Star quality! The ultimate guide to Star Wine List’s grading system
Star Wine List features Red, White, Gold and Silver Stars. But what do they all mean? You’re about to find out.
Star Wine List - the guide
Here at Star Wine List, we’re in the business of championing the wonderful wine places of the world, from kooky little bars to Michelin-starred restaurants, and everything in between. Whether you’re looking for a mind-blowing pairing experience or a casual drink with a friend, we hope to help. And we do that by recommending the places that we would like to visit ourselves – the ones we’d take any wine-loving friends to. So Star Wine List is a guide, and these venues receive a Red or White Star.
Our guides are created by a network of wine professionals and we have ambassadors in over 45 countries across the globe.
Red Star
A restaurant or wine bar that we have visited and highly recommend based on its wine offering, and overall experience. Size and style are irrelevant – these are simply the wine places that we would personally frequent, and each one receives a review. We can only give Red Stars to places we have actually visited ourselves.
White Star
These profile pages do not contain reviews, but they do all display the venues’ wine lists, which we have seen and approved. It may be that we have not managed to visit the restaurant or wine bar in person, or that we consider the general offering to sit slightly below our hallmark Red Star standard. We continuously evaluate our selections and wine places can be switched from White to Red Stars and vice versa.
Star Wine List of the Year - the wine list awards
We also hold wine list awards in many countries to acknowledge the hard work of the sommeliers who create them – it’s quite the art, not to mention a tough industry. Star Wine List of the Year is, therefore, a celebration of restaurants, bars and people, and the competition runs in many countries. Finalists and winners in Star Wine List of the Year all receive a Silver or Gold Star respectively, which are separate from our Red and White ones.
The judges for Star Wine List of the Year are top sommeliers and wine experts who independently assess the submitted wine lists in each regional competition. It is free for venues to enter, so they might already have a Red or White Star, or they might be entirely new to us. We welcome everyone!
Following our regional ceremonies, winners in the international categories go on to compete against one another in our International Final, which rounds off our awards season – the best sommeliers from each country, battling it out on the world stage.
Silver Star
Silver Star venues have all been finalists in their region's Star Wine List of the Year awards, and were runners-up in their categories.
Gold Star
A Gold Star venue has won in their category at a Star Wine List of the Year event in their region (and possibly at our International Final as well).
PS - there are also California Stars
Read more about the California Stars here.
For more information on Red and White Stars, including how to apply for one, click here.
To see how the Star Wine List of the Year competition is going around the world, click here.
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