The Buyer | Best wine lists in the world in Star Wine List Grand final

The winning restaurants and finalists were announced as part of a live streamed event from Star Wine List’s home in Stockholm, Sweden.

Star Wine List of the Year is a celebration of the great wine lists in the world and the teams behind them. Over the past year, winners have been crowned in markets around the world including New York, Asia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the UK, and Germany. The winners of the national competitions all qualified to take part in the international finals that took place in Stockholm on June 19.

“It’s incredibly exciting to host the finals on home soil in Sweden and see our best wine lists compete with the international elite. We have finalists from southern Sweden, Shanghai, New York City, London, Johannesburg, and Macau. The diversity is huge,” said Krister Bengtsson, founder and publisher of Star Wine List.

Founded in Sweden in 2017, Star Wine List is the online guide to great wine restaurants and wine bars. It is now live in 36 countries. The Buyer is the UK partner for the UK Wine List of the Year awards.

Judging panel

What makes the Star Wine List awards stand out amongst the global sommelier circuit is the fact the judges are their peers – and some of the most respected, award winning sommeliers working in their field. Their task was to find the restaurants and sommeliers teams creating the most exciting wine lists in the world. This year’s panel included:

Argentina’s Paz Levinson is one of the sommeliers on the esteemed judging panel

Paz Levinson: Best Sommelier of Americas 2015

Reeze Choi: Third Best Sommelier of the World 2023

Nina Højgaard Jensen: Second Best Sommelier of the World 2023

Pascaline Lepeltier: Best Sommelier of France 2018

Ronan Sayburn MS: CEO, Court of Master Sommeliers Europe

Ronan Sayburn said: “It was such an interesting exercise to see wine lists from all countries, themes and sizes. Lots of thought and effort have gone into the winners, a truly international mix of the best of the best,” says one of the jury members,

Pascaline Lepeltier added: “I really enjoyed judging the final as many of the lists I already knew about, but there were some countries I haven’t been judging lately and I found terrific lists that I really took pleasure in reading and judging. This final shows how important Star Wine List is to highlight the best in the world and make a connection between them, expanding the sommelier and the wine lovers community.”

The winners and finalists

Grand Prix

The best large wine list, with more than 600 references. The category is presented by Domaine Laroche.

Winner: Alchemist, Copenhagen

“As the world of wine continues to expand to new territories and incarnations, and as the iconic bottles are getting rarer and more out of reach, you can only salute the fantastic job done at Alchemist to offer an exceptional program able to gather such a breadth and the depth of references,” says jury member Pascaline Lepeltier. “From the up-and-coming to the epitome of classicism, from Champagne to California to Madeira, the wine lover can feel the acute knowledge and the real passion behind everything selection, making this list both deeply focused and highly dynamic. A special mention to the fair pricing. Bravo to the Alchemist team for building in so little time such a high level program.”

Alchemist, Copenhagen
Aubergine, Cape Town
Bentley Restaurant & Wine Bar, Sydney
Core by Clare Smyth, London
Momofuku Ko, New York City
Nobelhart und Schmutzig, Berlin
PM & Vänner, Växjö
Robuchon au Dôme, Macau
Savoy, Helsinki
Skigaarden, Hemsedal

Best Austrian Wine List

The best wine list with Austrian wine, a category presented by Austrian Wine.

Winner: Wallsé, New York

Reeze Choi, Nina Højgaard Jensen (jury members), Oliver Chramosta (Austrian Wine), Liora Levi and Arvid Rosengren (Star Wine List).

Admiralgade 26, Copenhagen
Freundschaft, Berlin
Ginza Soseki, Tokyo
Happolati, Oslo
Heaven 23, Gothenburg
Newcomer Wines, London
Restaurant Grön, Helsinki
Rockpool Bar & Grill, Perth
Wallsé, New York

Best Medium-Sized List

The best wine list with 200-600 listings.

Winner: Trivet, London

“A very original, innovative list that delighted all the jurors with its time travel aspect through the history of wine. Plus at its heart a well chosen concise list of great producers,” says jury member Ronan Sayburn MS.

Admiralgade 26, Copenhagen
Agnes, Stockholm
Basbas Kulma, Helsinki
Culture Wine Bar, Cape Town
Hakkasan Shanghai, Shanghai
La Salut, Redfern
Pinch Chinese, New York City
Prism, Berlin
Trivet, London
Wallsé, New York City

Best By the Glass List

The best wine list by the glass.

Winner: Prism, Berlin.

“A well chosen and very diverse range of wines by glass, something for everyone can be found here and reasonable mark ups too,” says Ronan Sayburn MS.

Bar Cyclone, Hong Kong
Bar’Vin , Copenhagen
Eleven Madison Park, New York City
Noble Rot Soho, London
Omadi Bar & Bistro, Helsinki
Operakällaren, Stockholm
Park Hotel Vossevangen, Voss
Prism, Berlin
Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa, Johannesburg
Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula

Best Sparkling Wine List

The best list with sparkling wine, a category presented by Nyetimber.

Winner: Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York

Nina Højgaard Jensen & Reeze Choi (jury members) and Liora Levi & Arvid Rosengren (Star Wine List).

“It is a highly original list with beautiful pictures, handwriting design. It requires a lot of work to create such an eye-catching list. Very cool and well done!” says jury member Reeze Choi about the winning list.

Alchemist, Copenhagen
Aubergine, Cape Town
Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills
Carelia, Helsinki
Ensue, Shenzhen
Les 110 de Taillevent, London
Nobelhart und Schmutzig, Berlin
Operakällaren, Stockholm
Rockpool Bar & Grill, Perth
Skigaarden, Hemsedal

Sustainable Wine List

Recognises a wine list that has put extra emphasis on the wine program’s impact, including wine growing, winemaking, packaging and transport.

Winners: Haoma, Bangkok and ëlgr restaurant, Cape Town, South Africa

“From the heart of Bangkok, chef Deepanlker Khosla and his team is showing the world that it is possible to commit really, deeply and sincerely to true sustainability if you have the will. From the beverage program, thoughtfully put together to give the guests to enjoy the work of committed producers locally or from carefully chosen part of the world, to the sourcing of ingredients, the operational and social organization and beyond the walls of the restaurant its responsibility in the community, Haoma is proving real sustainability is more than possible : it is a driver for success and inspiration,” says Pascaline Lepeltier about Haoma’s winning list.

“With an approach of trying to understand and execute the full scope of sustainability, this place use their location strategically to ensure – and gain – integrity in the sustainable practices. Here, they pave the way to make sustainability a community project by activating and working together with the local neighborhood to recycle as well as emphasize local produce and wines. But, sustainability entails more than only recycling and using local: It also means work-sustainability – a subject far less debated and cultivated in our industry but equally important,” says Nina Højgaard Jensen about the list at ëlgr.

“This restaurant goes to far lengths to reach transparency on this subject, trying to achieve a personal relation to the wineries they feature in order to understand their practices. That level of integrity requires a massive investment to pursue, but brings in an important angle to being sustainable in a place, where it is highly relevant to put the work aspect of sustainability on the agenda.”

Credo, Trondheim
ëlgr restaurant, Cape Town
Farmyard, St Leonards
Frea, Berlin
Haoma, Bangkok
Hörte Brygga, Skivarp
Restaurant Grön, Helsinki
Settler’s Tavern, Margaret River
Tonchin Brooklyn, New York City

Best Short List

The best wine list with fewer than 200 listings.

Winners: Restaurant St. Barts, London, UK and Babette, Stockholm, Sweden

“Precision in curation is one of the hardest things to achieve, but it is done with success here. With so few references every wine on the list serves a purpose, and here, they have reached one level further; it is dynamic and without you feeling like anything is missing at the same time – it even sparks curiosity and is clearly created by an openminded approach. And all that offered at very attractive prices. In every way a very thoughtful list,” says the jury’s Nina Højgaard Jensen about the winning wine list of Restaurant St. Barts.

Fellow jury member Paz Levinson says this about Babette’s winning list: “Lovely selection of Champagne, Burgundy fans, Italy well selected producers from Piemonte, Tuscany and some others highlights around the country. I love the selection of orange wines and rosé, meaning a short list can go deep in styles and options for the rose category that is not always well represented even in lagers lists. The amaro and vermouth options are also delicious.”

Babette, Stockholm
BasBas – Baskeri & Basso, Helsinki
Embla, Melbourne
La Colombe, Constantia
nineOfive Regensburg, Regensburg
Restaurant Radio, Copenhagen
Restaurant St. Barts, London
Seroja, Singapore
Tonchin Brooklyn, New York City

Special Jury Prize

Recognises a venue that has done something out of the ordinary

Winner: La Salut, Redfern, Australia

“A very comprehensive selection of Spanish wines. Not only a creative wine list, but also a well-organised and a fantastic designed one. You can easily tell that the one who built the list has a strong knowledge in Spanish wine to be able create such a storytelling wine list,” says the jury’s Reeze Choi.

Basbas Kulma, Helsinki
Chambers, New York City
Chez Bruce, London
Embarc, Johannesburg
Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler, Vogtsburg-Oberbergen
Grand Majestic Sichuan, Hong Kong
Heaven 23, Gothenburg
La Salut, Redfern
LAGO, Copenhagen
Territoriet, Oslo
Voisine, Stockholm

To find out more about Star Wine List of the Year click here.
To get involved in the UK Star Wine List of the Year awards in partnership with The Buyer email richardsiddle5@gmail.com.
Here are the results of the 2023 Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer.