Here are the finalists in Star Wine List of the Year South Africa 2022

Star Wine List's top sommelier jury, from top left, clock-wise: Tawanda Marume, Heidi Mäkinen MW, Piotr Pietras MS, Marc Almert.

On Oct. 4 Star Wine List will celebrate the great wine lists of South Africa for the first time, in cooperation with the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA). Now our top sommelier jury is done deliberating – here are all the finalists.

"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 is our celebration of top wine lists and the teams behind them. In South Africa, Star Wine List of the Year will be held at the Champagne Telmont Best Young Sommelier of South Africa event in Stellenbosch on October 4.

The winners in South Africa will be qualified for the International Final in June 2023. There, the South African winner will face wine lists and teams from Scandinavia, UK, Germany, Singapore and more.

And the finalists are...


Grand Prix

– Recognizes the best wine list with over 600 listings. The category is presented by Winterhalter

Finalists:
Aubergine Restaurant, Cape Town
Café du Vin, Franschhoek
Noop, Paarl
Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa, Johannesburg

Best Medium-Sized List

– Recognizes the best list with 200-600 references.

Finalists:
Culture Wine Bar, Cape Town
Ellerman House, Cape Town
FYN Restaurant, Cape Town
Ivory Manor Boutique Hotel, Pretoria
Marble Restaurant, Johannesburg
Signature Restaurant, Johannesburg

Best Short List

– Recognizes the best list with up to 200 references

Finalists:
ëlgr restaurant, Cape Town
La Colombe, Constantia
Lanzerac Taphuis, Stellenbosch
Proud Mary, Johannesburg
Simon Wine Emporium, Stellenbosch
The Charles, Cape Town

Best By the Glass List

– Recognizes the best by-the-glass list

Finalists:
Café du Vin, Franschhoek
Culture Wine Bar, Cape Town
ëlgr restaurant, Cape Town
Marble Restaurant, Johannesburg
Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa, Johannesburg
Simon Wine Emporium, Stellenbosch

Best Sparkling Wine List

– Recognizes the best wine list with sparkling wine.

Finalists:
Aubergine Restaurant, Cape Town
Marble Restaurant, Johannesburg
Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa, Johannesburg
SanDeck Sandton Sun, Johannesburg
Zioux, Johannesburg

Sustainable Wine List

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

The winner will be announced on Oct. 4.

Special Jury Prize

– Recognizes a venue that has done something extra with their wine list, such as the direction, the style or the value. The category is presented by TOPS at SPAR.

Finalists:
Embarc, Johannesburg
Folk Café, Cape Town
Penny Noire, Cape Town
Silver Orange, Hartbeespoort
The Service Station Wine Bar, Rosendal


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

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

And sign up to the newsletter below to be the first to know all the details!

Published 22-September-2022
News / South Africa

Do like the Pros - search 2500+ wine lists

Share

Did you know?
You can search for tens of thousands of wines and see where they are listed in restaurants and wine bars.
Search for wine lists on Star Wine List