Updates from Brix, PRESS Restaurant and Brassica Mediterranean Kitchen

Several local restaurants are making news once again. This time, we’ve got updates from Yountville and St. Helena, including expanded wine programs, new menus and more.

PRESS Restaurant expands all Napa Valley wine list
Leslie Rudd, owner of St. Helena’s PRESS Restaurant, has long sought to make the restaurant a “repository for rare and older Napa vintages.” That explains why in recent months sommeliers Scott Brenner and Kelli White have purchased more than 2,000 bottles and acquired over 250 new selections of vintage Napa Valley wines for the restaurant.

PRESS now offers more than ­1,200 different Napa Valley wines. Among the new acquisitions are legendary vintages such as the ‘70 Mayacamas, ‘74 Freemark Abbey Bosché Vineyard, ‘74 Caymus, ’82 Mondavi Reserve, and the ’62 BV Georges de Latour, upon which both Andre Tchelistcheff and Mike Grgich worked, and White describes as “in beautiful condition, drinks incredibly well. Just magical.”

Brix to launch Winter lunch menu
Starting December 1st through February 29, 2012, Brix restaurant in Yountville will offer a special winter lunch menu. The new menu will feature a seasonally changing, 2-course, prix fixe lunch every weekday for $19 and also includes one glass of wine.

Executive Chef Chris Jones will serve up options and parings that may include a Fried Farm Egg with apple wood bacon, frisee salad and truffle vinaigrette (starter) along with a with a Braised Wild Boar Shoulder with soft polenta and baby spinach (main). Another tasty sounding option is the Heirloom Apple, Celery & Toasted Walnut Salad with shaved gouda and walnut vinaigrette (starter) with Butternut Squash & Pancetta Risotto with a winter herb salad.

Sounds like we’ll have to pay a visit!

Brassica Mediterranean Kitchen focused on wine
Cindy Pawlcyn’s Brassica (formerly Go Fish) opened a couple months back and is solidly focused on providing a unique wine experience for diners.

The restaurant, which celebrates the flavors of the Mediterranean, boasts what it calls the largest by-the-glass selection in Napa Valley with more than 75 different wines (a significant portion of which are from Napa Valley). It also offers the ‘Brassica 12,’ which features a dozen Napa Valley wines from sought-after producers with each offering multiple wines poured by the glass and rotated on a seasonal and vintage-focused basis.

The ‘Saturday Vintner Splash’ sees Brassica invite a vintner into the restaurant to pour diners a complimentary “splash” of their wine. There are also eight different wines on tap (yes, on tap) and Brassica offers every bottle on the list “to go” for 25% off.

Pretty sweet and comprehensive wine program!