From Australia to Iceland, meet the finalists in our 2025 International Open. Join the competition, live
The Star Wine List of the Year International Open celebrates the best wine lists around the world through an online awards ceremony, featuring all the countries that we aren't physically visiting during our 2024/'25 tour. The judges have just announced the finalists, and they span from Australia to Iceland, from South Africa to Serbia.
Ever wondered how wine selections differ across diverse global locations like Amsterdam, Perth, Aspen, and Prague? Intrigued by the unique approaches to building and presenting wine offerings in these distinct cultural settings?
We invite you to join us on 22 April, on Facebook, as we announce our Gold Star winners in the Star Wine List of the Year International Open 2025. Our global awards tour gives us the opportunity to pay tribute to the remarkable work of sommeliers across the world in creating wine lists that we can all enjoy. We're hosting events in 18 territories this season, across Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East, and yet there are still more countries – with epic wine lists – for us to reward. Hence our International Open.
As the name suggests, this competition is ‘open’ to restaurants and wine bars anywhere in the world, which are not serviced by a Star Wine List event in their own region. The awards ceremony will be attended virtually by our sommelier finalists, event partners, judges, and friends from the wine industry. Proceedings will be live-streamed via our Facebook event and later posted to YouTube – don't miss out on the action.
In the meantime our expert jury panel, comprised of four top sommeliers, has chosen the finalists in this year's International Open. They stretch from Serbia all the way to New Zealand, by way of Poland, and include previous Gold Star recipients in the Netherlands (De Nieuwe Winkel), Slovakia (ECK Restaurant), Canada (Le Coureur des Bois) and Melbourne (Ten Minutes by Tractor), as well as lots of newcomers.
Winners in the international categories will automatically be entered into the Star Wine List of the Year International Final, which will be held in Vienna this June.
Scroll down to discover who's in the running for a Gold Star. Good luck, everyone!
Judges
The wine professionals judging the Star Wine List of the Year International Open 2025 are:
• Nina Jensen – Second-Best Sommelier of the World, 2019 and 2023 (ASI)
• Kathrine Larsen-Robert – Master Sommelier
• Stefan Neumann – Master Sommelier
• Julie Dupouy-Young – four-time Best Sommelier in Ireland
Finalists
INTERNATIONAL CATEGORIES:
Grand Prix
– The best list of the overall competition.
The finalists and winner will be announced at the event.
Best Long List
– For wine lists with more than 600 references.
Finalists:
Acquerello, San Francisco, USA
Blue Penny Cellar at Constance Belle Mare Plage, Mauritius
Cardwell Cellars, Melbourne, Australia
Central Park Voorburg, Voorburg, Netherlands
Duomo, Ragusa, Italy
ECK Restaurant, Devín, Slovakia
Element 47 - Little Nell, Aspen, USA
Juliet, Los Angeles, USA
Le Coureur des Bois, Beloeil, Canada
Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth, Perth, Australia
Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, Australia
The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, USA
The Stonehouse, Santa Barbara, USA
Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Australia
Best Medium-Sized List
– Recognises the best wine list with 200-600 references.
Finalists:
Atelje vina Šapat, Novi Slankamen, Serbia
Bij Jef, Texel, Netherlands
Copra, San Francisco, USA
Enoteca Boccaccio, Melbourne, Australia
Felix, Los Angeles, USA
French Alpine Bistro, Aspen, USA
Hydra - Fine Food & Wine Cellar, Salerno, Italy
La Dégustation Bohème Bourgeoise, Prague, Czech Republic
Restaurant RJ, Texel, Netherlands
Szara Gęś, Kraków, Poland
Table Manners, Sydney, Australia
The Monarch Steakhouse, Aspen, USA
The Progress, San Francisco, USA
The Shorehouse, Perth, Australia
Best Short List
– Recognises the best wine list with fewer than 200 listings.
Finalists:
Amma Don, Reykjavik, Iceland
austa, Almancil, Portugal
Beach Byron Bay, Byron Bay, Australia
Binnenvisser, Amsterdam, Netherlands
De Nieuwe Winkel, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Gracie's, Providence, USA
Lastage, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Perilla, Chicago, USA
Published On Main, Vancouver, Canada
Restaurant Markant, Breda, Netherlands
Best By the Glass List
– Recognises the best ‘by the glass’ list.
Finalists:
Anchoita, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Anchoita Cava, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Blue Penny Cellar at Constance Belle Mare Plage, Mauritius
Cellar Door, Christchurch, New Zealand
Culture Wine Bar, Cape Town, South Africa
Element 47 - Little Nell, Aspen, USA
Flore, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Juliet, Los Angeles, USA
Restaurant RJ, Texel, Netherlands
Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth, Perth, Australia
Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, Australia
Best Sparkling Wine List
– Recognises the best list for sparkling wines.
Finalists:
Acquerello, San Francisco, USA
Archipel at Constance Prince Maurice, Mauritius
Blue Penny Cellar at Constance Belle Mare Plage, Mauritius
Central Park Voorburg, Voorburg, Netherlands
ECK Restaurant, Devín, Slovakia
Element 47 - Little Nell, Aspen, USA
Harbour 60, Toronto, Canada
Juliet, Los Angeles, USA
Le Coureur des Bois, Beloeil, Canada
Ristorante del Lago, Bagno di Romagna, Italy
Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth, Perth, Australia
Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, Australia
Trattoria Visconti, Ambivere, Italy
Best Newcomer List
– Recognises a venue that has recently opened.
Finalists:
Amelie Amstelveen, Amstelveen, Netherlands
Attenzione! Food & Wine, Sydney, Australia
Brasserie Lalou, Delft, Netherlands
Firepop, Sydney, Australia
Parra Wine Bistro, Lisbon, Portugal
Perilla, Chicago, USA
Restaurant Asteur, Boisbriand, Canada
Station Road, Adelaide, Australia
Table Manners, Sydney, Australia
Terrarium Restaurant, Cape Town, South Africa
Toast & Oak, Queenstown, New Zealand
Tomkat, Lucca, Italy
Sustainable Wine List
– Recognises a wine list that has put extra emphasis on the wine program’s overall impact, including vine growing, winemaking, packaging and transport.
This category is presented by Lingua Franca
Finalists:
Chambar, Vancouver, Canada
Flore, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Settler's Tavern, Margaret River, Australia
Trattoria Visconti, Ambivere, Italy
Best Austrian Wine List
– Recognises the best list for wines from Austria.
This category is presented by Austrian Wine
Finalists:
Café Savoy, Prague, Czech Republic
Cardwell Cellars, Melbourne, Australia
Central Park Voorburg, Voorburg, Netherlands
Constance Halaveli Maldives, Maldives
ECK Restaurant, Devín, Slovakia
La Dégustation Bohème Bourgeoise, Prague, Czech Republic
Mokotowska 69, Warsaw, Poland
Remouillage, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth, Perth, Australia
The Stonehouse, Santa Barbara, USA
Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld, Australia
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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Austrian Wine
The Austrian Wine Marketing Board is based in Vienna, and is a national service body for the Austrian wine industry. The aim is to strategically support, coordinate and maintain quality and sales.
