Star Wine List of the Year South Africa

On Oct. 4 we will celebrate the great wine lists of South Africa for the first time, in cooperation with the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA). All South African restaurants and wine bars have been welcome to enter, free of charge.

Star Wine List of the Year is our celebration of top wine lists and the teams behind them. We have held the event in Europe, Asia and Australia since 2018 and in October we go to Africa for the first time.

"South Africa is one of the most dynamic wine countries in the world and we are super excited to bring our celebration to South Africa for the first time. We look very much forward to highlighting the work being done by sommelier teams and restaurateurs all over the country," says Krister Bengtsson, Star Wine List's founder and publisher.

Star Wine List of the Year will be held at the Best Young Sommelier of South Africa event in Stellenbosch on October 4.

All wine bars and restaurants in South Africa already listed by Star Wine List – both red and white stars – will automatically enter the competition. Please make sure to send us an updated wine list, if you haven’t already done so recently. If your venue specifically wants to compete in the Sustainable Wine List category, please fill in this form.

All other restaurants and wine bars are also welcome to enter, free of charge, before the deadline on Sept. 4. Apply with your wine list to the event through this link..

THE JURY

The jury consist of three world-class sommeliers from our International Jury Panel:

• Heidi Mäkinen, Master of Wine, President Finnish Sommelier Association
• Marc Almert, Best Sommelier of the World 2019
• Piotr Pietras, Master Sommelier

And as the local sommelier expert jury member, based in Johannesburg:

• Tawanda Marume, Best Sommelier of Zimbabwe 2020

CATEGORIES:

The jury votes for their favorites in several categories:

• Grand Prix, lists with more than 600 wines, presented by Winterhalter
• Medium-Sized Wine List, 200-600 wines.
• Short Wine List, <200 wines
• Best By the Glass List
• Best Sparkling Wine List
• Special Jury Prize, for a wine list out of the ordinary, presented by TOPS at SPAR.
• Sustainable Wine List

More categories may be added.

To read more about how we judge wine lists, see the link below.

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