Happy New Year and thank you!

By Krister Bengtsson

Published 04-January-2024

Column

In 2023 Star Wine List grew to more than 3200 recommended wine places and wine lists around the world, thanks to our network of great wine people. And that was just one side of it, writes Star Wine List's founder and publisher Krister Bengtsson.

Star Wine List today consists of three main themes:

Star Wine List - The guide to great wine bars and restaurants, on web and app
Star Wine List of the Year - our wine list awards
Star Wine List Pro - Wine list and market analytics

In 2023 it was all about:

Building the guides - the Star Wine List core - to more and more markets

Since we started in 2017, Star Wine List's guides have grown to cover 40 countries. In 2023 we added places such as Malaysia, Panama, San Sebastián, Tuscany and Shenzhen thanks to our ambassadors around the world. In 2024, we will continue our journey to cover the globe with recommendations.

Star Wine List of the Year

Our wine list awards have become a success on their own. The credit for this goes of course to the great members of our international judging panel, our team who manages the awards, our partners and all the great sommeliers, restaurateurs and owners who participate. In 2023 our celebrations expanded to Asia and New York, both in cooperation with Vinexposium. And we added Belgium, the Baltics and Ireland to our tour calendar. In the beginning of 2024 we are bringing our celebrations to UAE and France for the first time. And soon we will create an online event open to entries from all around the world.

Wine list and market analytics

With more than 2500 wine lists in our system and the knowledge of our network, Star Wine List has a unique overview of which wines and producers are doing well in top restaurants and wine bars around the world - and intelligence on how to improve your success as a producer. In November, we shared insights on the Scandinavian markets with the audience at wine2wine in Verona. Right now, we are working on an analytics project with the VDP in Germany. In January we will announce many more analytical services and in February, we will announce a new top list of the very best wine producers at Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris.

Partners

Sometimes people ask us: how do you make money? (And sometimes I ask that myself!) The answer is that like for most other media companies we stand on several business legs: advertising (in our case in the form of partner stories); events and awards such as Star Wine List of the Year and related sponsorships and additional subscription services - in our case Star Wine List Premium which is turning into Star Wine List Pro.

In 2023, our revenues nearly tripled thanks to the confidence of our great partners. Thank you!

And for 2024, we begin the year by welcoming several new amazing partners: Louis M. Martini and Premium Estates of Austria as new Global Partners. We have formed a new media partnership with VDP in Germany (in addition to the aforementioned analytics project). In Sweden, Handpicked Wines join as National Partner. And Riedel / Sundqvist join as Regional Partners for Norway and Sweden. Thank you!

If you too want to build your brand and network with the sharpest audience in the wine world (after all, you are part of that audience), contact me!

People

The wine and hospitality industries are real people businesses. Thank you for joining our journey this year and spreading the word about Star Wine List - we could not have done this without you. Thank you also to all our friends in the trade. And thank you to my team, ambassadors and our jury members who are doing exceptional work. To quote one of Star Wine List's good friends in the industry, Dante Nolleau, Marketing and communications director at Château Palmer (see you soon in Paris, Dante!): "You have the best team". Thank you, I could not agree more.