Two winners in the Best Short List category – Babette and Restaurant St. Barts
Babette in Stockholm, Sweden, and Restaurant St. Barts in London, UK, shared the victory in the Best Short List category when Star Wine List of the Year International Final was celebrated on 19 June. The category was presented by DAOU.
"Precision in curation is one of the hardest things to achieve, but it is done with success here. With so few references every wine on the list serves a purpose, and here, they have reached one level further; it is dynamic and without you feeling like anything is missing at the same time – it even sparks curiosity and is clearly created by an openminded approach. And all that offered at very attractive prices. In every way a very thoughtful list," says the jury's Nina Højgaard Jensen about the winning wine list of Restaurant St. Barts.
Fellow jury member Paz Levinson says this about Babette’s winning list:
”Lovely selection of Champagne, Burgundy fans, Italy well selected producers from Piemonte, Tuscany and some others highlights around the country. I love the selection of orange wines and rosé, meaning a short list can go deep in styles and options for the rose category that is not always well represented even in lagers lists. The amaro and vermouth options are also delicious.”
The staff at Babette could not attend the event, but sommelier Emelie Svensson at Restaurang Agnes (finalist in the Best Medium-Sized Wine List category) received the diploma on stage.
"If they should win, the guys at Babette asked me to say why I love Babette. And I really agree with what the jury says. I always get inspired and curios at Babette – and at the same time you can get something you’re really comfortable with," says Emelie.
The silver medalists in the Best Short List category were:
Restaurant Radio, Copenhagen, Denmark
La Colombe, Constantia, South Africa
Embla, Melbourne, Australia
Tonchin Brooklyn, New York, US
nineOfive Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
BasBas - Baskeri & Basso, Helsinki, Finland
Seroja, Singapore
How the International Final works
In 2022, Star Wine List once again launched its coveted international awards program, the third annual Star Wine List of the Year awards. In a number of significant wine markets, from London to New York to Sweden and beyond, a prestigious jury has convened to judge the best wine lists in that city or country.
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 so simple: Vote for the most exciting wine list representing the category.
Jury
Nina Højgaard Jensen, Second Best Sommelier of the World 2023 (ASI)
Reeze Choi, Third Best Sommelier of the World 2023 (ASI)
Paz Levinson, Best Sommelier of Americas 2015
Pascaline Lepeltier, Best Sommelier of France 2018
Ronan Sayburn MS, CEO, Court of Master Sommeliers Europe
(In the case where the jury member works at a restaurant that is listed or a finalist on Star Wine List, they are not part of the judging and discussion of those categories.)
Read about the terms and how Star Wine List judges the wine lists here.
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DAOU
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