Esslokal in Hadersdorf am Kamp has the Best Medium-Sized List in Austria 2025
The winners of Star Wine List of the Year Austria 2025 have been revealed at a ceremony in Vienna, with the Kamptal’s Esslokal restaurant winning Best Medium-Sized List.
The Star Wine List of the Year international tour is very nearly complete and, in our final regional contest, we named our Gold Star winners across Austria.
Esslokal's owners Babara and Roland Huber accepted the Gold Star for Best Medium-Sized List at a ceremony held at Weingut Fritz Wieninger in Vienna, on Sunday 15 June. “We opened as a small restaurant five years ago in one of the best wine regions in the wolrd, in the Kamptal,” said Barbara on-stage. “We started small and it’s growing and growing and growing, so we’ll see how it goes!”
Their award was presented by Helmut Aichinger, Brand Development Manager of category sponsor Château Galoupet. “Thank you, Star Wine List, for taking so much care about beautiful wine lists,” he said. “Thank you for making Austria the final stop on your grand world tour – bringing all these fantastic colleagues to Vienna. It’s important to share all that Austria has to offer; we enjoy gastronomy, we enjoy wine, and most of the time we tend to share wine rather than drink it alone, so…”
Judge Salvatore Castano explained that the Esslikal wine list “stood out as the best in the medium-sized category for its clear structure, divided by grape varieties and countries, and an easy-to-read format that makes it accessible even to everyone – whether inside the industry or out.”
Esslokal now goes on to compete against other Best Medium-Sized List winners from across the globe in the Star Wine List of the Year International Final, which also takes place in Vienna, on Monday 16 June.
All the winners at Star Wine List of the Year Austria 2025.
Runners Up
Silver Stars in the Best Medium-Sized category at Star Wine List of the Year Austria 2025 were awarded to:
Gasthaus Restaurant Thaller, Sankt Veit am Vogau
Hotel Post Lech, Lech
Pramerl and the Wolf, Vienna
Restaurant Esskultur, St. Jakob In Haus
Sattlerhof, Gamlitz
Stern, Vienna
Judges
The judging panel for Star Wine List of the Year Austria 2025 comprised four world-class sommeliers:
• Heidi Mäkinen – Master of Wine
• Salvatore Castano – Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa 2021 (ASI)
• Mikk Parre – Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024 (ASI)
• Stefan Neumann – Master Sommelier
Categories and criteria
Star Wine List judges the wine lists in several categories such as the Best Sparkling Wine List and Best By the Glass List. These categories are the same across all of the awards. In addition, local categories may be added. We have commercial partners for certain categories, such as the Best Austrian Wine List, presented by Austrian Wine. The commercial partners are, however, never involved in the selections of finalists or winners — that is completely up to our independent jury panel.
The criteria for the jury are straightforward but not simple: vote for the most exciting wine list representing the category.
The winners in the international categories will qualify for our International Final in June 2025, where they will face off with the category winners from other countries and continents.
Read about the terms and how Star Wine List judges the wine lists here.
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