The categories explained – Star Wine List of the Year
The Star Wine List of the Year tour for 2025/’26 is well underway. Here’s a rundown of each category, along with some jury insights into why previous winners were awarded their Gold Stars.
There are 10 international categories in this season’s Star Wine List of the Year competition (including a new Best Italian Wine List award). These will appear in nearly every location in which we hold an awards event, and the respective winners will automatically be entered into our International Final, where we will name a global Gold Star winner in each one.
We may add local categories to certain competitions, reflecting particular trends or predilections, but these will not then feature in June’s International Final.
So what is each category celebrating?
Let’s be clear: the highly esteemed international juries at Star Wine List of the Year get free rein to judge entries as they see fit. We typically have one, overarching request for them – to “vote for the most exciting wine list in each category” – but, otherwise, we want to respect the knowledge and tastes of every one of the sommeliers and wine experts who comprise that global panel.
Breadth may make one wine list stand out while, conversely, another might be impressive precisely for its conciseness, just like great novels may either be tomes or novellas; we’re rewarding the art of wine list creation, and an art it most certainly is.
Nonetheless, we have 10 distinct categories. This is what we’re highlighting in each one, and what last season’s judges had to say during their deliberations.
Best Long List
The Best Long List category is for large wine lists, containing over 600 references. This allows for depth, diversity and a lot of personality, and maybe even a trip down a rabbit hole or two – it’s up to each wine team. But overall, there should still be a sense of direction or, as Stephen Wong MW explains, he’s looking for evidence of “taste, curation and selection instead of just relying on sheer volume.”
Best Medium-Sized List
The Best Medium-Sized List category champions wine lists with 200 to 600 references. “The medium-sized category is a sommelier's playground,” says Wong, again. “Not so large that it has to be anchored by comprehensive collections and deep verticals of unaffordable classics; yet it is certainly big enough to be a trap for the inexperienced, who can lose their voice in the budget and purchasing cycle.”
Best Short List
If a wine list has fewer than 200 references, it falls into the Best Short List category, which is all down to the art of curation. “A short list can be a true destination,” says Danish sommelier Nina Jensen.
“It is undoubtedly more difficult to write a small wine list than it is to write a massive list,” adds American MS and MW Doug Frost. “With a small list, all the repetition must be cut away, but diversity of style, price, category and origin are still demanded by customers.”
Best Sparkling Wine List
This category celebrates sparkling wines of every origin, age and style. Submitted lists might centre on one region (commonly Champagne, of course, though this is not a prerequisite) or seek to showcase the fizz of the world.
Italian sommelier Salvatore Castano has scored wine lists highly for being “a true celebration of bubbles” while Stefan Neumann MS gave us the mantra, “more bubbles, less troubles.”
Best By-the-Glass List
Wines served by the glass are highlighted in the Best By-the-Glass List category, with New York Ambassador Wanda Mann praising those that prove the selection “can be more than an afterthought or understudy.”
Best Newcomer List
Venues that have opened within the past year are eligible for the Best Newcomer List category. Some are knockouts from day one (“What a crazy list to start a project with! How is it possible?” asked Paz Levinson about one restaurant); while others may have made a strong start and shown hints of even greater things to come (“To build a list of depth and character takes time,” Doug Frost MS MW said of another restaurant. “This venue is clearly on that road.”).
Sustainability Prize
Formerly named Sustainable Wine List, this newly titled but increasingly important category aims to reward venues with a proven commitment to sustainability, both in their own ethos and practices, and the suppliers and value chains that they work with. This is the only category that requires a supplementary questionnaire to be filled out by each entrant, to provide the judges with as much information as possible.
Berlin Ambassador Emmanuel Rosier explained of one winner that by “prioritising ethical sourcing and ecological responsibility, they prove that great wine and sustainability can go hand in hand without compromise.” While Stefan Neumann MS noted of another that “sustainability might be a buzzword for some, but rarely do you see such dedication to such an important cause … it seems much more a way of life than anything that we, as judges, have seen before.”
Best Austrian Wine List
An award for wine lists that impressively represent the wines of Austria. There are many ways of doing this but Stefan Neumann MS praised one list, quite simply, for being “a love song to Austrian wine.”
Best Italian Wine List
A new international category for this tour! We have recognised Italian selections in local categories in the past but now the region gets top billing. It follows the same idea as our Austrian category, meaning that there will be different approaches to showcasing the wines of Italy – and our judges look forward to seeing what those are.
“There are some insane Italian selections on wine lists across the world and, by popular demand, we will be acknowledging those!” says Star Wine List's Publisher, Krister Bengtsson.
Special Jury Prize
Judges have occasionally awarded a Special Jury Prize in the past, when they’ve been bowled over by a wine list. We have now made it a regular slot, which juries can use to reward a true wine lovers’ place doing something out of the ordinary – how they define that is up to them.
Check out how this season’s tour is progressing, region by region.
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