Old Hollywood Glamour, Cellar to Match
Atherton · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 5, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Selby's’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Selby's arrives like a small novel — and reads like one too. With somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 selections, this is not a list you browse casually over cocktails. The room already signals that wine is serious business here: old-school Peninsula glamour, a staff that moves with quiet confidence, and stems on the table that tell you exactly where the priorities lie.
California and Burgundy anchor the list with genuine depth — we're talking Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Colgin, and Kistler alongside Domaine Leroy and Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet. Bordeaux checks in with Château Pétrus and Château Margaux, Italy shows up with Gaja Barbaresco, and the Rhône gets proper respect via E. Guigal La Landonne. Germany and Austria round things out, with Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling representing at the top tier — this is a list built by people who actually know what they're doing, and Wine Spectator's 2025 Grand Award backs that up. The one honest note: this list skews heavily toward the prestige end, so if you're hunting under $100, you'll work for it.
The by-the-glass program runs 20 to 35 options, which is robust for a room of this caliber — most Grand Award lists lean bottle-forward and make you commit. We'd expect the pours to rotate around the same blue-chip regions that define the bottle list, which means quality is high even if the prices per glass will reflect the zip code. Ask the sommelier team — Caleb McArthur, Nile Schneider, Sam Cooper, or Pamela Fawson — what's open and pouring well; they'll steer you right.
Kistler Vineyards Chardonnay — $75
At the entry end of the bottle range, Kistler is a legitimate California Chardonnay icon — rich, precise, and regularly commands serious secondary market prices. Catching it near floor pricing here is the move if you want to drink well without breaching triple digits.
Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling
In a room full of Cabernet royalty and Burgundy trophies, most tables walk right past the German section. That's a mistake. Egon Müller is one of the most singular producers in the world, and his Scharzhofberger is the kind of wine that stops conversation cold. At a place like Selby's it deserves more attention than it gets.
Caymus Special Selection
Caymus Special Selection is a perfectly fine Napa Cabernet, but on a list that includes Harlan, Colgin, and Screaming Eagle, it's the safe default order for someone who hasn't looked past page two. You're at a Grand Award restaurant — you can do better, and probably for a similar or lower markup on something more interesting.
E. Guigal La Landonne + Roasted rack of lamb
La Landonne is one of the Northern Rhône's most savage, iron-fisted Syrahs — dark fruit, smoke, and enough structure to handle lamb that's been given serious heat and time. It's a classic combo, but Guigal's single-vineyard version elevates it well beyond the obvious.
The Bottom Line
Selby's earns its Grand Award the old-fashioned way — with a cellar that goes deep, a sommelier team that actually engages, and a room that makes you want to spend the evening working through a serious bottle. Prices reflect the Peninsula's appetite for luxury, but if you're willing to lean in, this is one of the better places to drink wine in the Bay Area.
· Yountville · American
RH Yountville is a genuinely beautiful place to drink wine — the room earns that much on atmosphere alone, and the California-forward list will keep most guests happy without any friction. But in Yountville, where the competition includes some of the most serious wine programs in the country, 'happy without friction' isn't the same as memorable. Go for the experience, order confidently by region, and don't expect the list to surprise you.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Bakersfield · American
Yard House Bakersfield is a beer hall that happens to sell wine, and the list makes no effort to hide that. Markups are aggressive, selections are safe to the point of being anonymous, and the only reason to open a bottle here is if your table voted against another round of IPAs. If you're wine-focused, redirect your budget to the Jean-Luc Colombo Rosé by the glass and call it a night.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Yountville · American
The Kitchen at Priest Ranch is a one-winery show, and that's exactly the point. If you want to spend an evening exploring what a single Napa estate produces across whites, rosé, Zinfandel, Merlot, and multiple Cabernet expressions — including older large-format bottles — this is a genuinely interesting way to do it. Just don't come expecting breadth or outside discovery. Send a friend here if they love Priest Ranch or want to.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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