Star Wine List introduces new level: White Star

Star Wine List is introducing a new level of listing: the White Star. With the White Star we recognize venues that have interesting wine lists, but are not yet Red Stars.

"We have seen a great demand to reach new countries and regions with our guides, and to feature even more interesting wine lists in the world. With the White Star, we now take a big step to cover the world. And our new Premium Membership makes all these wine lists searchable," says Krister Bengtsson, Star Wine List's founder.

THE WHITE STAR

The new White Stars are venues where we review and approve of the wine list, but we don't yet have a recommendation from our team or ambassadors to make it a Red Star.

This means that we will now add even more interesting wine lists without having visited the venue in question, for example in regions that are difficult for us to reach. The White Star selection will also become a group of venues that we will continually evaluate, to possibly qualify them to Red Stars.

The White Star venues do not have full descriptions on Star Wine List. The White Stars can show a White Star digital badge on their websites and a White Star sticker on their doors, and they can state that they are "listed by Star Wine List".

THE RED STAR

The criteria for a Red Star has been the same from the start: When a wine lover visits our towns or regions, these are the venues we would like to take them to. That includes small wine bars, bistros, hotel restaurants and fine dining venues. These criteria are not changing.

For most of the Red Star venues we have an updated wine list, but it is not mandatory to have a wine list or to share it with us to be a Red Star. For many smaller wine bars, just a black board on the wall can be good enough.

The Red Stars have a full description on the venue info page on Star Wine List, written by our team and ambassadors. The Red Stars can show a Red Star digital badge on their websites and a Red Star sticker on their doors. They can also state that they are "recommended by Star Wine List".

HOW WE SELECT VENUES

Star Wine List is a guide, and the decision to select a venue to be a Red Star or a White Star is completely our own. The decision is made by our ambassadors or our team. Star Wine List does not charge venues to be listed by Star Wine List and a venue cannot pay to be listed by Star Wine List.

Anyone can recommend a venue to us, including a restaurateur or a sommelier. We add those venues to our list of places to evaluate, both for White Star and Red Star selections. We continually evaluate our selections and we add and remove venues throughout the year.

If you would like to recommend a venue, click here.

The descriptions on Star Wine List are written by us, not the recommended venues. However, we give a login to the recommended venues so that they can update opening hours, staff info and wine lists. Red Stars can also write Updates to share news about their wine program.

For more information, please see our About page.

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