Welcome to The Press - A guide to California wine country

Created by The San Francisco Chronicle

The Press is a collection of winery reviews (and much more) from the journalists at The Chronicle, with the mission of providing a one-stop travel resource for Wine Country. Here’s a small sampling of what you’ll find on the site:

Reviews

Reviews are conducted by our staff of experts, led by Chronicle wine critic Esther Mobley. Currently, there are more than 200 reviews of tasting rooms in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Cruz. The Chronicle staff chooses which wineries to review, based on merit and prominence. For each of these reviews, we visited the places in question, and paid in full. The Press reviews are unbiased and honest, abiding by the same journalistic values as other forms of criticism at The Chronicle.

Maps

All wineries that have been reviewed by The Press appear on this map, which can be filtered by region, sub-region and a variety of other categories, from wine specialties (Pinot, Chardonnay, etc.) to tasting cost to picnic areas.

Trips

Want some recommendations for finding top-flight Syrah in Sonoma? Or the best tasting rooms in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Or Yao Ming's favorite red wines in Napa? Or the best places to take your dog? These trips have been curated by either our expert Chronicle staff or Wine Country luminaries.

Plan Your Trip: This is a customizable tool that you can use to create your own trip. Each individual winery page features an “Add to Trip” button that can be used to compile a list of wineries you want to visit. The Press can then map out directions and drive times between the saved wineries.

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Marketing Opportunities

Wineries cannot buy reviews, and wineries cannot influence our journalistic coverage. Wineries that have bought promotional advertisements are marked as a “Partner Winery.” If you are a winery owner and interested in learning more about ad partnerships, contact Heather Elliott-Hudson or Adam Wallace.  To learn more about them, read their bios here.