The

list · Modern The Press Club on Yerba Buena Lane has run a flight-driven wine bar format since 2008 — six tasting bars within a single room, each operated by an Northern California winery direct, allowing drinkers to move between Sonoma pinot, Napa cabernet, Russian River chardonnay and the others without leaving the room. The format is uniquely instructive: nowhere else in San Francisco can you compare four producers from the same appellation as cleanly.

Wine director Mike Larner curates the rotating slate of participating wineries. Ranks fifth because the format is a teaching environment rather than a destination wine bar, but as a study in regional comparison nothing else in the city compares.

For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best wine bars in San-Francisco, the broader San-Francisco wine bars guide, and our category index of wine bars worldwide.