively from Napa Valley. PRESS sommeliers Kelli White and Scott Brenner have been scouring the valley to find the best wines from as far back as the early 1960s, and are proud to announce that the restaurant now has the largest all-Napa collection of wines in the country.

Joining PRESS and Rudd winery owner Leslie Rudd for the private opening event, which celebrates the new space and collection, are several of Napa’s most legendary vintners. These vintners include Peter Mondavi Sr., Robin Lail, Bill Phelps, Paul Draper, Warren Winiarski, Boots Brounstein, Kathleen Heitz, Carl Doumani, David Ramey, and John Kongsgaard among others.

In addition to showcasing the new cellar, PRESS will also debut an interactive wine list hosted on iPads. Uncorked Apps has developed custom second generation iPad software to allow PRESS customers to engage more easily with the extensive wine list, and for improved inventory management. The restaurant will soon offer an iPad for every table – 30 in total – with the ability to sort the wine list by price, varietal, and winery.

PRESS owner Leslie Rudd created the cellar to provide a “repository for rare and older Napa vintages” for wine lovers to enjoy while discovering the remarkable ageability of Napa wines. Fondly referred to by White as a “drinkable library,” the new wine cellar at PRESS will allow visitors and locals to experience Napa’s rich history first-hand. With offerings such as 1962 BV Georges de Latour, School House 1974 Pinot Noir, 1974 Caymus, and 1982 Mondavi Reserve, PRESS has become the ideal place to taste your way through the decades and deeply explore the United States’ most legendary wine growing region.

The wine cellar, handsomely appointed in deep browns and glass walls, is situated between PRESS and Dean and DeLuca with access from the restaurant The cellar consists of three separate climate-controlled spaces joined by one common tasting room, separated from the main cellar by floor to ceiling glass walls. Design elements include a concrete floor, plaster walls, steel trim, and custom fabricated steel sash windows, and view windows that look into Dean and DeLuca. The 8’ high ceiling, doors and long central table in the common room are made of reclaimed wood from Leslie Rudd’s Edge Hill property. The cellar also boasts full height chalkboards at both ends of the common room, which will be used for note-taking and wine descriptions. Each of the cellar spaces provides for individual air-conditioning and humidity control, to meet the requirements of different types of wine.

About PRESS Restaurant St. Helena:

PRESS Restaurant celebrates the famous red wines of the Napa Valley with the finest prime dry-aged beef grilled over cherry- and almond-wood, roast chicken from the wood-fired rotisserie, and locally raised lamb and pork. Chef Stephen Rogers’ daily menu of sustainable wild fish and seafood dishes provides equally high notes for lovers of Napa Valley white wines. The restaurant’s comfortable vineyard setting includes indoor and patio fireplaces, a produce, herb, vegetable and fruit garden, a handcrafted walnut bar, framed by temperature-controlled wine towers showcasing an extensive Napa-only wine collection. PRESS is now wine country’s number one destination for vintage Napa Valley wines and has the most extensive Napa Valley wine list to be found at a restaurant anywhere.