Press Club Lounge / Wine Bar

SoMa, San Francisco –

Wine lovers craving a trip to Napa Valley can save themselves the hour trek by popping into Press Club instead, a cavernous, subterranean lounge and wine bar popular with chic ladies and dedicated connoisseurs eager to sift, swirl, and sip their way through the evening.

Tucked below Yerba Buena Lane – a pedestrian-only thoroughfare connecting Market Street to the museums and Yerba Buena Gardens – the venue first opened as a tasting room that offered rotating samples from six different wineries and very little else. Since April 2011, however, the Club has expanded to include wines from all over California, as well as small plate pairings and select craft beers.

After-work hours see young business types sinking into one of the sleek couches along the wood paneled walls or snagging a comfy stool at one of the bar stations that dot the space.

Although a mellow vibe pervades on weekdays as sophisticated couples, trendy friends, and first dates stop in for wine flights paired with everything from caramel corn to smoked salmon, the energy gets turned up a notch on Fridays and Saturdays when DJs spin hip-hop and electronica to help the artsy oenophiles get loose.

It would be a stretch to suggest regulars ever turn into dedicated party animals at Press Club, but anyone who visits will no doubt leave with wild desires for a day trip to wine country.